Senior Associate - Data Governance Engineer

New York Life Insurance Co•New York, NY

2d•$124,000 - $177,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Data Governance Engineer (Unstructured Data) plays a key role in advancing New York Life’s data governance initiatives. This individual contributor role focuses on the operational design and execution of metadata cataloging, lineage harvesting, governance workflows, and data quality management with a focus on unstructured data, leveraging technical platforms such as Atlan, Anomalo, and Unity Catalog. Working closely with data governance analysts, product managers, and technology teams, the Data Governance Engineer enhances data discoverability, quality, and compliance across the enterprise, supporting New York Life’s Data Strategy and enabling timely, data-driven decisions built on trusted information.

Requirements

3–5+ years of professional experience, including 1–2+ years in a data governance function.
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field.
Strong understanding of unstructured data, data governance frameworks, metadata management, data quality management, and data cataloging and lineage concepts.
Strong proficiency with SQL, Python, and data modeling/analysis concepts.
Excellent communication, collaboration, documentation, and stakeholder management skills.
Experience working across both business and technical teams.
Hands-on experience with Atlan, Anomalo, Databricks Unity Catalog, or similar metadata and data governance tools.
Experience applying governance frameworks, data quality management, data cataloging, and data stewardship processes.
Experience working in Agile environments using Jira, Confluence, and SharePoint.
Understanding of security and authentication patterns, including AWS Secrets Manager.
Backend development experience, including PostgreSQL databases, data modeling, query optimization and indexing, and connection pooling.
Strong SQL skills with the ability to analyze and validate data lineage.
Software development skills, including solution design, deployment management, SDLC patterns, CI/CD practices, leveraging tools such as Harness, and testing methodologies including unit testing, integration testing, test automation, and test suites.

Nice To Haves

Working knowledge of SQL and Python for data analysis and automation.
Exposure to AI-enabled governance accelerators and metadata enrichment/cataloging tools.
Experience using tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, and similar applications for research, document analysis, summarization, workflow automation, QA, and prototyping.
Experience supporting data modernization or cloud migration initiatives in enterprise environments.

Responsibilities

Develop and maintain automated data quality checks, validation rules, and monitoring across multiple systems and datasets.
Support governance efforts related to metadata, tags, data definitions, and data standardization to improve consistency, traceability, and usability.
Configure, test, and maintain Atlan and Anomalo platform functionality, including building custom connectors and supporting BAU platform operations.
Work across both structured and unstructured data to support governance, profiling, assessment, and quality improvement efforts.
Build hands-on solutions, prototypes, dashboards, or lightweight applications using Python, SQL, Streamlit, Databricks, and related tools.
Collaborate with stakeholders to define data governance requirements for critical data elements and support remediation prioritization.
Create clear documentation and reporting to communicate findings, standards, and recommendations.
Drive adoption of governance tools through roadshows, training sessions, user enablement, and data owner/steward playbooks.
Participate in Agile ceremonies by contributing to backlog building and sprint events in Jira.