Digital Archives Specialist

Job Purpose

Digital Preservation & Integrity

• Implement and maintain digital preservation strategies to ensure long-term accessibility and authenticity of digital archival materials, including web content and multimedia formats.
• Monitor digital integrity (fixity checks), file format sustainability, storage resilience and preservation protocols.

Cataloguing & Metadata Governance

• Implement and maintain metadata standards aligned with archival best practices.
• Ensure accurate indexing and classification within digital archival systems.

System Management & Optimization

• Co-Manage implementation and optimization of archival/collections management platforms (DAMS, ERMS), working closely with the Records Management Specialist.
• Collaborate with IT to ensure secure storage, backups, migration and system performance.
• Design and maintain structured ingest workflows.
• Identify opportunities for AI-enabled cataloguing, search optimization, and workflow automation, for review and approval by Head.
• Provide training and guidance to staff on digital archival systems.

Appraisal, Outreach and Engagement

• Work with the Head to identify, appraise, and ingest digital materials of continuing historical and research significance.
• Support departmental and project-based archival initiatives that document MBZUAI’s institutional development and research impact.
• Engage academic, research, and administrative departments to support identification of materials suitable for permanent archival preservation in alignment with departmental collecting policy.
• Coordinate with the Records Management Specialist to maintain clear separation between operational records governance and long-term archival preservation, and with the Library on published materials.

Digitization Projects

• Support digitization initiatives for historical physical materials in coordination with the Collections Manager and under departmental priorities.
• Support quality control and proper metadata tagging for digitized assets.

Compliance & Governance

• Ensure digital archival practices comply with national and international standards.
• Maintain secure access controls and confidentiality protocols.
• Document technical procedures and maintain system documentation to support transparency, continuity, and auditability of digital preservation processes.

Research & Access Support

• Develop access frameworks that balance research use, privacy, intellectual property, and institutional sensitivity
• Provide technical guidance to researchers accessing digital archival materials.

Other Duties

• Perform all other duties as reasonably directed by the line manager that are commensurate with these functional objectives.

Academic Qualifications

• A Bachelor’s degree in Archival Studies, Library and Information Science, Information Systems, Digital Humanities, or related field.

Essential

• Minimum of 6-8 years’ experience in digital archives, digital preservation or institutional repository management.
• Demonstrated experience managing digital asset management or records management systems.
• Strong understanding of metadata standards and digital preservation principles.
• Experience working with diverse digital file formats and preservation challenges, including format validation, digital forensics and migration planning.

Preferred

• Experience in higher education or research-intensive institutions.
• Familiarity with AI-enabled archival technologies and automation tools.
• Knowledge of UAE regulatory frameworks related to records governance e.g. PII