Associate Director, Metadata and Semantics Lead

Jobtailor; East Hanover (NJ); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Novartis is seeking an experienced Senior Metadata Management Lead in New Jersey to drive enterprise standards, governance, and catalog solutions. You will own metadata lifecycle, collaborate with data modeling, governance, and analytics teams, and ensure AI-ready data readiness.

The role emphasizes cross-functional leadership, automation of metadata processes, and improving data transparency across the data ecosystem. On-site at East Hanover, NJ with no relocation support.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher in a related field.
• 8+ years in metadata management, governance, data catalog, or related roles.
• Experience supporting enterprise data catalogs, glossaries, lineage, or governance programs.
• Ability to define metadata standards, capture requirements, and improve data discoverability.
• Company will not sponsor visas for this position.
• Must be accessible to East Hanover, NJ site; relocation support unavailable.

Responsibilities

• Define and advance enterprise metadata standards, frameworks, and operating practices.
• Lead metadata capture, curation, validation, and lifecycle management across data assets.
• Establish metadata requirements for certified data products and AI-ready datasets.
• Ensure documentation of ownership, lineage, quality rules, and business definitions.
• Partner with data modeling teams to align metadata with enterprise data structures.
• Collaborate with governance and stewardship teams to improve data transparency and trust.
• Drive automation of metadata ingestion, lineage capture, and catalog synchronization.
• Support data product certification through validation of metadata readiness standards.
• Lead metadata issue resolution, root cause analysis, and stakeholder communications.
• Champion data discoverability, reuse, and adoption of catalog capabilities.
• Work with cross-functional leaders to shape Novartis' enterprise data ecosystem.

Skills

Metadata Management

Data Governance

Data Catalog Implementation

Data Stewardship

Data Architecture

Automation of Metadata Processes

Root Cause Analysis

Collaboration

Stakeholder Communication

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Data Management, Information Systems, Computer Science, Analytics, Engineering, or related field

Tools

Data Catalog

Business Glossary

Data Governance Tools

Job description

• Define and advance enterprise metadata standards, frameworks, policies, and operating practices
• Lead metadata capture, curation, validation, and lifecycle management across enterprise data assets
• Establish metadata requirements for certified data products and artificial intelligence-ready datasets
• Ensure accurate documentation of ownership, lineage, classifications, quality rules, and business definitions
• Partner with data modeling teams to align metadata with enterprise data structures and relationships
• Collaborate with data governance and stewardship teams to improve data transparency and trust
• Drive automation of metadata ingestion, lineage capture, and catalog synchronization processes
• Support data product certification through validation of metadata completeness and readiness standards
• Lead metadata issue resolution, root cause analysis, remediation tracking, and stakeholder communications
• Champion enterprise data discoverability, reuse, and adoption of data catalog capabilities
• Work with cross-functional leaders in data governance, engineering, quality, and analytics to shape Novartis' enterprise data ecosystem

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Data Management, Information Systems, Computer Science, Analytics, Engineering, or related field
• 8+ years of experience in metadata management, data governance, data management, data catalog implementation, data stewardship, data architecture, or related data roles
• Experience supporting enterprise data catalog, business glossary, lineage, data product, or data governance programs
• Experience partnering with business and technical stakeholders to define metadata standards, capture requirements, and improve data discoverability
• Company will not sponsor visas for this position
• Must be accessible to the East Hanover, New Jersey site if applying for the preferred location; relocation support is unavailable

Core Competencies

Demonstrates expertise in metadata management, data governance, and data catalog implementation, with a strong focus on establishing standards and improving data discoverability. Proven ability to lead cross-functional collaboration and drive automation in metadata processes.

Highest-signal resume keywords

• Metadata Management
• Data Governance
• Data Catalog Implementation
• Data Stewardship
• Data Architecture

Hard Skills

• Metadata Standards
• Metadata Capture
• Data Lifecycle Management
• Data Quality Rules
• Data Lineage
• Data Documentation
• Data Modeling
• Data Validation
• Automation of Metadata Processes
• Root Cause Analysis

Soft Skills

• Collaboration
• Stakeholder Communication
• Leadership

Industry Keywords

• Enterprise Data
• Data Discoverability
• Data Transparency
• Data Ecosystem
• Artificial Intelligence-Ready Datasets

Tools & Technologies

• Data Catalog
• Business Glossary
• Data Governance Tools