Sports Card Lead (Database & Research)
Ace Grading – Banbury/Bicester, Oxfordshire (On‑site)
Salary: £30,000–£35,000 per year (DOE)
Job type: Full‑time, Permanent
Schedule: Monday–Friday, on‑site
Also known as: Sports Card Researcher / Sports Card Database Lead
About Ace Grading
Ace Grading is a UK‑based trading card grading company. We're expanding our sports card capability and are hiring a dedicated Sports Card Lead to own our sports database and ensure every sports submission is correctly identified, standardised, and ready for grading.
The role
You will be the in‑house authority for sports cards at Ace. Your mission is to build, maintain, and continuously improve our sports card database and ingestion workflows so that graders receive accurate, complete records every time.
Key responsibilities
* Own and maintain Ace's sports card database across Football (Soccer), Basketball, American Football, Baseball, Hockey, F1, UFC/WWE and more.
* Research and input full checklists for new and legacy releases (sets, subsets, inserts, parallels, variations, serial‑numbering, RC designations, autos, patches, SP/SSP, FOTL, Sapphire, etc.).
* Create and enforce clear naming conventions and taxonomies (set/brand, year, team, player, card number, parallel colour/pattern, print run).
* Ingest incoming submissions: map customer cards to the correct record, resolve ambiguities, and flag edge cases for graders.
* Track new release calendars and update the database quickly as products drop.
* Perform data hygiene: dedupe, merge, and correct records; manage synonyms and historical player/team changes.
What you'll bring
* Deep knowledge of modern sports card products and terminology (Topps Chrome, Bowman, Sapphire, Panini Prizm/Select/Optic, Upper Deck Young Guns, etc.).
* Strong research skills: able to decode manufacturer checklists and community references to build accurate entries.
* High attention to detail and consistency at scale.
* Proficiency with spreadsheets (Excel/Google Sheets): lookups (VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP), text functions, data validation, pivot tables, CSV imports.
* Clear written communication; comfortable writing SOPs and naming rules.
* Ability to work on‑site full time in the Banbury/Bicester area and partner closely with operations & graders.
Nice to have (not required)
* Basic SQL or experience working with databases.
* Light scripting (e.g., Python) for cleaning/checking datasets.
* Familiarity with other graders' conventions and major hobby resources.
* Experience in cataloguing, library science, or structured data work.
Compensation & details
* Salary: £30,000–£35,000 per year (dependent on experience)
* Job type: Full‑time, permanent
* Location: On‑site, Banbury/Bicester (Oxfordshire)
* Start date: ASAP
* Right to work: UK work authorisation required
How to apply
Apply via Indeed with your CV and a short cover note answering:
* Which sport/set (year + product) you know best and why.
* An example of a tricky parallel/variation you've handled before (or how you'd research it).
* A brief example of how you've used lookups or data validation to prevent input errors.
Job Types: Full-time, Permanent
Pay: £30,000.00-£35,000.00 per year
Benefits:
* Company pension
* On-site parking
Work Location: In person