Data Governance Lead

Tria; England; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Ownership of governance framework and

Job summary

Tria in Worcestershire is seeking a Data Governance Lead to build and mature governance capabilities across Databricks and Unity Catalog. You will establish governance, manage access control, classifications, and platform security, becoming the escalation point for contract breaches.

You will collaborate with product, engineering, risk and security to develop data contracts, quality, dictionaries and lineage, and to build a steward network; hybrid work with on-site Tuesdays/Wednesdays.

Qualifications

• Experience establishing or maturing data governance capabilities.
• Solid grasp of data contracts, data lakes and lakehouse governance.
• Working SQL familiarity and ability to discuss governance with data engineers.
• Ability to enforce and escalate, not just author policies.

Responsibilities

• Establish data governance and data management practices for high-quality customer data.
• Own governance within Databricks and Unity Catalog, including access control and security architecture.
• Build data contract framework between product teams and central data function; escalate when releases break contracts.
• Own data quality, dictionaries, glossaries, definitions and lineage across the estate.
• Establish a data steward network and processes to keep governance running without you in every conversation.
• Collaborate with Engineering to control sensitive customer data and reduce exposure risk.
• Partner with Data Protection Officer and InfoSec on governance from a technical and data platform perspective.

Skills

Data governance

SQL familiarity

Data contracts

Databricks Unity Catalog

Influence without authority

Tools

Unity Catalog

Collibra

Alation

Purview

Informatica

Job description

Data Governance Lead | Databricks & Unity Catalog | Worcestershire (Hybrid) | Up to £80,000 + 10% Bonus

This is a build role, not a maintenance one. You would be the first dedicated data governance hire, taking a function that currently exists in pockets and turning it into a proper capability. No inherited framework, no legacy tooling to unpick, and a hiring manager who wants to be advised rather than to hand you a playbook.

The platform is Databricks with Unity Catalog as the governance layer, supporting customer analytics, BI and a growing set of AI products. The data is sensitive and the sector is regulated, so getting this right carries genuine commercial weight.

The Role

• Establish the data governance and data management practices that underpin high quality customer data and future AI products.
• Own governance within Databricks and Unity Catalog, including access control, classification and platform-side security architecture.
• Build and own the data contract framework between product teams and the central data function, acting as the escalation point when releases break contracts.
• Own data quality, dictionaries, glossaries, definitions and lineage across the estate.
• Establish a data steward network and the forums and processes that keep governance running without you in every conversation.
• Work alongside engineering to ensure sensitive customer data is properly controlled and exposure risk is designed out.
• Partner with the Data Protection Officer and InfoSec while owning the technical and data platform side of governance.

What We're Looking For

• Demonstrable experience establishing or significantly maturing a data governance capability, with examples you can walk through.
• Solid grasp of data contracts, data lakes and modern lakehouse governance.
• Enough technical understanding to hold your own with data engineers, including working SQL familiarity.
• Confidence operating as the enforcement and escalation point, not just the policy author.
• Ability to influence across product, engineering, risk and security without direct authority.

Nice to have

• Hands on Unity Catalog experience. Comparable governance tooling such as Collibra, Alation, Purview or Informatica is equally welcome if you are ready to pick Unity Catalog up.
• Background in a regulated industry.
• Exposure to a product or value stream operating model.

What's On Offer

• Up to £80,000 base plus a 10% annual bonus.
• Hybrid working, with the team together in Worcestershire on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
• Genuine ownership. You define the framework, the standards and the roadmap.
• A modern data platform and a leadership team that treats governance as an enabler for AI and analytics, not a compliance tax.
• A two stage process: a technical conversation over Teams, then an in person interview. Quick decisions, no dragged out loops.