Senior Manager, Data Management

Rainforest Alliance; Amsterdam; Hybrid; EUR 71,000 - 88,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote working flexibility

Professional growth

Work-life balance

Job summary

The Rainforest Alliance is seeking a Senior Manager, Data Management to lead the strategy, governance, and execution of enterprise data management capabilities across the organization. Reporting to the Director, Data Management & Intelligence, you will lead the foundational data components needed to improve our data agenda.

This is both a highly strategic and hands-on leadership role. You will define and evolve the enterprise data management roadmap, translate organizational goals into

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Data Management, Information Systems, Computer Science, Statistics, Business Administration, or a related field.
• 8+ years of experience in data management, data governance, or a related data discipline, including 2-3 years in a formal people management role.
• Demonstrated experience building or scaling a data governance program from the ground up, including policy development, standards definition, and stewardship models.
• Experience leading master data management (MDM) and metadata management projects at an enterprise level.
• Hands-on experience implementing or administering a data catalogue or data governance platform (e.g., Collibra, Alation, Informatica, Microsoft Purview, or similar).
• Experience with data governance frameworks, data quality methodologies, and metadata management principles, along with how governance integrates with analytics, BI, and reporting systems.
• Experience building, lead, and mentor a team, including hiring, performance management, and career development.
• Working knowledge of data privacy and regulatory frameworks such as GDPR, CCPA, or sector-specific regulations, and how they inform data sharing and ethics policies (preferred).
• Stakeholder management skills, with demonstrated ability to improve adoption of standards across teams without direct authority.
• Program management experience managing multiple complex, cross-functional projects simultaneously.
• Demonstrated change management experience.
• Ability to travel a maximum of 10% per year, nationally and internationally.

Responsibilities

• Strategy & Roadmap Leadership: Implement and refine the enterprise data management strategy, aligned with organizational and mission-level goals.
• Manage and evolve the data management roadmap, including prioritization methodology and quarterly reviews with senior stakeholders.
• Translate high-level organizational goals into concrete data projects.
• Identify strategic risks related to data management and build mitigation plans.
• Lead change management efforts: run workshops and training to shift mindset and build data literacy.
• Metadata & Master Data Management: Lead metadata management projects to improve data discoverability, lineage transparency, and documentation.
• Manage master data modelling, hierarchy management, and golden records across important domains.
• Ensure integration of metadata and master data solutions with analytics, reporting, and operational systems.
• Lead adoption and optimization of data cataloguing and lineage tooling.
• Governance, Ethics & Compliance: Develop frameworks for data governance, ethics, quality, metadata, and master data management.
• Oversee enterprise data policies, standards, definitions, and controls.
• Ensure compliance with GDPR, CCPA, and other regulations.
• Data Quality: Define data quality standards, KPIs, and measurement methodologies.
• Establish ongoing monitoring and reporting on data quality performance.
• Team Leadership & People Management: Lead and mentor a network of data owners and stewards; onboarding and engagement.
• Mentor and lead your team of data professionals across data governance, data quality, and ethics.
• Cross-Functional Influence & Stakeholder Management: Lead governance forums with business-side data owners and stewards outside direct reporting lines.
• Partner with engineering, analytics, product, and business leaders to align data priorities and roadmaps.

Skills

Data governance

Stakeholder mgmt

Program management

Leadership

Change management

Data quality

Team leadership

Cross-functional work

Data privacy

Travel willingness

Education

Bachelor's degree in Data Management, Information Systems, Computer Science, Statistics, Business Administration

Master's degree preferred

Tools

Collibra

Alation

Informatica

Microsoft Purview

Job description

POSITION:

Senior Manager, Data Management

LOCATION:

We will only consider candidates legally authorized to work in the Netherlands, UK, US or Kenya.

WORKPLACE TYPE:

Flexible hybrid working environment

JOB LEVEL:

16

SALARY:

• Netherlands salary range: €70,501 - €88,126
• US National salary range: $96,886 - $121,107
• New York salary range: $101,390 - $130,866

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Senior Manager, Data Management leads the strategy, governance, and execution of enterprise data management capabilities across the organization. Reporting to the Director, Data Management & Intelligence, you will lead the foundational data components needed to improve our data agenda. These include data quality, metadata, master data, governance, and stewardship, and it ensures that they back clear standards, sound ethics, and execution across complex, cross-functional projects.

This is both a highly strategic and hands-on leadership role. The Senior Manager, Data Management will define and evolve the enterprise data management roadmap. You will translate organizational goals into concrete governance frameworks and build the coalition of business, technology, and analytics stakeholders needed to embed new ways of working. You will lead a team of three data professionals, while also influencing a broader network of data owners and stewards across the business who don't report to them directly.

WHAT YOU WILL DO:

• Strategy & Roadmap Leadership: Implement and refine the enterprise data management strategy, aligned with our organizational and mission-level goals.
• Manage and evolve the data management roadmap, including prioritization methodology, trade-off decisions across competing our needs, and a regular review schedule (e.g., quarterly) with senior stakeholders.
• Translate high-level organisational goals into concrete, applicable data projects.
• Identify strategic risks (regulatory, technical, resourcing) related to data management and build mitigation plans.
• Lead change management efforts: run workshops and training to shift mindset and build our data literacy; develop communication plans for major policy or tooling rollouts.
• Metadata & Master Data Management: Lead metadata management projects to improve data discoverability, lineage transparency, and documentation.
• Manage master data modelling, hierarchy management, and golden record processes across important domains
• Ensure integration of metadata and master data solutions with analytics, reporting, and operational systems.
• Lead the ongoing adoption and optimization of our data cataloguing and lineage tooling.
• Governance, Ethics & Compliance: Expand (and in some cases develop) frameworks and best practices for data governance, ethics, quality, metadata, and master data management.
• Oversee creation and adoption of enterprise data policies, standards, definitions, and controls.
• Ensure compliance with data-related regulatory and privacy requirements (e.g., GDPR, CCPA, and other applicable regulations).
• Data Quality: Define data quality standards, KPIs, and measurement methodologies across important domains at an enterprise level.
• Establish ongoing monitoring and reporting on data quality performance against defined KPIs.
• Team Leadership & People Management: Lead, and mentor (through indirect influence) a network of data owners and stewards, including onboarding and engagement through the data lifecycle.
• Mentor and lead your (direct) team of data professionals across data governance, data quality, and sharing and ethics.
• Cross-Functional Influence & Stakeholder Management: Lead cross-functional data governance forums (steering committees, councils, working groups) including business-side data owners and stewards outside the direct reporting line.
• Partner with engineering, analytics, product, and business leaders to agree on data priorities and roadmaps.

WHAT YOU BRING:

• Bachelor's degree in Data Management, Information Systems, Computer Science, Statistics, Business Administration, or a related field.
• 8+ years of experience in data management, data governance, or a related data discipline, including 2-3 years in a formal people management role.
• Demonstrated experience building or scaling a data governance program from the ground up, including policy development, standards definition, and stewardship models.
• Experience leading master data management (MDM) and metadata management projects at an enterprise level.
• Hands-on experience implementing or administering a data catalogue or data governance platform (e.g., Collibra, Alation, Informatica, Microsoft Purview, or similar).
• Experience with data governance frameworks, data quality methodologies, and metadata management principles, along with how governance integrates with analytics, BI, and reporting systems.
• Experience building, lead, and mentor a team, including hiring, performance management, and career development.
• Working knowledge of data privacy and regulatory frameworks such as GDPR, CCPA, or sector-specific regulations, and how they inform data sharing and ethics policies (preferred).
• Stakeholder management skills, with demonstrated ability to improve adoption of standards across teams without direct authority.
• Program management experience managing multiple complex, cross-functional projects simultaneously.
• Demonstrated change management experience.
• Ability to travel a maximum of 10% per year, nationally and internationally.

BENEFITS OF WORKING AT THE RAINFOREST ALLIANCE:

• Be a part of a global organization with an impactful mission and a collaborative, respectful, and accountable culture.
• Enjoy opportunities for professional growth and career development.
• Benefit from remote working flexibility and flexible hybrid working environment.
• Prioritize your wellbeing. We have numerous ways to promote work-life balance.

The Rainforest Alliance encourages diversity and inclusion across the global organization. With this commitment to diversity, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, ages, disability and any other protected group.