Data Governance Manager

Al Ghurair; United Arab Emirates; On-site; AED 279,000 - 390,600; Full time

Job summary

A prominent organization in the UAE is looking for a skilled professional to lead data governance initiatives. The role involves architecting and operationalizing frameworks across diverse data landscapes. Responsibilities include managing data governance tools, conducting data assessments, leading cross-functional teams, and ensuring compliance with data quality standards. The ideal candidate should have extensive experience with tools like Informatica Axon, Azure Data Factory and a strong grasp of data management best practices. This position offers an exciting opportunity to shape the data governance strategy in a dynamic environment.

Qualifications

• Experience with data governance and compliance measures.
• Strong knowledge of data management tools and techniques.
• Experience in managing cross-functional teams and projects.

Responsibilities

• Architect data governance frameworks for structured and unstructured data.
• Lead governance tool evaluations and implementations.
• Drive adoption of data quality policies across the organization.

Skills

Data governance frameworks

Metadata management

Data lineage automation

Agile/Scrum delivery

ETL pipeline integration

Data quality metrics

Tools

Informatica Axon

Azure Data Factory

Snowflake

Databricks

Power BI

JIRA

ServiceNow

Job description

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

STRATEGIC

1. Architect and operationalize data governance frameworks across structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data landscapes; Informatica Axon, EDC, IDQ, DDM, Collibra, and Azure Purview.
2. Define and operationalize enterprise-wide metadata strategies including the creation of business glossaries, controlled vocabularies, reference data models, and data lineage automation using tools like Azure Data Catalog, IBM Cloud Pak, and Alation.
3. Lead strategic alignment between governance frameworks and enterprise platforms such as Snowflake, Databricks, Azure Synapse Analytics, and Oracle Data Integrator, ensuring data trust and lineage across all layers of the analytics stack.
4. Standardize stewardship responsibilities across business and IT teams using role-based workflows and issue remediation pipelines integrated with JIRA, ServiceNow, and Confluence.
5. Champion organization-wide adoption of data governance principles by embedding them into Agile/Scrum delivery models, CI/CD pipelines, and cloud-native data engineering workflows via Apache Airflow, dbt, and Azure Data Factory.
6. Drive maturity benchmarking and gap analysis aligned with DAMA-DMBOK, CDMC, and IBM Data Maturity Model, reporting progress to C-level stakeholders and data governance councils.

7. Oversee governance tool evaluations and proof-of-concepts, recommending scalable and interoperable solutions aligned with evolving technology stacks and regulatory demands.

OPERATIONAL

1. Configure, deploy, and manage enterprise data governance tools (EDC, Axon, DDM, IDQ, Collibra) for metadata ingestion, lineage mapping, and DQ rule enforcement.
2. Conduct profiling, scoring, and remediation of critical data using custom and packaged quality rules across SQL Server, Oracle, Snowflake, and Hive environments.
3. Manage sensitive data classification and protection programs using static/dynamic masking and role-based access controls across hybrid DWHs.
4. Drive deep integrations of governance into ETL pipelines using Informatica Developer, WhereScape Red/3D, and Apache Airflow.
5. Collaborate with data engineering teams to implement governance-aware pipelines in Azure Data Factory, Databricks, and Azure Data Lake Storage.
6. Deliver full lifecycle support for BI governance across Oracle OBIEE, Tableau, Power BI, and Google Looker Studio.

7. Lead adoption of Azure Purview and Microsoft Information Protection policies across business domains.

PEOPLE MANAGEMENT

1. Lead cross-functional collaboration between data stewards, engineers, and business SMEs to ensure seamless execution of governance initiatives.
2. Conduct regular training and mentoring sessions for business users and data stewards on governance tools like Informatica & Azure.
3. Serve as a subject matter expert and advisor, guiding teams on best practices in metadata, data quality, and stewardship.
4. Manage stakeholder expectations, ensuring governance objectives are aligned with enterprise-level goals and timelines.
5. Foster a culture of data accountability, ownership, and literacy across all levels of the organization.

PRODUCT / PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

1. Drive continuous enhancement of data governance processes using insights from maturity assessments, regulatory feedback, and data quality metrics.
2. Lead automation of data quality monitoring and lineage tracking using Informatica & Azure, reducing manual intervention and increasing audit readiness.
3. Introduce standardization and version control of glossaries, metadata, and lineage documents across all business domains.
4. Integrate governance checkpoints into data migration, DWH, and analytics lifecycles to ensure proactive compliance and trust in data.
5. Recommend and implement process improvements based on gap analysis, industry benchmarks, and internal KPIs to increase governance maturity.