Data Governance Engineer San Francisco, CA, USA

Chime; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 221,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) match

Medical, dental, and vision benefits

Generous vacation policy

Paid parental leave

Wellness stipend

Job summary

Chime is looking for a Data Governance Engineer to develop and implement governance policies and tools for data quality and compliance. This hands-on engineering role requires proficiency in Python and 5+ years of experience in data governance or engineering. The role emphasizes building trust signals and data quality frameworks while collaborating with teams to improve data initiatives. Competitive salary ranges from $160,000 to $221,000, alongside various benefits and a flexible working environment.

Qualifications

• Experience with building data trust signals and quality scorecards.
• Hands-on experience in data governance and quality assurance.
• Proficiency in Python or similar programming languages.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement data quality frameworks and monitoring systems.
• Develop and deploy automation solutions for data governance tasks.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to align data governance initiatives.

Skills

Data classification

Data quality governance

Programming in Python

Communication skills

Curiosity about AI

Education

5+ years in data engineering or governance

Tools

Snowflake

Job description

The Data Governance function is pivotal in ensuring the integrity, trustworthiness, and effective management of Chime’s data assets. Our mission is to establish and operationalize data governance frameworks that not only meet compliance requirements, but actively enable high‑confidence decision making across the company. As a Data Governance Engineer, you will develop and implement policies and tools for data quality, developer enablement, certified datasets, and governance automation – with a sharp focus on building trust signals and scorecards that help data consumers quickly understand and act on the reliability of Chime's data.

This is a hands‑on engineering role. You will write production‑quality code to build automation for governance and data quality processes using Terraform, Python (or similar languages), and contribute to internal libraries, frameworks, and orchestration workflows that enable scalable governance.

You will partner closely with data engineering, analytics, product engineering, and compliance teams to:

• Support Chime in data compliance and risk reduction initiatives
• Establish data quality as a product discipline
• Build trust signals and scorecards that make data reliability transparent and data context valuable for a variety of use cases
• Implement governance workflows upstream, where data are created
• Ensure data context and metadata are sufficient for downstream use cases, including AI applications

You will be involved in reviews of technical designs and implementation plans to provide guidance on appropriate development from a data governance and compliance perspective, acting as a trusted advisor to teams innovating at Chime. You will also be a strong advocate and leader for Artificial Intelligence tooling and adoption at Chime, bringing curiosity and a practical eye for where AI creates leverage in data governance workflows. This role is 40% strategic influence, 40% development and building, and 20% stakeholder management and support.

The base salary for this role and level of experience will begin at $160,000.00 and go up to $221,000.00. Full‑time employees are also eligible for a bonus, competitive equity package, and benefits. The actual base salary offered may be higher, depending on your location, skills, qualifications, and experience.

In this role, you can expect to

• Build Data Trust Infrastructure: Design and implement trust scorecards, trust signals, and quality indicators that give data consumers real‑time visibility into data reliability – and partner with producers upstream to embed quality checks at the source before issues propagate downstream.
• Drive Data Quality Strategy: Own and evolve Chime's data quality strategy end‑to‑end. Design and partner with engineering teams to implement data quality frameworks and monitoring systems that proactively identify, surface, and resolve data issues at scale.
• Develop and Implement Data Governance Policies: Create and enforce policies for data classification, quality, and lifecycle management, ensuring data integrity and compliance with SOX and other applicable regulatory standards.
• Enable the Data Catalog: Collaborate on the development, adoption, and enrichment of Chime's data catalog – improving discoverability, context richness (lineage, ownership, definitions, usage guidance), and the overall experience of working with Chime's data.
• Automate Governance Processes: Develop and deploy automation solutions for data governance tasks, such as metadata management, data lineage tracking, access controls, and quality remediation workflows.
• Champion SOX Compliance: Play an active role in Chime's SOX compliance efforts, ensuring that data governance practices, controls, and audit trails meet regulatory requirements and are well documented.
• Lead AI Adoption for Data Governance: Serve as a leader and advocate for AI tooling within the data governance space – identifying opportunities to apply AI to automate governance workflows, improve data context, enhance trust scoring, and accelerate adoption of governance best practices across engineering teams.
• Collaborate Across Teams: Work closely with data engineers, analysts, and compliance officers to align data governance initiatives with business needs and regulatory requirements.

To thrive in this role

• Experience: 5+ years in data engineering, data governance, or a related field, with hands‑on experience in data classification, cataloging, quality assurance, and trust frameworks. Engineering ability to design and implement data governance and quality processes is critical to success.
• Trust & Quality Expertise: Demonstrated experience building data trust signals, quality scorecards, or similar frameworks that make data reliability visible and actionable for both engineers and non‑technical stakeholders.
• Programming Experience: Proficiency in Python or a comparable programming language, and experience building scalable data tooling or automation pipelines.
• Curiosity and Relentlessness: You are genuinely curious about data, technology, and the problems that sit at the intersection of the two. You don’t let ambiguity stop you – you dig in, ask the right questions, and keep pushing until you’ve found the right answer or built the right solution. You bring energy and persistence to hard problems and don’t need external pressure to drive yourself forward.
• Composure in Complexity: Data governance at a fintech means navigating competing priorities, regulatory constraints, sprawling data ecosystems, and stakeholders with different mental models of “good.” You thrive in this environment rather than shrink from it – you can hold complexity without getting overwhelmed, break it into manageable pieces, and make steady progress without waiting for perfect conditions.
• Exceptional Communication: You are a terrific communicator in both verbal and written form. You can write a crisp one‑pager that earns buy‑in from a skeptical audience, run a meeting that ends with clarity instead of confusion, and translate deeply technical concepts into plain language that moves people to action. You treat communication as a core part of the job, not an afterthought.
• Product Management Mindset: You think like a product manager as much as an engineer. You ask “who is this for and what problem does it solve?” before writing a line of code. You prioritize ruthlessly, define success before you start building, and care about adoption and outcomes – not just delivery. You treat your internal stakeholders as customers and design solutions with their experience in mind.
• AI Curiosity and Advocacy: Genuine curiosity about AI and its applications in the data governance space, with an appetite for identifying and piloting new tools and workflows that improve the experience of working with Chime's data.
• Technical Proficiency: Strong knowledge of data governance tools and platforms, and experience with cloud data warehouses like Snowflake. Experience with data catalog platforms and driving adoption across engineering organizations is a strong plus.
• Bonus: Compliance Knowledge: Familiarity with SOX, CCPA, and other data privacy and financial regulations, and ability to apply technical skills to governance practices that meet audit and compliance requirements.

What we offer for our full‑time, regular employees

• Our in‑office work policy is designed to keep you connected – with four days a week in the office and Fridays from home for those near one of our offices, plus team and company‑wide events depending on location.
• In‑office perks including backup child, elder, and/or pet care, plus a subsidized commuter benefit to support your regular commute.
• Competitive salary based on experience.
• 401(k) match plus great medical, dental, vision, life, and disability benefits.
• Generous vacation policy and company‑wide Chime Days, bonus company‑wide paid days off.
• 1% of your time off to support local community organizations of your choice.
• Annual wellness stipend to use towards eligible wellness related expenses.
• Up to 24 weeks of paid parental leave for birthing parents and 12 weeks of paid parental leave for non‑birthing parents.
• Access to Maven, a family planning tool, with $15k lifetime reimbursement for egg freezing, fertility treatments, adoption, and more.
• In‑person and virtual events to connect with your fellow Chimers – cooking classes, guided meditations, music festivals, mixology classes, paint nights, etc., and snack boxes.
• A challenging and fulfilling opportunity to join one of the most experienced teams in FinTech and help millions unlock financial progress.

Chime is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We consider qualified applicants without regard to race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital or family status, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other legally protected basis under provincial, federal, state, and local laws, regulations, or ordinances. We will also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of state and local laws, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, Cook County Ordinance, NYC Fair Chance Act, and the LA City Fair Chance Ordinance, and consistent with Canadian provincial and federal laws. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation during any stage of the application process, please contact: [e-mail].