Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Upload Coordinator

🎯 Role Definition

The Upload Coordinator is a hands-on operations role responsible for ensuring accurate, timely, and compliant ingestion of digital content across platforms and systems. This position coordinates content uploads, validates metadata and technical specifications, liaises with production and distribution teams, enforces SLAs, and continuously improves upload workflows and automation. Ideal candidates combine meticulous attention to detail with technical fluency in content management systems (CMS), file transfer tools (FTP/Aspera/S3), and common metadata schemas used in media and e-commerce.

Primary SEO / keywords: Upload Coordinator, content upload, metadata validation, CMS administration, FTP, Aspera, S3, XML, CSV, digital asset management, content ingestion, quality control, SLA adherence, media transcoding.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Digital Content Specialist or Content Operations Assistant
Media Operations Coordinator or Administrative Assistant in media/content teams
Junior Data/Metadata Analyst or QA Technician

Advancement To:

Senior Upload Coordinator / Senior Content Operations Specialist
Content Operations Manager or Ingest Manager
Digital Asset Manager or Distribution Manager

Lateral Moves:

Metadata Analyst
Quality Assurance (QA) Engineer for media/content
Distribution/Publishing Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Manage end-to-end ingestion and upload workflows for large volumes of digital assets (video, audio, images, documents), ensuring uploads meet platform-specific technical specifications, naming conventions, and delivery SLAs.
Validate and normalize metadata across CSV/XML/JSON manifests and CMS fields, correcting taxonomy, tagging, dates, and rights information to guarantee discoverability and downstream processing.
Execute scheduled and ad-hoc file transfers using FTP, Aspera, SFTP, AWS S3, and cloud storage integrations; monitor transfer logs and re-run failed jobs with root-cause analysis.
Perform technical QC on incoming files (bitrate/resolution checks, codec/container verification, checksum validation), flagging and coordinating remediation for corrupted or non-compliant assets.
Maintain and update ingestion templates, XML/CSV schemas, and automated upload scripts; ensure templates align with partner and platform requirements.
Coordinate daily with production, editorial, legal, and partner teams to prioritize uploads, resolve metadata or asset discrepancies, and escalate content delivery risks to stakeholders.
Track and report upload throughput, success/failure rates, SLA adherence, and age-of-content metrics using Excel/Google Sheets and reporting dashboards; deliver weekly status to operations leadership.
Create and maintain detailed runbooks and step-by-step SOPs for upload procedures, including rollback plans and emergency upload protocols.
Onboard new partners and platform endpoints by documenting upload requirements, testing file exchange processes, and performing acceptance test uploads.
Manage and triage incoming upload support tickets, providing timely resolution and clear communication to internal customers and external partners.
Implement and operate automation pipelines (e.g., API-driven uploads, batch processing) to increase throughput and reduce manual touchpoints while validating automated outputs.
Conduct periodic audits of the content library to identify metadata gaps, duplicate assets, and compliance issues; coordinate remediation projects to improve data quality.
Ensure compliance with rights management, embargo rules, geographic restrictions, and content classification policies during upload and distribution.
Collaborate with engineering to define and prioritize bug fixes, feature requests, and performance improvements for CMS and ingestion tools based on operational needs and recurring issues.
Prepare manifests and delivery receipts for distribution partners, confirming asset counts, durations, and metadata accuracy for reconciliations.
Schedule and manage timed or embargoed uploads to align with marketing campaigns, release windows, and broadcast schedules; verify post-publish availability across regions.
Provide training and cross-training to peers and new hires on upload tools, metadata standards, and QC best practices to maintain consistent operational capability.
Maintain clean, auditable logs and changelogs for all upload actions to support compliance, reporting, and post-mortem analyses.
Troubleshoot common upload failures (network timeouts, checksum mismatches, malformed manifests), reproduce issues, and apply known fixes or workarounds to restore operations quickly.
Liaise with vendors and third-party platforms to resolve ingestion-related problems, negotiate delivery windows, and clarify technical specifications.
Monitor storage utilization and lifecycle policies for staging and production buckets; coordinate archiving, purging, and retention actions with data governance teams.
Continuously identify process bottlenecks and propose efficiency improvements (tooling, automation, hand-off changes) to reduce mean time to publish and increase accuracy.
Participate in cross-functional release planning and agile ceremonies to ensure upload capacity is aligned to product and content roadmaps.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Proven experience with Content Management Systems (CMS) and Digital Asset Management (DAM) platforms; ability to create, update and troubleshoot records and ingestion jobs.
File transfer expertise: FTP, SFTP, Aspera (FASP), managed file transfer solutions, and AWS S3 operations (console, CLI, presigned URLs).
Strong metadata skills: working with CSV, XML, JSON manifests and knowledge of common metadata schemas (Dublin Core, IPTC, custom taxonomy structures).
Technical quality control: ability to interpret media file specs (codecs, containers, frame rate, bitrate), run checksum and integrity checks, and use QC tools or transcoding logs.
Basic scripting or automation familiarity (Bash, Python, or workflow tools) to operate or improve ingestion pipelines and batch processes.
Experience with APIs for programmatic uploads and status checks, including authentication workflows (OAuth, API keys).
Proficiency in Excel/Google Sheets for data cleansing, VLOOKUPs/XLOOKUP, pivot tables, and reporting; experience with data validation rules.
Familiarity with ticketing systems (Jira, Zendesk, ServiceNow) for incident tracking and SLAs.
Exposure to SQL for querying ingestion logs, asset catalogs, or building operational reports (preferred).
Basic knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS S3 lifecycle, IAM basics) and CDN behavior for post-upload distribution.
Understanding of rights and licensing metadata, embargo management, and regional distribution constraints.
Experience with version control for configuration or manifest templates (Git or equivalent) is a plus.

Soft Skills

Exceptional attention to detail and pattern recognition — able to detect subtle metadata and file issues before they reach production.
Strong communication and stakeholder management — able to translate technical problems into business terms and manage expectations.
Prioritization and time-management under high-volume, time-sensitive delivery cycles; comfortable managing multiple parallel uploads.
Problem-solving mindset with the ability to perform root-cause analysis and implement durable fixes.
Collaborative team player who can work across production, engineering, editorial, and partner teams.
Customer-service orientation when supporting internal and external partners with empathy and clarity.
Process-driven: able to document, optimize, and enforce standardized workflows and runbooks.
Adaptability and willingness to learn new tools, platforms, and content types as systems and requirements evolve.
Accountability and ownership — tracks tasks to completion and proactively communicates status and risks.
Confidentiality and discretion when handling sensitive or pre-release content.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

High school diploma or GED with relevant experience in content operations, media, or technical support.

Preferred Education:

Associate or Bachelor's degree in Information Management, Media Studies, Communications, Computer Science, or related field.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Digital Media / Media Production
Information Science / Library Science (metadata emphasis)
Computer Science / Information Technology
Business Operations / Project Management

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 1–4 years of hands-on experience in content ingestion, upload operations, or digital asset management roles.

Preferred:

2–5 years in media operations, e-commerce content operations, or distribution workflows with demonstrable experience in CMS/DAM systems and file transfer technologies.
Prior experience working in fast-paced media, streaming, publishing, or retail environments with strict SLAs and high-volume throughput.

If you want, I can also convert this into a job posting with salary bands per region, a concise interview checklist, or a skills-based screening test for candidate evaluation.