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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Upload Intern

💰 $ - $

InternshipContent OperationsData OperationsDigital MediaE‑commerce

🎯 Role Definition

The Upload Intern is responsible for executing and improving content and data upload processes, ensuring high accuracy and consistent metadata standards across content management systems (CMS), digital asset management (DAM), e‑commerce catalogs, and cloud storage. This position performs structured data entry, file validation, batch and API‑driven ingestion, quality assurance, and collaborates with cross‑functional teams to streamline upload pipelines and automation. The role emphasizes speed, accuracy, accessibility, and SEO‑ready metadata to maximize discoverability and platform performance.


📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • University student or recent graduate (Computer Science, Information Systems, Library Science, Digital Media, Business)
  • Temporary data entry or content moderation roles
  • Customer support or merchandising internships

Advancement To:

  • Content Coordinator / Content Specialist
  • E‑commerce Catalog Specialist or Merchandiser
  • Jr. Data Engineer or Data Operations Analyst
  • Digital Asset Manager / DAM Specialist

Lateral Moves:

  • Quality Assurance Analyst (QA)
  • Technical Support or Implementation Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Execute bulk and single‑item uploads into CMS, DAM, e‑commerce platforms (Shopify, Magento, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, WordPress, Drupal) with attention to required field formats, taxonomy, and SKU mapping.
  • Perform end‑to‑end data ingestion workflows: prepare CSV/JSON payloads, validate schema, and run imports using platform import tools or APIs to ensure successful content ingestion.
  • Tag and enrich digital assets with SEO‑friendly titles, descriptions, alt text, categories, and standardized metadata to improve searchability and adherence to brand taxonomy.
  • Validate file integrity and media formats (JPEG/PNG/TIFF, MP4/HEVC, WAV/MP3) and coordinate transcoding or reformatting requirements with media operations when necessary.
  • Use SFTP/FTP, AWS S3, Google Cloud Storage, or Azure Blob Storage to upload, organize, and archive large media files; verify successful transfers and set correct permissions.
  • Perform quality assurance checks on uploaded content: verify rendering on web and mobile previews, confirm links, thumbnails, and associated assets are correct.
  • Reconcile upload logs and error reports: triage failed imports, identify root causes (schema mismatches, invalid characters, duplicate SKUs), and document fixes for recurring issues.
  • Maintain and update standardized metadata templates, controlled vocabularies, and naming conventions to ensure consistency across catalogs and media libraries.
  • Execute data clean‑up tasks such as deduplication, normalization of product attributes, and correction of malformed metadata using Excel, Google Sheets, and lightweight scripting.
  • Collaborate with product and merchandising teams to map legacy data to new content models and assist with mass migration and version control during releases.
  • Support API‑driven uploads by preparing endpoint payloads, running POST/PUT requests, and monitoring response codes; escalate authentication or API rate limit issues to engineering.
  • Assist in building and maintaining automated upload workflows using scripts (Python, Bash) or automation tools (Zapier, Workato) to reduce manual steps and increase throughput.
  • Track and report operational metrics such as upload throughput, accuracy rates, time to publish, and defect density; provide weekly summaries to the content operations manager.
  • Verify compliance with legal, copyright, and privacy constraints during uploads — confirm rights metadata, content usage restrictions, and redaction requirements are applied.
  • Conduct accessibility checks for images and video (alt text, captions, transcripts) and flag items that require remediation to meet WCAG guidelines and platform accessibility standards.
  • Support localization and internationalization efforts by tagging language, locale, character encoding, and ensuring multi‑region assets are uploaded to the correct feeds.
  • Communicate with stakeholders to clarify missing metadata, resolve content discrepancies, and prioritize uploads based on campaign or product launch timelines.
  • Maintain detailed documentation of upload procedures, runbooks, and troubleshooting guides in Confluence or shared knowledge repositories.
  • Participate in daily standups and sprint planning with content operations and engineering teams to align on priorities, blockers, and process improvements.
  • Monitor and enforce version control practices for assets and data feeds; roll back and restore previous versions when content regressions are identified.
  • Perform manual spot checks and randomized audits to validate that automated imports meet quality thresholds and compliance requirements.
  • Prepare assets and structured content for A/B tests or feature flags, ensuring each variant is accurately uploaded, labeled, and tracked.

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.
  • Assist marketing and SEO teams by ensuring meta tags and schema.org structured data are present and consistent for uploaded pages and products.
  • Help create and maintain dashboards that surface upload health, errors by type, and SLA adherence for stakeholders.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Experience with Content Management Systems (CMS) such as WordPress, Drupal, Contentful, or Sitecore.
  • Familiarity with Digital Asset Management (DAM) platforms (Bynder, Widen, Adobe Experience Manager Assets).
  • Practical knowledge of e‑commerce platforms and product catalog tools (Shopify, Magento, Salesforce Commerce Cloud).
  • Hands‑on with data import/export formats: CSV, XLSX, JSON, XML — including cleansing, schema validation, and mapping.
  • Basic scripting ability (Python or Bash) to run simple automation, data transforms, or API calls.
  • Comfortable working with APIs and HTTP methods (GET/POST/PUT), API authentication (OAuth, API keys), and monitoring responses.
  • Proficiency in spreadsheet tools (Excel, Google Sheets) — advanced formulas, pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, and data validation.
  • Experience with cloud storage and transfer protocols: AWS S3, Google Cloud Storage, SFTP/FTP.
  • Familiarity with image and video formats, basic understanding of encoding/transcoding, and thumbnail generation.
  • Knowledge of metadata standards, taxonomies, controlled vocabularies, and SEO best practices for titles, descriptions, and structured data.
  • Basic SQL knowledge for simple queries, joins, and verification of uploaded records (SELECT, WHERE, LIMIT).
  • Experience with issue tracking and collaboration tools (Jira, Trello, Asana) and knowledge base tools (Confluence).
  • Understanding of accessibility standards (WCAG) as they relate to alt text, captions, and transcripts.

Soft Skills

  • Strong attention to detail and commitment to data accuracy and consistency.
  • Clear written and verbal communication; able to coordinate with cross‑functional partners and escalate issues professionally.
  • Time management and prioritization skills to handle multiple upload queues and tight launch deadlines.
  • Analytical mindset with ability to identify patterns in upload failures and propose process improvements.
  • Proactive problem solving and willingness to learn technical tools and automation techniques.
  • Team player attitude with openness to feedback, documentation, and knowledge sharing.
  • Adaptability to fast‑paced environments and changing requirements.
  • Customer‑focused orientation — understanding stakeholder needs and delivering quality outcomes.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • High school diploma or equivalent; current enrollment in or recent completion of a college program is typical.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor's degree (in progress or completed) in Information Systems, Computer Science, Data Science, Library & Information Science, Communications, Digital Media, Business, or related field.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Information Systems
  • Computer Science
  • Library & Information Science
  • Data Science / Analytics
  • Digital Media / Multimedia Production
  • Marketing / E‑commerce

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 0–1 years (internship experience, academic projects, or short‑term roles); entry‑level candidates are expected.

Preferred:

  • 3–12 months of prior internship or part‑time experience in content operations, e‑commerce cataloging, digital asset management, or related data entry and QA roles.
  • Coursework or hands‑on projects demonstrating familiarity with CMS, spreadsheets, basic scripting, or API interactions.