Data Governance Specialist

steampunk•McLean, VA

7h•$95,000 - $125,000

About The Position

We are seeking a Data Governance Specialist to help design, implement, and operationalize data governance practices across a modern, cloud-based data ecosystem. This role focuses on enabling effective data use through strong metadata management, data cataloging, stewardship workflows, and governance operating models that align people, processes, and technology. The Data Governance Specialist works closely with Data Engineering, Analytics, AI/ML teams, platform owners, and business stakeholders to ensure data assets are discoverable, trustworthy, well-documented, and governed without slowing delivery. Contributions Implement and maintain enterprise data catalogs, metadata repositories, and business glossaries to improve data discoverability and understanding. Partner with Data Engineers and platform teams to automate technical metadata capture, lineage, and schema evolution across data pipelines. Support the definition and rollout of governance processes including data ownership, stewardship, issue management, certification, and lifecycle management. Facilitate alignment between technical teams and business stakeholders on data definitions, quality expectations, and usage standards. Assist in establishing data domains, data products, and stewardship models aligned to modern architectures such as lakehouse , data mesh, or data fabric. Coordinate data quality monitoring, issue triage, and remediation workflows in collaboration with engineering and analytics teams. Support the implementation of data access controls, classification, tagging, and role-based policies in alignment with Zero Trust principles. Contribute to governance documentation including standards, playbooks, operating procedures, and onboarding materials. Participate in governance councils, working groups, and stakeholder forums to drive adoption and continuous improvement. Help measure governance effectiveness using adoption metrics, data quality indicators, catalog usage, and maturity assessments. Support compliance-related activities by ensuring metadata, lineage, and documentation are audit-ready and traceable. Assist with tool configuration and integration for governance platforms such as Collibra, Alation, Atlan, Informatica, or cloud-native catalogs. Stay current with emerging trends in data governance, metadata automation, and AI-ready data management practices. You will contribute to the growth of our AI & Data Exploitation Practice!

Requirements

Ability to hold a position of public trust with the U.S. government.
Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems , Data Management, Business Analytics, Computer Science, or a related field .
2 – 5 years of experience in data governance, data management, analytics enablement, or data platform support roles.
Hands-on experience with data cataloging and governance tools (e.g., Collibra, Alation, Atlan, Informatica, AWS Glue Data Catalog, Azure Purview/Microsoft Purview).
Understanding of metadata types (business, technical, operational), data lineage, and schema management concepts.
Familiarity with modern data platforms ( lakehouse , cloud data warehouses, streaming platforms) and how governance integrates into pipelines.
Experience supporting data quality frameworks, issue management workflows, and stewardship operating models.
Strong communication and facilitation skills to work effectively with technical teams and business stakeholders.
Ability to translate governance concepts into practical workflows that support data delivery.
Familiarity with data privacy, security, and access control concepts in cloud environments.
Experience with SQL or basic data querying is a plus for understanding data structures and lineage.

Nice To Haves

DAMA CDMP (Associate or Practitioner)
Collibra Ranger / Alation Steward certifications

Responsibilities

Implement and maintain enterprise data catalogs, metadata repositories, and business glossaries to improve data discoverability and understanding.
Partner with Data Engineers and platform teams to automate technical metadata capture, lineage, and schema evolution across data pipelines.
Support the definition and rollout of governance processes including data ownership, stewardship, issue management, certification, and lifecycle management.
Facilitate alignment between technical teams and business stakeholders on data definitions, quality expectations, and usage standards.
Assist in establishing data domains, data products, and stewardship models aligned to modern architectures such as lakehouse , data mesh, or data fabric.
Coordinate data quality monitoring, issue triage, and remediation workflows in collaboration with engineering and analytics teams.
Support the implementation of data access controls, classification, tagging, and role-based policies in alignment with Zero Trust principles.
Contribute to governance documentation including standards, playbooks, operating procedures, and onboarding materials.
Participate in governance councils, working groups, and stakeholder forums to drive adoption and continuous improvement.
Help measure governance effectiveness using adoption metrics, data quality indicators, catalog usage, and maturity assessments.
Support compliance-related activities by ensuring metadata, lineage, and documentation are audit-ready and traceable.
Assist with tool configuration and integration for governance platforms such as Collibra, Alation, Atlan, Informatica, or cloud-native catalogs.
Stay current with emerging trends in data governance, metadata automation, and AI-ready data management practices.