Metadata Governance Engineer

Red Arch Solutions; Reston (VA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Red Arch Solutions in Reston, VA is seeking a senior Metadata Governance Lead to drive enterprise metadata management, cataloging, and governance across data domains. You will collaborate with data stewards, owners, engineers, and governance boards to align with IC policies and data strategy.

The role emphasizes strategic leadership, governance maturity assessment, and enabling automated metadata workflows within a cloud-enabled enterprise environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in information management, Data Science, Computer Science, Library Science, Information Systems, or related field.
• 10+ years of experience supporting enterprise data governance, metadata management, or data stewardship programs.
• Demonstrated experience managing enterprise data catalogs and metadata repositories.
• Experience developing metadata standards, taxonomies, and governance procedures.
• Knowledge of Intelligence Community data management policies and governance frameworks (ICD 504/IC Data Strategy).
• Experience facilitating stakeholder engagement across technical and business organizations.
• Experience with data catalog platforms (Purview/Collibra/Alation/Atlas).
• Experience supporting data onboarding and metadata automation initiatives.
• Familiarity with data architecture, data integration, and cloud environments.
• Experience supporting federal, defense, or IC organizations.

Responsibilities

• Lead enterprise metadata management and data catalog initiatives.
• Establish and maintain metadata standards, taxonomies, naming conventions, and classification guidelines.
• Oversee cataloging of enterprise data assets to improve discoverability and reuse.
• Ensure metadata completeness, accuracy, and consistency across data domains.
• Manage metadata lifecycle processes and governance workflows.
• Develop and refine metadata governance policies, processes, and SOPs.
• Participate in governance boards and working groups to advance data governance.
• Collaborate with data stewards, owners, and engineers on metadata needs.
• Support training and adoption activities related to metadata and catalog management.

Skills

Metadata governance

Data cataloging

Governance programs

Stakeholder engagement

Cloud environments

Data quality

Data stewardship

IC policy knowledge

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Information Management or related field

Tools

Microsoft Purview

Collibra

Alation

Apache Atlas

Job description

Position Summary

The Metadata Governance Lead serves as the organization’s senior authority for enterprise metadata management, data cataloging, and Metadata governance. This role leads efforts to improve data discoverability, quality, interoperability, and compliance across the enterprise by developing metadata standards, managing catalog operations, and collaborating with data stewards, data owners, engineers, and governance stakeholders.
The successful candidate will provide strategic leadership for metadata programs, support automated metadata management capabilities, and ensure alignment with Intelligence Community (IC) policies, data governance frameworks, and enterprise data management objectives.

Key Responsibilities

Metadata Governance & Catalog Management

• Lead enterprise metadata management and data catalog initiatives.
• Establish and maintain metadata standards, taxonomies, naming conventions, and classification guidelines.
• Oversee cataloging of enterprise data assets to improve discoverability and reuse.
• Ensure metadata completeness, accuracy, and consistency across data domains.
• Manage metadata lifecycle processes and governance workflows.

Data Governance Support

• Develop and refine metadata governance policies, processes, and standard operating procedures.
• Support organizational data governance efforts through participation in governance boards, councils, and working groups.
• Ensure compliance with IC data policies, information-sharing requirements, and organizational governance standards.
• Assess governance maturity and recommend process improvements.

Stakeholder Engagement & Data Stewardship

• Collaborate with data stewards, data owners, system owners, data scientists, and engineering teams.
• Facilitate stakeholder meetings to identify metadata requirements and governance priorities.
• Provide subject matter expertise on metadata standards, cataloging practices, and data classification.
• Support training and adoption activities related to metadata and catalog management.

Requirements Development & Platform Support

• Gather and document requirements for metadata management tools and enterprise catalog capabilities.
• Collaborate with development teams to implement metadata automation and workflow enhancements.
• Support integration of metadata management capabilities across enterprise systems.
• Validate and test metadata solutions to ensure requirements are met.

Data Quality & Discoverability

• Develop metrics for monitoring metadata quality and catalog usage.
• Support data quality initiatives through metadata enrichment and stewardship practices.
• Improve enterprise search, discovery, and data asset transparency.
• Establish reporting mechanisms for metadata governance performance.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in information management, Data Science, Computer Science, Library Science, Information Systems, or related field.
• 10+ years of experience supporting enterprise data governance, metadata management, or data stewardship programs.
• Demonstrated experience managing enterprise data catalogs and metadata repositories.
• Experience developing metadata standards, taxonomies, and governance procedures.
• Knowledge of Intelligence Community data management policies and governance frameworks. ICD 504 and IC Data Strategy requirements.
• Experience facilitating stakeholder engagement across technical and business organizations.
• Experience with Microsoft Purview, Collibra, Alation, Apache Atlas, or similar data catalog platforms.
• Experience supporting data onboarding and metadata automation initiatives.
• Familiarity with data architecture, data integration, and cloud environments.
• Experience supporting federal, defense, or intelligence community organizations.

Desired Qualifications

• Certified Data Management Professional (CDMP) certification or equivalent.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Salary range for this role $160-190 #CJ