Data Governance Lead - Senior Manager

Data Governance Lead – Senior Manager 

Role Overview 

The Data Governance Lead – Senior Manager is responsible for building, leading, and growing the firm’s Data Governance capabilities while serving as a hands-on delivery leader on client engagements. 

This role combines three primary responsibilities: 

1. Data Governance Consulting & Delivery – Lead client governance programs, workshops, workstreams, and deliverables. 

1. Data Governance Practice Development – Develop repeatable offerings, methodologies, accelerators, and solutions that can be taken to market. 

1. Databricks Practice & Alliance Leadership – Help establish and grow Databricks capabilities, solutions, partnership relationships, and associated revenue opportunities. 

The ideal candidate combines strong consulting and client leadership skills with deep knowledge of enterprise data governance, modern cloud data platforms, Databricks, metadata management, data quality, and organizational change. 

Data Governance Program Leadership 

Program Management 

• Own and manage enterprise Data Governance program roadmaps. 

• Establish program priorities, milestones, deliverables, dependencies, and success metrics. 

• Manage day-to-day workflows for the Data Governance Office (DGO). 

• Maintain project plans, Jira boards, issue logs, decision logs, risks, and action items. 

• Provide clear program status and executive-level reporting. 

• Coordinate governance activities across multiple business and technology workstreams. 

Governance Framework, Policy & Standards 

• Design, implement, and operationalize enterprise Data Governance frameworks. 

• Develop and maintain: 

• Data governance policies 

• Data management standards 

• Data classification standards 

• Governance procedures 

• Data ownership models 

• Data quality standards 

• Data lifecycle standards 

• Align governance frameworks with organizational strategy, regulatory requirements, and enterprise architecture. 

• Apply governance frameworks and industry practices such as DAMA-DMBOK and DCAM. 

Data Ownership & Stewardship 

• Design and implement enterprise Data Owner and Data Steward operating models. 

• Define clear accountability for critical data domains and assets. 

• Establish roles and responsibilities across business owners, technical owners, data stewards, and custodians. 

• Develop stewardship processes, governance workflows, escalation paths, and decision-making models. 

• Coach and support Data Owners and Stewards as governance programs mature. 

Metadata, Catalog & Lineage 

• Lead enterprise metadata management and data catalog initiatives. 

• Establish and maintain: 

• Business glossaries 

• Data dictionaries 

• Metadata standards 

• Data lineage 

• Critical data elements 

• Data domains 

• Data classifications 

• Advise clients on governance technologies such as Collibra, Informatica, Alation, Microsoft Purview, and Databricks Unity Catalog. 

• Connect business metadata with technical metadata to improve data discovery, trust, lineage, and accountability. 

Data Quality 

• Establish enterprise Data Quality frameworks and standards. 

• Define measurable data quality dimensions, rules, thresholds, and KPIs. 

• Develop Data Quality scorecards and dashboards. 

• Establish processes for identifying, prioritizing, remediating, and monitoring data quality issues. 

• Partner with business and technical teams to implement preventative and detective data quality controls. 

• Help organizations transition from reactive data cleansing to sustainable Data Quality Management. 

Governance Councils & Executive Facilitation 

• Establish and facilitate Data Governance Councils, working groups, and steering committees. 

• Prepare governance agendas, executive pre-reads, scorecards, and decision materials. 

• Track council decisions, actions, issues, and escalations. 

• Facilitate difficult cross-functional discussions involving data ownership, definitions, priorities, and accountability. 

• Translate technical data issues into clear business risks, decisions, and recommendations for executive leadership. 

Cross-Functional Leadership 

• Act as a bridge between executive leadership, business units, data teams, analytics teams, security, legal, compliance, architecture, and engineering organizations. 

• Translate business objectives into practical governance requirements and operating models. 

• Partner with Information Security and Privacy teams to align governance processes with regulatory and security requirements. 

• Support governance and compliance requirements associated with regulations such as: 

• GDPR 

• CCPA 

• HIPAA 

• FERPA 

• Other applicable industry or institutional requirements 

• Drive organizational change and adoption of new governance processes. 

• Develop training, communications, and stakeholder engagement strategies that make governance operational rather than theoretical. 

 Data Governance Consulting & Client Delivery 

The Senior Manager must remain client-facing and billable and be capable of directly leading Data Governance engagements. 

Engagement Delivery 

• Serve as the Data Governance Lead on client engagements. 

• Lead governance workstreams from discovery through implementation. 

• Plan and facilitate client workshops with executive, functional, and technical stakeholders. 

• Lead current-state assessments and governance maturity assessments. 

• Develop future-state governance models and implementation roadmaps. 

• Own the quality and completion of client deliverables. 

• Manage consultants and analysts supporting governance engagements. 

• Provide executive-level recommendations and presentations. 

Typical Client Deliverables 

Lead the creation and delivery of: 

• Data Governance Strategy 

• Governance Operating Model 

• Data Governance Charter 

• Data Governance Roadmap 

• Data Owner and Stewardship Model 

• Data Domain Framework 

• Data Policy Framework 

• Data Classification Standards 

• Business Glossary 

• Critical Data Element Framework 

• Data Quality Framework 

• Data Quality Scorecards 

• Metadata Management Strategy 

• Data Catalog Strategy 

• Data Lineage Framework 

• Governance RACI 

• Governance Council Structure 

• Governance KPIs and Metrics 

• Governance Training and Adoption Plans 

 Data Governance Practice Development 

A key responsibility of this position is to build and grow marketable Data Governance solutions and offerings. 

Offering Development 

• Develop packaged Data Governance consulting offerings that can be consistently sold and delivered. 

• Create repeatable methodologies, templates, accelerators, assessments, and delivery frameworks. 

• Develop offerings around areas such as: 

• Data Governance Strategy & Roadmap 

• Governance Maturity Assessments 

• Data Stewardship 

• Data Quality 

• Metadata & Data Catalog 

• Data Lineage 

• Data Classification 

• Data Governance Operating Models 

• AI and Data Governance 

• Cloud Data Governance 

• Databricks Governance / Unity Catalog 

• Create estimates, delivery models, staffing plans, and standard scopes of work. 

• Develop reusable intellectual property that improves delivery speed and consistency. 

Business Development & Pre-Sales 

• Support sales opportunities as the Data Governance subject matter expert. 

• Lead discovery sessions with prospective clients. 

• Identify client challenges and translate them into consulting opportunities. 

• Develop solution approaches, estimates, proposals, and statements of work. 

• Participate in client presentations, demonstrations, RFP responses, and executive meetings. 

• Partner with account executives and consulting leadership to identify expansion opportunities within existing accounts. 

 Databricks Practice Leadership 

The Senior Manager will also help develop and grow the firm's Databricks consulting capabilities and partner channel. 

Strategy & Growth 

• Help define the firm's Databricks go-to-market strategy and service offerings. 

• Build a pipeline of Databricks consulting opportunities through direct clients and the Databricks partner ecosystem. 

• Develop relationships with Databricks account executives, solution architects, partner teams, and leadership. 

• Work with sales leadership to develop and maintain a $2M–$3M+ annual Databricks opportunity pipeline and sales target. 

• Identify opportunities where Databricks can support: 

• Enterprise data platforms 

• Analytics modernization 

• AI and machine learning 

• Data governance 

• Data quality 

• Data sharing 

• Data engineering 

• Cloud modernization 

• Support Databricks-focused proposals, scoping, estimates, demonstrations, and executive presentations. 

Databricks Architecture & Advisory 

• Provide technical leadership for enterprise Databricks solutions. 

• Design and advise on scalable Lakehouse architectures. 

• Establish modern Bronze / Silver / Gold medallion architectures. 

• Advise on architecture 

• Support architectures across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud environments. 

• Establish security, governance, data access, and operational standards for Databricks environments. 

Databricks Governance 

• Connect enterprise Data Governance strategies with Databricks platform capabilities. 

• Advise clients on implementing governance through Unity Catalog. 

• Establish approaches for Data ownership, Data classification, Access controls, Metadata, Data lineage, Data discovery, Data quality, Data sharing 

• Position governance as a foundational component of Databricks and enterprise AI/data modernization programs. 

Practice Development 

• Build reusable Databricks reference architectures, accelerators, frameworks, and delivery methodologies. 

• Establish technical standards and delivery best practices. 

• Develop reusable deployment and implementation patterns. 

• Build packaged Databricks offerings that can be sold through both direct sales and the Databricks partner channel. 

• Develop internal training and certification strategies to expand Databricks capabilities across the consulting organization. 

• Mentor architects, engineers, consultants, and technical delivery leaders. 

Required Skills & Qualifications 

Data Governance 

• 7+ years of experience in Data Governance, Data Management, Data Quality, Metadata Management, or enterprise data programs. 

• Demonstrated experience leading enterprise Data Governance programs. 

• Strong understanding of frameworks such as DAMA-DMBOK and DCAM. 

• Experience establishing Data Owner and Data Steward operating models. 

• Experience developing governance policies, standards, procedures, and controls. 

• Experience with metadata, business glossaries, data catalogs, lineage, and data quality. 

• Experience with platforms such as Collibra, Informatica, Alation, Microsoft Purview, or similar technologies. 

Databricks & Modern Data Platforms 

• Strong knowledge of modern cloud data platforms and Lakehouse architectures. 

• Experience with or strong knowledge of Databricks, Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, Spark, PySpark, SQL, and modern ETL/ELT architectures. 

• Understanding of cloud environments including AWS, Azure, and/or Google Cloud. 

• Previous experience working with the Databricks partner ecosystem strongly preferred. 

Consulting & Leadership 

• Demonstrated experience leading client-facing consulting engagements. 

• Ability to lead executive workshops and facilitate complex stakeholder discussions. 

• Experience managing cross-functional consulting and technical teams. 

• Strong project and program management capabilities. 

• Ability to manage multiple client engagements and internal practice initiatives simultaneously. 

• Excellent executive communication, presentation, facilitation, and conflict-resolution skills. 

• Strong change management and organizational adoption capabilities. 

Business Development 

• Experience developing consulting offerings and bringing new services to market. 

• Experience supporting complex proposals, estimates, statements of work, and RFP responses. 

• Demonstrated ability to develop client relationships and identify follow-on opportunities. 

• Ability to develop and support $2M–$3M+ annually in Databricks and Data Governance-related sales opportunities. 

• Previous experience developing business through technology alliance or partner channels strongly preferred. 

Education & Certifications 

• Bachelor's degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, Data Management, Business, or related discipline. 

• CDMP, DAMA, DCAM, Collibra, Informatica, Databricks, or cloud certifications preferred. 

 

Ideal Candidate Profile 

The ideal candidate is a consulting leader who can sell, lead, and deliver. 

This individual should be equally comfortable: 

In the Boardroom 
Advising executives on Data Governance strategy, operating models, organizational accountability, and enterprise data transformation. 

In the Workshop 
Leading Data Governance sessions, defining domains, working with Data Owners and Stewards, resolving organizational challenges, and producing client deliverables. 

On the Project 
Serving as a billable Data Governance Lead responsible for workstream delivery, quality, timelines, and client outcomes. 

In the Market 
Developing Data Governance and Databricks offerings, shaping opportunities, supporting proposals, and helping generate new consulting revenue. 

With Technology Partners 
Building a strong relationship with Databricks and turning that partnership into repeatable solutions, client opportunities, and a sustainable consulting practice. 

The successful candidate will help establish the organization as a trusted provider of Data Governance, modern data platform, and Databricks consulting services, while remaining actively involved in client delivery. 

Additional Requirements:

• Demonstrated ability to build trusted advisor relationships with clients
• Experience supporting sales and business development
• Position requires flexibility to travel periodically based on business and client needs

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Additional Information

Attain Partners values your mental, emotional, and physical health and wellbeing. Our comprehensive benefits package starts on your first day of employment and includes benefits such as:

• Competitive health, dental, and vision coverage, HSA and FSA accounts, life and disability insurance, fertility and family planning benefits, and employee assistance and discount programs
• 11 paid federal holidays and flexible unlimited time off (UTO)
• Generous 401(k) matching with immediate vesting
• Flexible career paths – our career tracks provide advancement, mobility, and flexibility as you continue to grow with us
• A healthy environment where we value unique experiences, and care about everything that makes you, you.

Attain Partners is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. Individual compensation will be commensurate with experience, education, and skills.

Requires 7+ years in data governance or enterprise data programs, consulting and team leadership experience, Databricks and cloud platform knowledge, business development skills, and a related bachelor's degree.

Key Responsibilities

• leading governance
• developing offerings
• advising clients

Skills & Tools

Databricks, Jira, Collibra, Informatica, Alation, Microsoft Purview, Databricks Unity Catalog, Delta Lake, Spark, PySpark, SQL, AWS, Azure, Google Cloud

Job Details

• Category: Business Operations
• Seniority: Senior Level
• Commitment: Full Time
• Workplace: Remote — United States or McLean
• Salary: USD 190,000 – 200,000 / year
• Languages: English

Benefits

• 401k matching
• Generous paid time off
• Retirement plan

About Attain Partners

A consulting firm helping education, nonprofit, healthcare, and government organizations advance important missions through strategy and technology. — Industry: Consulting Services