Data Governance Specialist

Job Summary:

The Data Governance Specialist supports the design, development, and execution of the organization's data governance framework. The role ensures alignment of data practices with business objectives, promotes data as a strategic asset, and collaborates with data owners, stewards, and cross-functional teams to strengthen data quality, compliance, and organizational data maturity.

Key Responsibilities:

• Support the development and implementation of data governance frameworks, policies, standards, and procedures.
• Collaborate with data stewards, domain owners, and business/tech teams to embed governance principles into BAU and transformation initiatives.
• Maintain data definitions, metadata, data lineage, and other governance artifacts in the data catalog (Informatica Axon/EDC/IDQ).
• Drive awareness and adoption of data governance practices through training, communication, and stakeholder engagement.
• Support data stewardship activities, data quality monitoring, and issue remediation.
• Manage smaller data initiatives/projects and coordinate governance forums.
• Contribute to regulatory and compliance activities and monitor trends in data management and governance.
• Support Informatica IDMC migration and cloud-based data governance initiatives.
• Promote sharing and reuse of data assets and ensure alignment with enterprise data strategy and architecture.
• Engage with internal stakeholders and external partners (vendors, regulators, consultants) to advance governance maturity.

Requirements:

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Business, or related field; Master's or DAMA/related certifications preferred.
• Minimum 3 years of direct data governance or data management experience (5+ years overall industry experience).
• Experience in financial services or regulatory data initiatives is an advantage.
• Strong hands-on experience with Informatica DG tools (Axon, EDC, IDQ, IDMC) and cloud-based data platforms.
• Proven track record of delivering data governance/quality programs and strategic data initiatives.

Skills & Knowledge

• Strong understanding of data governance and data quality frameworks (DAMA, NDMO, CB UAE, GDPR).
• Ability to analyze business requirements and translate them into data governance solutions.
• Proficiency in BI/data analysis tools and familiarity with project management methodologies.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with ability to influence senior leadership.
• Understanding of AI and model governance is an added advantage.