Data Inventory Manager Role

OpenDataJobs•Washington, DC

About The Position

The Data Inventory Manager establishes and maintains the organization’s account of its data assets. They define how assets are identified, registered, assigned an owner, classified for management, and reviewed for completeness, then coordinate the discovery work that keeps the inventory connected to real systems and programs. The role combines program management, data discovery, and persistent follow-through. Inventory Managers work with data owners, system teams, metadata specialists, and governance leaders to close coverage gaps, reconcile duplicate or stale entries, and report whether the inventory remains current enough to support mission questions and required reporting. They own enterprise coverage rather than the detailed metadata standard or daily data operations. What you'll build: Enterprise data-inventory structures, registration criteria, and asset-identification workflows. Discovery approaches using surveys, system reviews, interviews, and technical scanning where appropriate. Ownership maps linking data assets to accountable programs, systems, and stewards. Completeness, currency, duplicate, and gap metrics that direct remediation work. Inventory records for AI systems, models, datasets, and dependencies when the organization's governance approach requires them.

Requirements

Experience with data inventories, asset management, data catalogs, records, or enterprise information management.
Ability to design structured discovery, registration, reconciliation, and maintenance processes.
Working knowledge of ownership, metadata, classification, data quality, and lifecycle concepts.
Experience using inventory or catalog tools and interpreting system documentation and data flows.
Strong stakeholder coordination and reporting skills for managing completeness and remediation.
Persistence about coverage and ownership.
Ability to test assumptions, resolve ambiguities, and maintain a clear record of what is known and what needs follow-up.
Ability to coordinate across a large organization without losing the detail.
Ability to create practical discovery routines and reporting that help technical teams and leadership see the same data estate.
Familiarity with enterprise data inventories and agency metadata publication practices (for federal openings).
Understanding that an enterprise inventory accounts for data assets across programs and bureaus, with metadata sufficient to support discovery and collaboration (for federal openings).

Nice To Haves

Focus on open-data inventories, internal data assets, contract-delivered data, or artificial intelligence system inventories.
Explicit scope definition for inventories.

Responsibilities

Establish and maintain the organization’s account of its data assets.
Define how assets are identified, registered, assigned an owner, classified for management, and reviewed for completeness.
Coordinate the discovery work that keeps the inventory connected to real systems and programs.
Work with data owners, system teams, metadata specialists, and governance leaders to close coverage gaps, reconcile duplicate or stale entries, and report whether the inventory remains current enough to support mission questions and required reporting.
Own enterprise coverage rather than the detailed metadata standard or daily data operations.
Design structured discovery, registration, reconciliation, and maintenance processes.
Coordinate stakeholders and report on completeness and remediation.