Data Governance Lead

Unilever; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A global consumer goods company is seeking a Data Governance Lead to safeguard and maximize the value of consumer and employee data. This role involves ensuring compliance with data governance standards, leading data quality initiatives, and supporting data-driven marketing efforts. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in digital and data-driven marketing, strong knowledge of data privacy regulations, and excellent communication skills. Opportunities for flexible working options are offered as part of an inclusive workplace.

Benefits

Flexible working options

Inclusive workplace policies

Qualifications

• Proven experience in data governance and data quality.
• Strong understanding of consumer data technologies.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Ensure compliance with data governance standards.
• Lead data quality initiatives across the organization.
• Support AI governance practices and training.

Skills

Data governance

Data quality improvement

Data integration

Stakeholder engagement

Technical communication

Education

Experience in digital and data-driven marketing

Tools

Data architecture

GDPR compliance

Job description

JOB TITLE: Data Governance Lead

LOCATION: 100VE

WORK LEVEL: WL2B

In today's digital and AI-driven world, data is the backbone of our Social First agenda-fuelling insights, personalisation, and growth while meeting rising consumer expectations for transparency and trust. As regulations tighten and data-driven ambitions expand, we need a visionary Data Governance Lead to safeguard, manage, and maximise the value of consumer and employee data. This role will ensure accuracy, security, and compliance, enabling markets to deliver meaningful engagement at scale.

The Data Governance Lead will be responsible for driving our Consumer and Employee Data Governance and Excellence Programme, ensuring that the functions meet standards on data collection, quality, privacy, sharing, storage, and retention. The ideal candidate will possess a knowledge of data-related challenges in a marketing and HR context, including data collection, consent and preferences management, data storage, sharing, data marketing, and retention. They will work with data, markets, technology teams, and legal teams to ensure that data governance standards are implemented to the highest level in local markets.

Responsibilities

Data Compliance (30%)

• Ensure that the market is able to collect and use rich, relevant, and legally compliant data for marketing and HR. This includes aligning data collection practices with our Social First agenda to enhance consumer engagement and personalisation.
• Act as the conduit between Global Data Governance, Global Privacy Legal, and local Privacy teams to ensure that global standards are deployed within marketing processes, technology ecosystems, and third‑party processing activities.
• Develop and update privacy and governance controls, including specific controls required to protect data from accidental or deliberate misuse.
• Analyse upcoming regulations with global and local privacy teams and legal teams to determine the risk‑assessed position for compliance.
• Conduct data audits and prepare compliance reports to ensure adherence to regulatory requirements.
• Develop end‑to‑end data maps which provide full transparency and visualisation of the data lifecycle in marketing and HR. Catalogue, monitor, and identify essential data assets.

Data Management and Quality Improvement (30%)

• Lead organisation‑wide data quality initiatives by identifying improvement opportunities, making actionable recommendations, and continuously monitoring and auditing data systems to ensure accuracy, completeness, and compliance with organisational and regulatory standards.
• Drive the development of best practice data frameworks to capture clean, structured, and more insightful data.
• Regulate, assess, and support the onboarding of third parties and set standards on how data is shared, co‑owned, and deleted with third parties.

Frontline Data and AI Governance, Awareness, Best Practices & Data Maturity (40%)

• Support the completion of the annual data governance maturity programme for key EU markets.
• Define clear data and AI ownership roles, clarifying responsibilities of data custodians, processors, analysts, advisors, users, and third‑party providers.
• Promote responsible AI practices, including transparency, fairness, and bias mitigation in data‑driven marketing.
• Conduct regular training programmes and workshops with marketers to improve capabilities for collecting and using consumer data and introduce AI literacy sessions to ensure ethical and compliant AI adoption.
• Manage the organisation and administration of the Data Governance Board, expanding its remit to include AI oversight.

Key Skills and Experience

• Experience: Proven experience working in digital and data‑driven marketing and HR functions.
• Technical Skills: Proficiency in data governance, data quality and metadata management, data integration, and data architecture. Strong understanding of consumer data and technologies used in data‑driven marketing.
• Data Skills: Solid knowledge of data collection, consent and preference management, storage, sharing, retention, and data marketing. Ability to identify data quality improvements, optimise data value and safety, and apply data modelling, data standards, and master data management.
• Compliance Skills: Expertise in data frameworks, privacy controls, and regulatory compliance including GDPR, e‑Privacy, and the EU AI Act.
• Management Skills: Ability to lead cross‑functional teams, manage projects, and drive data governance initiatives.
• Collaboration & Networking: Strong interpersonal skills to work effectively with global and local teams across marketing, IT, legal, and privacy.
• Communication & Documentation: Excellent written and verbal skills to draft governance and privacy controls, and clearly articulate data governance strategies.
• European Context: Good understanding of European data privacy requirements and adapting global standards locally.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Ability to communicate insights to technical and non‑technical stakeholders, advocate for better data practices, and facilitate multidisciplinary discussions.

What We Offer

Whilst the role is advertised on a full‑time basis, we would be happy to discuss possible flexible working options and what this may look like for you. We strive to achieve a family‑friendly and inclusive workplace and, above all, create possibilities for all. Diversity at Unilever is about inclusion, embracing differences, creating possibilities and growing together for better business performance. We embrace diversity in our workforce. This means giving full and fair consideration to all applicants and continuing development of all employees regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity. We are also more than happy to provide reasonable adjustments during our application and interview process to enable you to present your best self. To find out more, including about our Employee Resource Groups, please click here Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (unilever.com).

Location

In June 2020 we announced our plan to consolidate a number of Unilever's offices across the South East of England into a new Unilever campus in Kingston‑upon‑Thames in or around early 2025. However, on the 08 August 2024 we announced to our existing staff our proposal to retain our central Head Office in London, 100 Victoria Embankment (“100VE”) until our lease expires in 2027. As a result of this new proposal, we will be consulting with our existing staff, and new joiners who join during this period of consultation at 100VE, on the proposal made in August 2024. During consultation we will clarify the future location of each team and function. This means your role will either be based in 100VE until 2027 or in Kingston‑upon‑Thames from early 2025. As we are yet to commence consultation on the proposal you agree, until such a time when consultation has concluded, your normal place of work as set out in the enclosed Statement of Terms & Conditions will be 100VE. You agree that on the conclusion of the consultation your place of work will be 100VE or 100VE until early 2025 and then Kingston‑upon‑Thames (“the locations”) and you will be notified of which of the locations will be your place of work after that consultation ends.