Principal, Data Governance

Fifth Third Bank • Cincinnati, OH

1d • Onsite

About The Position

The Principal, Data Governance is a senior leader responsible for leading a team and advancing Commercial data governance, data quality, and data-management capabilities across complex business, risk, data, and technology environments. The role sets team priorities and expectations, coaches and develops Data Governance professionals, provides technical direction, and directly leads the organization’s most complex and consequential data-management challenges.

The Principal advises business, data, and technology leaders; evaluates processes, data flows, architecture, controls, and downstream uses; and develops scalable governance approaches that improve data quality, traceability, monitoring, control, and accountability. The position partners with business process owners, technology and data product teams, data consumers, risk partners, and Enterprise Data Governance. Governance provides standards, oversight, orchestration, and accountability, while business and technology owners retain responsibility for underlying processes, data, and technology assets.

This role independently leads ambiguous, cross-functional data issues from assessment through coordinated implementation and measurable resolution. It identifies systemic risks and opportunities, establishes reusable methods and frameworks, and communicates recommendations to senior stakeholders. The Principal also represents Commercial Data Governance in senior forums and raises data-management capability across the broader organization.

The position is located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Compensation includes a base salary within the applicable U.S. pay-grade range and eligibility to participate in an incentive compensation plan. Fifth Third describes its benefits as comprehensive and designed to support employees’ and families’ physical, financial, emotional, and social well-being; details are available on the company’s Careers benefits page or through a talent acquisition partner.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience.
• Significant experience in data governance, data quality, data management, analytics, risk, controls, technology, commercial banking, or related disciplines.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex, cross-functional work in substantially ambiguous environments.
• Strong analytical capability, including data profiling, pattern and root-cause identification, evaluation of business and technical dependencies, and translation of findings into actionable recommendations.
• Strong understanding of data governance concepts, including data ownership, business and technical lineage, data quality controls, monitoring, metadata, authoritative sourcing, remediation, and data-risk management.
• Ability to influence senior business, risk, data, and technology stakeholders without direct authority.
• Ability to communicate complex technical and data-management concepts clearly in business terms.
• Strong judgment and ability to balance risk, control effectiveness, business value, implementation feasibility, and strategic direction.
• Ability to create scalable frameworks and operating practices rather than relying on case-by-case execution.
• Ability to lead, coach, and develop high-performing teams while building subject-matter expertise, judgment, accountability, and independent problem-solving capability.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a senior advisor to business, data, and technology leaders on complex Commercial data-management needs and future-state solutions.
• Evaluate business processes, data flows, architecture, controls, and downstream uses to identify systemic risks and improvement opportunities.
• Influence solution design so data quality, traceability, control, monitoring, and governance requirements are considered early.
• Identify opportunities to improve data health, risk management, operational effectiveness, and business value through analytics, automation, and approved AI capabilities.
• Provide subject-matter leadership in developing, interpreting, and operationalizing Commercial data policies, standards, procedures, and governance expectations.
• Establish repeatable approaches for data ownership, lineage, business requirements, data quality, controls, monitoring, and accountability.
• Evaluate significant governance gaps, exceptions, and control weaknesses and recommend resolution or escalation.
• Partner with Enterprise Data Governance and other control functions to align enterprise requirements with Commercial needs while maintaining clear accountability for Commercial data production and use.
• Lead complex assessments of data quality and data-management risk across business processes, source systems, authoritative data sources, transformations, data products, and downstream consumption.
• Profile and analyze data to identify root causes, patterns, dependencies, and systemic weaknesses.
• Connect data findings to business-process, control, technology, reporting, and risk impacts through actionable recommendations.
• Define and evolve methods for measuring data health, control effectiveness, coverage, and confidence.
• Identify emerging or systemic risks across Commercial domains and translate them into prioritized actions.
• Independently lead highly complex, cross-functional data issues from initial ambiguity through assessment, recommendations, implementation coordination, and measurable resolution.
• Bring together business, data, technology, reporting, and risk stakeholders and establish decisions, ownership, dependencies, and next actions.
• Distinguish immediate stabilization needs from systemic root-cause remediation and longer-term capability improvements.
• Provide governance leadership for material, recurring, regulatory, or otherwise high-risk data issues and escalate unresolved risks appropriately.
• Validate that implemented solutions address underlying risks and establish appropriate ongoing controls or monitoring.
• Set team priorities, allocate work based on business need and risk, and provide direction and oversight to achieve high-quality, timely outcomes.
• Design reusable methods, frameworks, standards, templates, and analytical approaches for managing data across Commercial teams and domains.
• Lead, coach, develop, and performance-manage Data Governance professionals, building individual and team capability and subject-matter expertise.
• Model and strengthen problem structuring, data investigation, root-cause analysis, stakeholder management, and executive communication across the team.
• Lead or influence major Commercial data initiatives that involve substantial ambiguity, cross-functional dependencies, or data risk.
• Represent Commercial Data Governance in senior cross-functional forums and communicate complex data risks and recommendations in clear business terms.

Benefits

• Comprehensive benefits designed to support employees’ and families’ physical, financial, emotional, and social well-being.
• Eligibility to participate in an incentive compensation plan, with payments based on company, line-of-business, and/or individual performance.

What This Job Offers

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