Data Governance Advisor

Pathward; United States; Hybrid; USD 86,000 - 145,000; Full time

Job summary

Pathward is seeking a Data Governance Specialist to drive standards, metadata, and stewardship across the enterprise. You will collaborate with business and technical teams to ensure accurate data definitions, lineage, and compliant usage, while supporting governance programs and audits.

The role emphasizes data literacy, governance reporting, and continuous process improvements in a hybrid, national scope. Competitive salary and benefits accompany the position.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent education and work experience; Master’s preferred.
• Typically requires a minimum of 8 years of related experience with a bachelor’s or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Define, maintain, and enhance business metadata, including data definitions and classifications across the enterprise.
• Monitor data quality by evaluating metrics and participating in remediation and root-cause analysis.
• Ensure data is used properly by enforcing governance policies and approved usage guidelines.
• Support stewardship workflows, including approvals, reviews, and documentation updates.
• Collaborate with business and tech teams to clarify definitions and align data requirements.
• Lead or participate in cross-functional governance forums to resolve data issues.
• Contribute to governance reporting and metrics, including quality trends and domain risks.
• Support audit, compliance, and regulatory obligations with accurate documentation.
• Recommend improvements to data processes, standards, and stewardship practices.

Skills

Data governance

Data quality

Metadata management

Stakeholder collaboration

Regulatory compliance

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree preferred

Job description

We are a hybrid, remote-office company dedicated to growing our talent anywhere!

We have onsite locations in: Sioux Falls, SD, Scottsdale, AZ, Louisville, KY, Troy, MI, Franklin, TN, Easton, PA.

At Pathward, we take tremendous pride in our purpose to create financial inclusion for all™. We are a financial empowerment company that works with innovators to increase financial availability, choice, and opportunity for all. We strive to remove barriers that traditional institutions put in the way of financial access, and promote economic mobility by providing responsible, secure, high quality financial products.

We are a team of problem solvers and innovators who celebrate our differences and know that our unique perspectives make us stronger and well-positioned for success. We celebrate, and embrace, our team members through our strong *HUMBLE*HUNGRY*SMART approach, and we believe that we are strongest when we embrace the voices of our employees, customers, partners, and the communities we serve.

About the Role

The Data Governance focus specializes in establishing policies, standards, and processes to ensure the quality, security, and proper management of organizational data. Defines data ownership, maintains data integrity, and ensures compliance with regulations through developing governance frameworks, managing data stewardship, and collaborating with key stakeholders to align data practices with business objectives.

What You Will Do

• Define, maintain, and enhance business metadata, including data definitions, classifications, and lineage to ensure clarify, consistency, and accuracy across the enterprise.
• Monitor and assess data quality by evaluating metrics, identifying issues or anomalies, and participating in remediation and root-cause analysis.
• Ensure data is used appropriately by supporting and enforcing data governance policies, standards, and approved usage guidelines.
• Support and maintain stewardship workflows, including approvals, reviews, critical data elements, and documentation updates across relevant data assets.
• Collaborate with business and technical teams to clarify definitions, address data issues, and ensure alignment on data requirements and business rules.
• Lead or participate in cross-functional data governance forums to resolve data issues, promote consistency, and drive domain-level alignment.
• Contribute to governance reporting and metrics, including quality trends, domain risks, metadata completeness and stewardship activity status.
• Support audit, compliance, and regulatory obligations by ensuring documentation is accurate, accessible, and aligned with enterprise requirements.
• Recommend and implement improvements to data processes, standards, definitions, and stewardship practices to increase quality and operational efficiency.
• Champion data governance and data literacy, providing guidance, education, and leadership in advancing the organization s overall data management maturity.
• Other duties as assigned.

What You Will Need

• Bachelor s degree or equivalent education and work experience. Master s degree preferred.
• Typically requires a minimum of 8 years of related experience with a bachelor’s or equivalent.

center; The responsibilities listed above are not all inclusive and may be changed at any time.

Salary range: $86,000 – $145,000

The salary range reflects the minimum and maximum target for a new hire in this role. Individual pay within the range will be determined by multiple factors which can include but are not limited to a candidate’s experience, qualifications, skills, and location. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary for your location during the hiring process. Ranges may be modified in the future.
This role is also eligible for an annual performance-based incentive opportunity. Pathward offers a comprehensive benefits package for eligible employees, including health insurance, 401(k) retirement benefits, life insurance, disability benefits, paid time off, and more.

We provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, transgender status, pregnancy, national origin, age (age 40 and over), disability, genetic information, marital status, hair texture or hairstyle, ancestry, service in the uniformed services, protected veteran status, status as a victim of domestic violence or any other class protected by federal, state and local laws.