Data Governance Specialist I

Colorado Public Employees' Retirement Association•Denver, CO

1d•$90,000 - $120,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Data Governance Specialist at Colorado PERA supports the development, implementation, and ongoing operation of PERA’s enterprise data governance program. Working in partnership with the Data Governance Program Manager, this role helps ensure that data is trusted, secure, well-documented, and effectively used to support reporting, analytics, operational decision-making, and modernization efforts. The Data Governance Specialist assists with data stewardship activities, business glossary and metadata documentation, data quality processes, governance standards, and stakeholder engagement across business and technology teams. This position plays an important role in helping PERA build consistent, practical, and sustainable data governance practices that support responsible data use and improve confidence in enterprise data.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Data Management, Business, or related field and 2+ years of experience in data governance, data analytics, data management, or a related field.
A combination of relevant education, training, and experience that demonstrates the necessary skills, knowledge, and abilities will also be considered.
Working knowledge of data governance concepts such as data ownership, stewardship, metadata management, data quality, data lifecycle management, and business glossary development.
Strong analytical, organizational, communication, and problem-solving skills.
Ability to manage multiple priorities, track action items, and maintain accurate documentation.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office tools, collaboration platforms, and business documentation practices.
Ability to handle sensitive information with discretion and follow applicable data privacy, security, and confidentiality expectations.

Nice To Haves

Experience with data governance platforms such as Microsoft Purview, Informatica, Alation, Collibra, or similar tools.
Experience with BI or reporting tools such as Power BI or Tableau.
Experience supporting data warehouse, analytics platform, modernization, or enterprise system (e.g. Snowflake, Databricks, AWS) implementation efforts.
Familiarity with IBM i, Oracle, SQL Server, or other similar operating systems and databases.
Certification, coursework, or training related to data governance, data management, or data analytics.
Experience in financial services, pension systems, or public sector organizations.

Responsibilities

Support the Data Governance Program Manager in implementing and maintaining PERA’s enterprise data governance framework, including policies, standards, procedures, and supporting documentation.
Assist with documenting data ownership, stewardship roles, decision rights, and accountability structures across business units.
Support the coordination and administration of data governance forums, working groups, and stewardship meetings, including agenda preparation, meeting notes, action item tracking, and follow-up.
Help build and maintain a data stewardship community by providing documentation, coordination, training materials, and ongoing support to data owners and data stewards.
Assist business teams in documenting data definitions, business rules, data quality expectations, and governance-related decisions.
Support the development and ongoing maintenance of business glossaries, data dictionaries, metadata repositories, and related governance artifacts.
Work with business subject matter experts and technical teams to document key data elements, definitions, data sources, system relationships, and usage context.
Assist with documenting data lineage, source-to-target mappings, and data lifecycle information where needed.
Help ensure that data definitions, metrics, and reporting terminology are consistent across business areas and analytics products.
Maintain organized, accessible, and version-controlled governance documentation that supports transparency and reuse.
Serve as a supporting liaison between business stakeholders, data owners, data stewards, technology teams, the Data & Analytics Team, and other stakeholders.
Help translate business questions and data concerns into documented governance needs, data quality requirements, or process improvement opportunities.
Support communication and education efforts that promote data literacy, data stewardship, and responsible data usage across PERA.
Assist with creating training materials, reference guides, presentations, and other resources that help employees understand governance practices.
Build trusted working relationships across teams by providing responsive, accurate, and practical support.
Assist with governance activities that support compliance with applicable data protection expectations, internal policies, and responsible handling of sensitive member and organizational data.
Support collaboration with Legal, Enterprise Risk, Information Security, and business teams by helping document data-related risks, controls, and mitigation activities.
Support the consistent application of data classification, privacy, access, and usage standards.
Promote a risk-aware approach to data management while helping teams apply governance in a practical and business-focused manner.
Identify opportunities to improve data governance processes, documentation standards, issue tracking, and stewardship workflows.
Support evaluation and implementation of data governance, data catalog, metadata, or data quality tools as needed.
Stay informed on data governance, data quality, metadata management, analytics, and data stewardship best practices.
Recommend practical improvements that make governance easier to understand, adopt, and sustain across PERA.
Assist with embedding governance practices into projects, system changes, data modernization efforts, and operational workflows.
Performs other duties as assigned.