Data Governance Lead

Data Governance Lead

Job Summary:

As the Data Governance Lead, you will play a pivotal role in developing and rolling out an enterprise-wide Data Governance Framework, while tightly partnering with Legal, Privacy, Security, and Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) teams. You will also work closely with the Data Team to define, approve, and implement governance policies and standards. Your focus will be on embedding governance practices into data lifecycle management, ensuring regulatory compliance, and fostering a culture of data accountability.

Key Responsibilities

Enterprise Data Governance Framework & Rollout

• Design, implement, and lead the rollout of a pragmatic, scalable, and adaptable enterprise Data Governance Framework.
• Develop supporting policy and standards architecture (e.g., data classification, metadata management, data access and usage policies).
• Embed governance by design into data pipelines, platforms, and data product development.

Policy Definition & Enforcement

• Lead the creation, approval, and adoption of data policies in close collaboration with Legal, Privacy, Security, GRC, and the Data Team.
• Ensure alignment of governance policies with regulatory and contractual requirements (e.g., GDPR, CCPA, internal risk policies).
• Develop control frameworks to assess compliance and maturity across data domains.

Data Quality & Stewardship

• Establish enterprise-wide data quality standards, metrics, and processes for issue detection and remediation.
• Empower domain-aligned data stewards and owners by providing guidance, training, and governance tools.
• Champion accountability and ownership of key data elements across the organization.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Collaborate with business unit leaders, product managers, and engineers to operationalize governance policies across systems and workflows.
• Drive adoption of governance principles across federated data teams through forums, working groups, and training.

Stakeholder Engagement & Change Management

• Clearly articulate the business value and regulatory importance of data governance to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Support change management initiatives to increase understanding, adoption, and integration of governance practices into daily operations.
• Lead the Data Governance Council and Data Steward Forums to sustain engagement and drive accountability.

Tooling & Metrics

• Recommend and support the implementation of data governance tooling (e.g., catalog, lineage, glossary, policy manager) in partnership with the Data Team.
• Define and track KPIs to assess framework rollout progress, data quality trends, and policy adoption.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Management Information Systems (MIS), Software Development, or a related technical field.
• 5 to 8 years of experience in data governance or enterprise data management roles.
• Deep expertise in designing and implementing data governance frameworks, policies, and standards.
• Strong cross-functional leadership skills with a demonstrated ability to drive alignment across Legal, Privacy, Security, GRC, and Data teams.
• Proven ability to communicate complex governance concepts to varied audiences and influence adoption.
• Familiarity with data governance tools (e.g., Collibra, Alation, Informatica) and modern data platforms.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leading data governance initiatives in a federated or hub-and-spoke data organization.
• Knowledge of regulatory frameworks such as GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, and AI governance standards.
• DCAM, CDMP, or equivalent data governance certification is a plus.

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