Do you want to help improve research communications in all corners of the globe? Come and join the world of non-profit open infrastructure and be part of improving the creation and sharing of knowledge as our new Product Manager, Metadata.
The Product Manager, Metadata, as part of the metadata team, helps with metadata development at Crossref with a focus on metadata outputs. This role involves a strong focus on JSON modelling for outputs in our REST API and other services, including proposing, coordinating and testing models for new or updated metadata, as well as active participation in community-led metadata development efforts.
Crossref collects a broad set of metadata for an increasingly diverse collection of scholarly outputs. By maintaining comprehensive metadata records that include author affiliations, funding information, references, and licensing details, Crossref members contribute to a more open and interconnected research environment where knowledge can be reliably tracked, verified, and built upon. This role will help shape metadata for our community as we actively expand and refine the metadata we collect.
We are a small organisation with a big impact, and weâre looking for a creative, technically-oriented Product Manager for metadata. Reporting to the Head of Metadata, the Product Manager will be part of the larger Programs and Services team and work closely with Crossrefâs program on âContributing to the Research Nexusâ and with the relevant developers on the technology team. We expect the Product Manager to take a collaborative approach and bring the ability to plan, research, convene, listen, and facilitate consensus-based decision making.
You’ll need:
Nice-to-have:
Weâre a non-profit membership organisation that exists to make scholarly communications better. We rally the community; tag and share metadata; run an open infrastructure; play with technology; and make tools and servicesâall to help put research in context.
We envision a rich and reusable open network of relationships connecting research organisations, people, things, and actions; a scholarly record that the global community can build on forever, for the benefit of society. We are working towards this vision of a âResearch Nexusâ by demonstrating the value of richer and connected open metadata, incentivising people to meet best practices, while making it easier to do so. âWeâ means 23,000+ members from 160+ countries, 170+ million records, and nearly 2 billion monthly metadata queries from thousands of tools across the research ecosystem. We want to be a sustainable source of complete, open, and global scholarly metadata and relationships.
Take a look at our strategic agenda to see the planned work that aims to achieve the vision. The sustainability area aims to make transparent all the processes and procedures we follow to run the operation long-term, including our financials and our ongoing commitment to the Principles of Open Scholarly Infrastructure (POSI). The governance area describes our board and its role in community oversight.
It also takes a strong team â because reliable infrastructure needs committed people who contribute to and realise the vision, and thrive doing it. We are a distributed group of 50+ dedicated people who take our work seriously, but don’t take ourselves seriously - we like to play quizzes, measure coffee intake, and create 100s of custom slack emojis. We do this through fair policies and working practices, a balanced approach to resourcing, and accountability to each other.
We can offer the successful candidate a challenging and fun environment to work in. Together we are dedicated to our global mission and we are constantly adapting to ensure we get there. Take a look at our organisation chart, the latest Annual Meeting recordings, and our financial information.
We especially encourage applications from people with backgrounds historically under-represented in research and scholarly communications. You can be based anywhere in the world where we can employ staff, either directly or through an employer of record.
We will invite selected candidates to an initial call to discuss the role. Following that, shortlisted candidates will be invited to an interview. You will receive all questions in advance, and the interview will include some questions and/or exercises youâll have a chance to prepare for. All interviews will be held remotely on Zoom.
Click here to apply!
Applications close on January 30th, 2026.
Anticipated salary for this role is approximately 85-90k USD-equivalent, paid in local currency. Crossref offers competitive compensation, benefits, flexible work arrangements, professional development opportunities, and a supportive work environment. Check out our Employee Handbook for more details on paid time off, unlimited sick time, paid parental and medical leaves, and more.
Crossref is committed to a policy of non-discrimination and equal opportunity for all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, pregnancy or a condition related to pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, ancestry, age, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, uniform service member status, or any other protected class under applicable law. Crossref will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with known disabilities in accordance with applicable law.
