Data Governance SME

UNAVAILABLE; McLean (VA); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Steampunk is seeking a Data Governance SME to design, implement, and operationalize data governance practices for a large federal client. Responsibilities include metadata management, data cataloging, stewardship workflows, and data quality assessment to guide remediation priorities.

Candidates will collaborate with data architects and business stakeholders, ensuring compliant data access workflows and robust data lineage. Local to Baltimore area with on-site expectations two days per week.

Qualifications

• U.S. government security clearance obtainable.
• Bachelor's degree in IS/Data Management/CS with 10+ years total experience.
• 6+ years in data governance, data management, or data science.
• Experience assessing data quality and building governance frameworks.
• Understanding of metadata types, data lineage, and schema management.
• Familiarity with data privacy, security, and access-control concepts.
• Proficiency with SQL and Excel for data quality assessment.
• Working knowledge of AI training data concepts (not model development).
• Strong written and verbal communication; able to translate findings for execs.
• Local to Baltimore, MD metro area; willing to travel to client site.

Responsibilities

• Assess current-state assets, governance practices, and interoperability; deliver Data Management Framework.
• Implement and maintain data catalogs, metadata repositories, and business glossaries.
• Define and rollout data stewardship and ownership models; manage issues and lifecycle.
• Conduct exploratory data analysis to identify data quality issues and remediation priorities.
• Operate a data-quality remediation tracking process with monthly reporting.
• Facilitate alignment between technical teams and business stakeholders on data definitions.
• Support user-centered data access-request workflows and access controls.
• Collaborate with Data Architect to ensure environment supports accurate data and lineage.
• Deliver quarterly data maturity assessments with improvement recommendations.
• Communicate governance findings to technical and executive audiences.
• Contribute to AI Compliance and Risk Management Plan data origin and quality sections.
• Maintain audit-ready documentation of assessments, findings, and remediation activity.

Skills

Data governance

Data management

Data quality

Metadata management

Data lineage

Stakeholder communication

SQL

Excel

Access controls

AI data concepts

Education

Bachelor's degree in IS/Data/CS

Master's degree (preferred)

Tools

Collibra

Alation

Informatica

Atlan

Cloud platforms

Job description

Overview

Steampunk is seeking a Data Governance SME to design, implement, and help operationalize data governance practices — including metadata management, data cataloging, and stewardship workflows — for a large federal client's data environment, ensuring data assets are discoverable, trustworthy, and well-governed. The role also supports assessment of data quality, governance maturity, and AI-related data risk.

Responsibilities

• Assess current-state data assets, governance practices, and interoperability constraints, and deliver a Data Management Framework
• Implement and maintain data catalogs, metadata repositories, and business glossaries to improve data discoverability
• Support definition and rollout of data stewardship and ownership models, including issue management and lifecycle processes
• Conduct exploratory data analysis to uncover trends and identify data quality issues informing remediation priorities
• Operate a data-quality remediation tracking process with monthly reporting, supporting identification and remediation of data quality issues
• Facilitate alignment between technical teams and business stakeholders on data definitions, quality expectations, and usage standards
• Support streamlined, user-centered data access-request workflows and access controls, in alignment with data classification principles
• Partner with the Data Architect to ensure the underlying data environment supports accurate, complete, and consistent data, including metadata capture and lineage tracking
• Deliver quarterly data maturity assessments with specific improvement recommendations, including catalog coverage and adoption metrics
• Communicate data quality and governance maturity findings clearly to technical and executive stakeholders
• Support technical analysis behind the AI Compliance and Risk Management Plan's bias and training-data-quality sections, including data origin, quality, and known limitations
• Contribute data lineage and data card documentation supporting the AI Compliance and Risk Management Plan's data origin and quality assessments
• Maintain well-organized, audit-ready documentation of data assessments, findings, and remediation activity

Qualifications

• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government security clearance
• Bachelor's degree, preferably in Information Systems, Data Management, Data Science, Business Analytics, Computer Science, or a related field, and 10+ years of total experience
• 6+ years of data governance, data management, or data science experience
• Demonstrated experience assessing data quality and building data governance frameworks, including stewardship operating models
• Understanding of metadata types (business, technical, operational), data lineage, and schema management concepts
• Familiarity with data privacy, security, and access control concepts, including experience supporting data access-request workflows
• Proficiency with data analysis and query tools (e.g., SQL, Excel) to assess data quality and structure
• Working knowledge of machine learning/AI training data concepts sufficient to assess data quality, origin, and bias considerations (not hands-on model development)
• Strong written and verbal communication and facilitation skills, with the ability to translate technical data findings for both technical and executive audiences
• Local to Baltimore, MD metro area and willing to go on client site at least 2 days a week

Preferred:

• Experience assessing bias or quality issues in training data for AI/ML use cases
• Federal data governance experience
• Master's degree in a related field
• Experience with data cataloging/governance platforms (e.g., Collibra, Alation, Atlan, Informatica, or cloud-native catalog tools)
• Familiarity with cloud data platforms
• DAMA CDMP (Associate or Practitioner), Collibra Ranger, or Alation Steward certification