Data Governance Program Lead

Infojini Inc; Minneapolis (MN); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Infojini Inc. in Minneapolis, MN is seeking a DG Program Lead who will be the operational engine of the Data Governance Office.

You will manage domain onboarding, policy workflow, council pack preparation, and Alation governance configuration while engaging Data Owners across all data domains. You will lead governance and program operations, coordinating pilots and playbooks, and ensuring KPI-driven delivery with cross-functional stakeholders.

Qualifications

• CDMP certification required at hire or commitment to certify within 12 months.
• 7+ years in data management, data governance, or enterprise program management.
• Hands-on experience with an enterprise data catalog (Alation strongly preferred).
• Experience running a governance program across multiple business domains.

Responsibilities

• Own the program plan and maintain Jira board, tracking milestones against a 24-month roadmap.
• Prepare monthly Council scorecards including KPI metrics and narrative.
• Coordinate monthly DG Council meetings, agendas, pre-reads, and action tracking.
• Onboard Data Owners and Stewards to Alation and drive domain governance playbooks.

Skills

CDMP

Data governance

Program management

Alation

Jira

Stakeholder communication

Policy writing

Tools

Alation

Jira

Databricks Unity Catalog

Great Expectations

Job description

Location : Minneapolis, MN (Hybrid)

Contract or Full time : 12-months contract

Job Summary:

The DG Program Lead is the operational engine of the Data Governance Office (DGO). DG Program Lead runs the day-to-day machinery: domain onboarding, policy workflow, Council pack preparation, Alation governance configuration, and the Data Owner engagement process across all data domains. This is a high-output individual contributor and team lead role, equal parts program manager, governance practitioner, and internal consultant.

Program Operations

• Own the program plan: maintain the Jira project board, track milestones against the 24-month roadmap, flag risks and blockers to the DGO Lead weekly.
• Prepare the monthly Council scorecard pack: pull the KPI metrics, draft the narrative, identify escalations, and present the supporting slide. DGO Lead presents, DG Program Lead owns the content.
• Coordinate the monthly DG Council: agenda, pre-reads, domain escalations, policy review items, and action tracking.
• Own the program communications calendar: all-hands kickoff, domain workshop scheduling, steward onboarding, literacy curriculum assignment.

Domain Onboarding & Governance Activation

• Lead the Data domain pilot end-to-end: Data Owner designation, Steward onboarding, Alation orientation, domain workshop delivery (co-facilitated with Literacy Academy), DQ dimension workshop with the DQ Engineer.
• Build the domain onboarding playbook from the pilot, the repeatable template used for all other remaining domains in phases.
• Drive Data Owner designation across all data domains: coordinate with each domain product owner, manage the designation form process in Jira, track completion against the 30-day Council commitment.
• Onboard Data Stewards to Alation: coordinate Alation Academy enrollment, run the Steward orientation session, track the 6-week curation ramp for each new Steward.
• Manage the data issue intake process: own the P1/P2/P3 Jira queue, ensure SLA adherence is tracked for program KPI, maintain and follow escalation process.

Policy & Standards

• Draft all program domains data policies for DGO Lead review and Council approval, starting with the key foundational policies.
• Maintain the policy register: version control, review schedule, annual renewal coordination.
• Own the data classification policy: work with InfoSec to ensure Alation sensitivity tags align to the Unity Catalog RBAC tiers.
• Author the domain governance playbooks: per-domain documentation of Data Owner, Steward, DPO, DQ thresholds, glossary scope, and AI data governance checklist process.

Alation Governance Layer

• Work with the Alation Catalog Engineer to configure the governance workflow in Alation: approval chains, steward assignment, policy publication, DQ Certificate issuance process.
• Own the business glossary governance: term proposal workflow, approval routing, publication standards.
• Monitor Alation catalog coverage monthly: track program KPI (catalog coverage %) across all domains, identify gaps, and assign remediation to the relevant Steward or DPO.
• Coordinate AI data governance in Alation: ensure model cards are registered, lineage is documented from source to model input, and the AI data governance checklist is completed for each active AI use case.

Qualifications

Required

• CDMP (Certified Data Management Professional) required at hire or firm commitment to certify within 12 months. DAMA DMBOK2 proficiency is the practitioner foundation for this role.
• 7+ years in data management, data governance, or enterprise program management.
• Hands-on experience with an enterprise data catalog (Alation strongly preferred; Collibra, Informatica Axon, or Atlan acceptable).
• Demonstrated experience running a governance program across multiple business domains, not just one department.
• Strong written communication skills with the ability to write data policies, governance playbooks, and executive briefing materials that are clear, precise, and stakeholder-appropriate.
• Experience facilitating workshops with business and technical stakeholders and running a DQ dimension workshop with a domain VP and a team of engineers in the same room.

Preferred

• Health plan or healthcare payer experience, including HEDIS, Stars, Medicare Advantage, and HIPAA.
• Experience with Jira for governance workflow management, not just engineering sprint tracking.
• Familiarity with Great Expectations or equivalent Data Quality framework.
• Experience with Databricks Unity Catalog or equivalent data access governance layer.
• Systematic Thinker: Able to see the full data domain program and still execute the day-to-day pilot detail simultaneously.
• Clear Writer: Governance only works if the policies and playbooks are understood. This person writes so non-data people get it.
• Follows Through: The single biggest failure mode in governance programs is well-designed commitments that nobody tracks. This role exists to prevent that.
• Comfortable with Ambiguity: This program is new. The DG Program Lead regularly encounters situations the playbook doesn't yet cover.
• Prior experience with Alation
• Strong expertise in Data Governance
• Experience working across multiple business domains and governance stakeholders
• Ability to work from the client office in Eagan, MN at least 3 days per week