Senior Data Governance Architect | Remote UK | 6M Contract

Xcede; Greater London; Remote; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job description

Technical Data Governance Lead

Reporting to the Chief Data & AI Officer | Key partners: CIO, CISO, BI, Legal & Privacy

UK REMOTE | O/IR35 | 3-6M & Transfer to perm available

About the company

A global, private equity backed B2B software provider with an AI-powered platform used by enterprise customers in dozens of countries. The business is now applying AI to itself, building an autonomous enterprise where AI runs the processes and people focus on judgement, customers and growth.

The role

You'll help the Chief Data & AI Officer shape the company's data strategy, then build the governance capability that makes data trusted, secure and ready for AI. This is a technical, hands-on role, not a policy-writing or compliance-only position. You'll move between strategy and roadmap, data standards with engineers, configuring governance tooling, and reviewing lineage and quality rules.

What you'll do

• Define the data strategy with the CDAIO, turn it into a prioritised roadmap, and report progress to leadership against clear measures
• Set up the governance operating model: data domains, owners and stewards, decision rights and a lightweight governance council
• Define technical data standards with the data, BI and integration teams, including modelling conventions, data contracts, classification, retention and access patterns
• Build controls into the platform and pipelines (automated tagging, policy-based access, quality gates, lineage capture) rather than relying on manual review
• Select, configure and run the governance toolchain: catalogue, glossary, lineage, data quality and access policy
• Own the data catalogue, end-to-end lineage for critical data, and the data quality framework
• Set the data requirements for AI use, covering approved sources, sensitive data handling and quality thresholds for models, retrieval and agents
• Work with Security, Legal and Privacy to turn GDPR, data residency, customer data terms and the EU AI Act into classification rules, controls and assurance evidence
• Maintain an inventory and classification of data across systems, including personal data, and act as the escalation point for data quality and protection incidents
• Coach data owners and stewards, run governance forums, resolve disputes over definitions and ownership, and keep governance proportionate to risk

Success in the first 6 months

• Data strategy and roadmap agreed and driving investment decisions
• Priority domains have named owners and a working governance council
• Critical data in priority domains is catalogued with sources, owners and lineage
• Data quality is measured against baselines and targets, with issues routed to owners
• Classification and access controls are enforced in the platform
• AI data requirements are defined and applied
• The CDAIO has one trusted view of governance coverage, quality and risk

What we're looking for

• 8+ years in data governance, data management, data quality, metadata or data architecture, including leading an enterprise governance programme from design to operation
• Hands-on technical depth: reading data models, writing SQL, reviewing pipeline designs, and discussing lineage and access controls credibly with engineers
• Experience configuring and integrating governance tooling such as Collibra, Microsoft Purview, Unity Catalog, Ataccama or Informatica
• Experience embedding governance in modern cloud data platforms through data contracts, automated classification and quality gates
• Experience as architect of record for BI and data integration platforms (warehouse or lakehouse, ELT, APIs and event-based integration)
• Working knowledge of GDPR and equivalent regulations, and of AI data governance, including requirements for LLM, retrieval and agent workloads
• Proven ability to build ownership models and run governance forums in a complex organisation
• Pragmatic, low ego and comfortable pushing back when data standards are at risk; able to "fly high and dive deep"
• Software or fast-moving technology experience preferred; regulated industry or PE-backed experience is a plus
• Certifications such as CDMP or DGSP are useful but not required; demonstrated delivery matters more