Data Governance Leader

Target Levels: Lead or Principal

Our Data Governance Leaders help clients embed governance and stewardship into how they work every day. You’ll align business and technical teams, stand up practical governance processes, and coach client staff to own their data as stewards.

Core Responsibilities

• Lead data governance engagements end-to-end as the Engagement Lead—framing problems, defining scope, and delivering outcomes across operating model, stewardship, data quality, metadata, and tooling.
• Facilitate governance working groups and forums that align business and technology stakeholders, drive decisions on definitions, business rules, and data quality controls, and ensure ownership by data stewards.
• Execute and embed metadata and data quality processes (cataloging, lineage, stewardship workflows, profiling, monitoring, and issue management) into analytics workflows, models, and data platform pipelines.
• Support selection, rollout, and adoption of governance and metadata tools (e.g., Collibra, Alation, Atlan, Purview), making recommendations that clearly tie to business outcomes.
• Partner on access, privacy, and compliance, ensuring governance practices support regulations (e.g., GDPR, CCPA) and broader data/AI governance standards.
• Coach client staff on data stewardship, and prepare clear presentations, training materials, and adoption guides that explain governance in business language.
• Focus on day-to-day delivery for one or more complex but bounded data governance engagements, managing plans, timelines, risks, and stakeholder communication.
• Translate governance strategy into concrete plans and workstreams—including working groups, policies/standards, glossaries, rules, and controls—with hands-on co‑creation alongside client teams.
• Own the quality and readiness of deliverables (operating model, definitions, DQ rules, playbooks) and provide direct coaching to client stewards and project team members.
• At the Principal level, you also:
  • Co‑own account and governance strategy with Client Account Leads and Technical Account Leads, connecting the governance roadmap to the client’s broader data/AI strategy and account growth.
  • Serve as a trusted advisor to executive stakeholders on governance, risk, and compliance, and play a senior role in critical pursuits and external thought leadership (e.g., talks, panels, publications).

Qualifications

• 6+ years in data governance, metadata management, or closely related roles.
• 2+ years of consulting leadership with external clients, managing multiple workstreams and priorities.
• Demonstrated ability to facilitate workshops and working groups, and drive alignment on definitions, business rules, and data quality controls.
• Familiarity with governance operating models and stewardship practices, and privacy regulations (e.g., GDPR, CCPA) and how governance supports compliance.
• Strong technical literacy across governance and metadata capabilities (cataloging, lineage, DQ), plus AI governance concepts and how they connect to AI strategy.
• Adept at making technical and tooling recommendations that are clearly tied to business outcomes and adoption.
• Proven ability to coach and mentor others, communicate governance concepts in clear business language, and drive change and adoption.
• Track record of collaborating with client stakeholders, technology partners, and cross-functional sales and delivery teams (often across global, distributed teams).
• Has repeatedly owned full lifecycle delivery of governance-focused workstreams or engagements as the day‑to‑day Engagement Lead.
• Comfortable managing complex single engagements or a small portfolio, with strong planning, execution oversight, and stakeholder communication.
• Willingness to travel as required by clients.
• Additional expectations at the Principal level:
  • Has deep experience leading multi‑engagement or multi‑year data governance portfolios as a senior Engagement Lead or Client Principal.
  • Regularly operates as a trusted advisor to executive teams on governance and risk, with a visible thought leadership profile and a strong track record developing other governance and Engagement Leads.