Sr. Manager, Data Stewardship

Early Warning® • Scottsdale, AZ

2d • $129,000 - $161,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

At Early Warning, we’ve powered and protected the U.S. financial system for over thirty years with cutting-edge solutions like Zelle®, Paze℠, and so much more. As a trusted name in payments, we partner with thousands of institutions to increase access to financial services and protect transactions for hundreds of millions of consumers and small businesses. Positions located in Scottsdale, San Francisco, Chicago, or New York follow a hybrid work model to allow for a more collaborative working environment. Candidates responding to this posting must independently possess the eligibility to work in the United States, for any employer, at the date of hire. This position is ineligible for employment Visa sponsorship. Overall Purpose The Sr. Manager, Data Stewardship provides programmatic and operational leadership for business data stewardship across one or more critical data domains. This role is accountable for ensuring that high-value business data is consistently defined, governed, and trusted, enabling analytics, operational decision-making, regulatory compliance, and risk management. The Sr. Manager leads and develops a team of data stewards while serving as a senior partner to Business Data Owners, Data Governance, Technology, and Risk stakeholders. This role translates enterprise data governance standards into scalable, business-embedded practices, drives adoption of metadata and data quality capabilities, and ensures measurable business value from improved data management. Essential Functions Provides effective leadership in developing highly engaged, high performance teams Sets direction and priorities for metadata management across assigned data domains, aligning stewardship activities to business outcomes and enterprise governance standards. Leads, coaches, and develops a team of data stewards; establishes clear expectations, performance goals, and career development paths. Oversees the creation, maintenance, and quality of business metadata within the enterprise data catalog (e.g., business glossary, data dictionaries, lineage). Partners with Business Data Owners and SMEs to define and approve business terms, critical data elements, and authoritative data definitions. Collaborates with the Data Governance and Technology teams to ensure traceability across business definitions, technical metadata, and end-to-end lineage. Ensures consistent identification of systems of record, data ownership, stewardship accountability, and usage context across domains. Drives continuous improvement in stewardship processes, standards, and tooling adoption. Data Quality Management Establishes domain-level data quality strategies, including definition of business rules for completeness, accuracy, timeliness, validity, and consistency. Partners with Data Governance, Engineering, and Analytics teams to operationalize automated data quality monitoring, issue management, and reporting. Reviews data quality metrics and trends; ensures root-cause analysis and sustainable remediation plans are in place. Escalates material or persistent data quality risks to Data Owners and governance forums with clear impact assessment and recommended actions. Mentors team members responsible for data profiling, issue investigation, and remediation execution. Data Governance Execution & Business Partnership Serves as a senior business representative in Data Domain Councils, influencing data standards, prioritization, and issue resolution. Acts as the primary escalation point between the business and the Data Governance function for assigned domains. Drives adoption of new governance policies, standards, and tools by embedding them into business processes and delivery workflows. Partners with Analytics, Product, and Operations leaders to ensure governed data enables trusted insights and decision-making. Leads or contributes to pilots and initiatives that demonstrate measurable business value from improved data quality and metadata maturity. Risk and Compliance Alignment Support the company’s commitment to risk management and protecting the integrity and confidentiality of systems and data. Ensures business-owned data complies with enterprise data management, privacy, security, and retention policies. Supports regulatory, audit, and risk reviews related to metadata accuracy, lineage traceability, and data quality controls. Proactively identifies data-related risks and control gaps; partners with Risk and Compliance teams to define mitigation strategies. Reinforces the organization’s commitment to protecting the integrity, confidentiality, and appropriate use of data. The above job description is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of duties and standards of the position. Incumbents will follow instructions and perform other related duties.

Requirements

• Education or experience typically obtained through completion of a bachelor’s degree.
• 10+ years of experience in data management, business analysis, or related field within financial services or a regulated industry.
• Good leadership, communication (both written & verbal) and interpersonal skills are required to perform the function and the ability to effectively motivate team members.
• Strong understanding of data governance frameworks (e.g., DAMA-DMBOK), metadata management, data lineage, data quality, and compliance.
• Familiarity with data governance tools (e.g., Collibra, Informatica, Alation) and cloud platforms (e.g., Snowflake, Azure, AWS).
• Knowledge of relevant regulations and data privacy/security standards.
• Ability to communicate complex data concepts in business-friendly language.

Nice To Haves

• Previous experience in financial services or a regulated environment.
• DCAM, CDMP or similar certification
• Experience managing all aspects of a high performing team
• Ability to present and communicate with senior level management on process and performance in a structured environment

Responsibilities

• Provides effective leadership in developing highly engaged, high performance teams
• Sets direction and priorities for metadata management across assigned data domains, aligning stewardship activities to business outcomes and enterprise governance standards.
• Leads, coaches, and develops a team of data stewards; establishes clear expectations, performance goals, and career development paths.
• Oversees the creation, maintenance, and quality of business metadata within the enterprise data catalog (e.g., business glossary, data dictionaries, lineage).
• Partners with Business Data Owners and SMEs to define and approve business terms, critical data elements, and authoritative data definitions.
• Collaborates with the Data Governance and Technology teams to ensure traceability across business definitions, technical metadata, and end-to-end lineage.
• Ensures consistent identification of systems of record, data ownership, stewardship accountability, and usage context across domains.
• Drives continuous improvement in stewardship processes, standards, and tooling adoption.
• Establishes domain-level data quality strategies, including definition of business rules for completeness, accuracy, timeliness, validity, and consistency.
• Partners with Data Governance, Engineering, and Analytics teams to operationalize automated data quality monitoring, issue management, and reporting.
• Reviews data quality metrics and trends; ensures root-cause analysis and sustainable remediation plans are in place.
• Escalates material or persistent data quality risks to Data Owners and governance forums with clear impact assessment and recommended actions.
• Mentors team members responsible for data profiling, issue investigation, and remediation execution.
• Serves as a senior business representative in Data Domain Councils, influencing data standards, prioritization, and issue resolution.
• Acts as the primary escalation point between the business and the Data Governance function for assigned domains.
• Drives adoption of new governance policies, standards, and tools by embedding them into business processes and delivery workflows.
• Partners with Analytics, Product, and Operations leaders to ensure governed data enables trusted insights and decision-making.
• Leads or contributes to pilots and initiatives that demonstrate measurable business value from improved data quality and metadata maturity.
• Support the company’s commitment to risk management and protecting the integrity and confidentiality of systems and data.
• Ensures business-owned data complies with enterprise data management, privacy, security, and retention policies.
• Supports regulatory, audit, and risk reviews related to metadata accuracy, lineage traceability, and data quality controls.
• Proactively identifies data-related risks and control gaps; partners with Risk and Compliance teams to define mitigation strategies.
• Reinforces the organization’s commitment to protecting the integrity, confidentiality, and appropriate use of data.

Benefits

• Healthcare Coverage – Competitive medical (PPO/HDHP), dental, and vision plans as well as company contributions to your Health Savings Account (HSA) or pre-tax savings through flexible spending accounts (FSA) for commuting, health & dependent care expenses.
• 401(k) Retirement Plan – Featuring a 100% Company Safe Harbor Match on your first 6% deferral immediately upon eligibility.
• Paid Time Off – Flexible Time Off for Exempt (salaried) employees, as well as generous PTO for Non-Exempt (hourly) employees, plus 11 paid company holidays and a paid volunteer day.
• 12 weeks of Paid Parental Leave
• Maven Family Planning – provides support through your Parenting journey including egg freezing, fertility, adoption, surrogacy, pregnancy, postpartum, early pediatrics, and returning to work.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Number of Employees: 251-500 employees