Data Governance Lead

ICF • Reston, AL

2d • $89,649 - $152,404 • Remote

About The Position

ICF’s Digital Modernization Division delivers integrated technology and management consulting solutions to federal clients. This role supports modernization of a large federal agency’s cloud-based enterprise data and analytics ecosystem, which provides data storage, analytics, governance, and AI/ML capabilities. The program is focused on migrating legacy workloads, streamlining onboarding and support, expanding platform capabilities, and helping organizations adopt modern data and AI solutions at scale.

The Data Governance Lead implements Government-approved data governance, stewardship workflows, metadata standards, discoverability practices, access-policy coordination, and governance reporting. The role operationalizes governance under customer CDO oversight rather than creating contractor-owned policy, and coordinates with data stewards, data owners, Data Engineering, Security, and Product Operations so data is accurate, findable, trusted, and ready for approved publication. The position is remote, with a preference for candidates in the Washington, DC metro area and occasional onsite meetings at the client site in Washington, DC. The role is contingent upon a contract award; interviews and offers are being conducted in anticipation of the award.

Requirements

• U.S. citizenship is required due to federal contract requirements.
• Must reside in the U.S., be authorized to work in the U.S., and perform all work in the U.S.
• Must have lived in the U.S. for three full years out of the last five years.
• Bachelor’s degree in Data Management, Information Systems, Data Governance, Business Analytics, Computer Science, Library/Information Science, or a related field; alternatively, a high school diploma plus four additional years of relevant experience may substitute for the bachelor’s degree.
• At least 8 years of relevant experience aligned to the role responsibilities.
• A master’s degree may substitute for two years of relevant experience.
• Highly effective analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making capabilities.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to work with technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong organization, attention to detail, and ability to prioritize and manage multiple responsibilities.
• Collaborative approach and commitment to quality, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Nice To Haves

• Experience implementing and operationalizing enterprise data governance programs, data stewardship models, metadata standards, and governance operating procedures in large organizations.
• Experience configuring and administering enterprise data catalog, metadata management, and discoverability platforms such as Collibra EDC, Microsoft Purview, Alation, Informatica, or comparable technologies.
• Experience implementing data access governance, data-sharing controls, privacy protections, and attribute-based access policies using Immuta, Unity Catalog, or similar platforms.
• Experience developing and maintaining business glossaries, data dictionaries, metadata repositories, taxonomies, data classifications, and stewardship workflows.
• Experience implementing data lineage, certification processes, publication reviews, governance approval workflows, and data lifecycle management practices.
• Experience establishing and monitoring data quality standards, quality rules, issue remediation processes, quality scorecards, and governance performance metrics.
• Experience coordinating data ownership, stewardship assignments, access reviews, data-use agreements, and governance artifacts across business and technical teams.
• Experience supporting governance capabilities within modern cloud data and analytics platforms, including Databricks, Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, Azure data services, or equivalent environments.
• Experience collaborating with Data Owners, Data Stewards, Product Teams, Data Engineers, Security teams, Privacy stakeholders, and executive governance bodies to improve data quality, trust, discoverability, and adoption.
• Understanding of DAMA-DMBOK, DCAM, Federal Data Strategy, CDO governance models, or similar data governance frameworks.
• Experience documenting governance decisions, standards implementation, stewardship activities, risks, and compliance evidence to support traceability and audit readiness.
• Understanding of data privacy, records management, responsible AI, and regulatory compliance requirements in highly regulated environments.
• Experience supporting federal government, healthcare, or other highly regulated environments.
• Familiarity with Chief Data Officer (CDO) organizations, governance councils, and enterprise oversight processes.
• Experience working in Agile, cross-functional delivery teams supporting enterprise data modernization initiatives.
• Federal data policy and VA CDO environment experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead implementation of Government-approved data governance, stewardship workflows, metadata standards, discoverability practices, access-policy coordination, and governance reporting.
• Operationalize governance activities under VA CDO oversight rather than create contractor-owned policy.
• Coordinate with data stewards, data owners, Data Engineering, Security, and Product Operations to ensure data is accurate, findable, trusted, and ready for approved publication.
• Apply data governance, metadata, data stewardship, data quality, access-policy coordination, data agreements, and federal data policy/VA CDO environment knowledge to support role delivery.
• Collaborate with product, engineering, security, governance, quality, and customer-facing stakeholders as required.
• Document work products, decisions, risks, and delivery evidence to support traceability and continuous improvement.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior