Principal, Data Governance

Fifth Third Bank, National Association; Cincinnati (OH); On-site; USD 140,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive benefits

Incentive compensation plan

Career development opportunities

Job summary

Fifth Third Bank seeks a Principal, Data Governance in Cincinnati to lead a team improving Commercial data governance, quality, and management across business, risk, data, and technology environments. The role partners with business and tech leaders to deliver scalable governance and measurable data health.

You will coach professionals, set priorities, and drive strategic data initiatives, while communicating complex data concepts in business terms across senior stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience.
• Significant experience in data governance, data management, analytics, risk, controls, or related disciplines.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex, cross-functional work in environments with ambiguity.
• Strong analytical capability to profile data and identify patterns and root causes.
• Ability to communicate complex data concepts in business terms.
• Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders without direct authority.
• Ability to design scalable governance frameworks and operating practices.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a senior advisor to business, data, and technology leaders on complex Commercial data-management needs and future-state solutions.
• Evaluate processes, data flows, architecture, controls, and downstream uses to identify risks and opportunities.
• Influence solution design to embed data quality, lineage, and governance early.
• Identify opportunities to improve data health and business value through analytics, automation, and AI capabilities.
• Provide governance policy leadership and standard interpretation.
• Establish repeatable data ownership, lineage, quality, and accountability.
• Evaluate governance gaps and propose resolutions.
• Partner with Enterprise Data Governance to align requirements.
• Lead complex cross-functional data issues from ambiguity to resolution.
• Lead and coach Data Governance professionals and build capability.
• Represent Commercial Data Governance in senior forums and communicate risks.

Skills

Data governance

Data quality

Data management

Analytics

Risk management

Stakeholder influence

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Job description

General Function

The Principal, Data Governance serves as a senior leader responsible for leading a team and shaping and advancing Commercial data governance, data quality, and data management capabilities across complex business, risk, data, and technology environments. The Principal leads and develops Data Governance professionals, establishes priorities and expectations for the team, provides coaching and technical direction, and remains directly engaged in the organization’s most complex and consequential data-management challenges. The role provides strategic leadership through influence, deep subject-matter expertise, and cross-functional coordination. It partners with business process owners, technology and data product teams, data consumers, risk partners, and Enterprise Data Governance to improve the quality, reliability, transparency, and effective management of Commercial data. The Principal operates across the Commercial data ecosystem, helping translate complex business and data challenges into scalable governance approaches, stronger controls, measurable data health, and sustainable solutions. The role is expected to independently lead the most complex or ambiguous data-management efforts, influence senior stakeholders, identify systemic risks and opportunities, and establish approaches that can be reused across Commercial. The position supports Commercial Data Governance's operating principle that governance provides standards, oversight, orchestration, and accountability while business and technology owners remain responsible for the underlying processes, data, and technology assets.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Strategic Data Advisory & Solutioning

• Serve as a senior advisor to business, data, and technology leaders on complex Commercial data-management needs and future-state solutions.
• Evaluate business processes, data flows, architecture, controls, and downstream uses to identify systemic risks and opportunities for improvement.
• Influence solution design so data quality, traceability, control, monitoring, and governance requirements are considered early rather than addressed only after issues emerge.
• Identify opportunities to improve data health, risk management, operational effectiveness, and business value through analytics, automation, and approved AI capabilities.

Governance Policy, Standards & Control Oversight

• Provide subject-matter leadership in the development, interpretation, and operationalization of Commercial data policies, standards, procedures, and governance expectations.
• Establish repeatable approaches for data ownership, lineage, business requirements, data quality, controls, monitoring, and accountability.
• Evaluate significant governance gaps, exceptions, and control weaknesses and develop recommendations for resolution or escalation.
• Partner with Enterprise Data Governance and other control functions to align enterprise requirements with Commercial business needs while preserving clear accountability for Commercial data production and use.

Data Quality, Risk & Ecosystem Oversight

• Lead complex assessments of data quality and data-management risk across business processes, source systems, authoritative data sources, transformations, data products, and downstream consumption.
• Profile and analyze data to identify root causes, patterns, dependencies, and systemic weaknesses rather than relying solely on reported exceptions.
• Develop actionable recommendations that connect data findings to business process, control, technology, reporting, and risk impacts.
• Define and evolve methods for measuring data health, control effectiveness, coverage, and confidence.
• Identify emerging or systemic risks across Commercial domains and translate those risks into prioritized actions.

Complex Issue Leadership & Orchestration

• Independently lead highly complex, cross-functional data issues from initial ambiguity through assessment, recommendation, implementation coordination, and measurable resolution.
• Bring together appropriate business, data, technology, reporting, and risk stakeholders and establish clear decisions, ownership, dependencies, and next actions.
• Lead cross-functional resolution of complex data challenges by establishing the analytical fact base, framing decision alternatives and recommendations, and driving clarity on decisions, ownership, dependencies, and required actions.
• Distinguish immediate stabilization needs from systemic root-cause remediation and longer-term capability improvements.
• Provide governance leadership for material, recurring, regulatory, or otherwise high-risk data issues and escape unresolved risks appropriately.
• Validate that implemented solutions address the underlying risk and establish appropriate ongoing controls or monitoring.

Team, Capability & Organizational Leadership

• Establish team priorities, allocate work based on business need and risk, and provide direction and oversight to drive high-quality, timely outcomes.
• Design reusable methods, frameworks, standards, templates, and analytical approaches that improve how Commercial manages data across teams and domains.
• Lead, coach, and develop Lead, Senior, and other Data Governance professionals, providing both people leadership and subject-matter guidance while building individual and team capability.
• Raise the analytical and data-management capability of the broader team by modeling strong problem structuring, data investigation, root-cause analysis, stakeholder management, and executive communication.
• Lead or influence major Commercial data initiatives where substantial ambiguity, cross-functional dependencies, or data risk require senior governance expertise.
• Represent Commercial Data Governance in senior cross-functional forums and communicate complex data risks and recommendations in clear business terms.

Minimum Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience.
• Significant experience in data governance, data quality, data management, analytics, risk, controls, technology, commercial banking, or related disciplines.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex, cross-functional work in environments with substantial ambiguity.
• Strong analytical capability, including the ability to profile data, identify patterns and root causes, evaluate business and technical dependencies, and translate findings into actionable recommendations.
• Strong understanding of data governance concepts including data ownership, business and technical lineage, data quality controls, monitoring, metadata, authoritative sourcing, remediation, and data-risk management.
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior business, risk, data, and technology stakeholders without direct authority.
• Ability to communicate complex technical and data-management concepts clearly in business terms.
• Strong judgment and ability to balance risk, control effectiveness, business value, implementation feasibility, and strategic direction.
• Demonstrated ability to create scalable frameworks and operating practices rather than relying on case–case execution.
• Demonstrated ability to lead, coach, and develop high‑performing teams while building subject‑matter expertise, judgment, accountability, and independent problem‑solving capability.

Supervisory Responsibilities

Responsible for leading and managing a team of Data Governance professionals. Provides ongoing direction, coaching, development, and performance management; establishes team priorities and allocates work; builds team capability and subject‑matter expertise; and ensures effective execution against Commercial data governance and data‑management objectives. The Principal also provides broader organizational leadership through expertise, influence, establishment of standards and practices, and direct leadership of complex cross‑functional efforts.

Principal, Data Governance At Fifth Third, we understand the importance of recognizing our employees for the role they play in improving the lives of our customers, communities and each other. Our Total Rewards include comprehensive benefits and differentiated compensation offerings to give each employee the opportunity to be their best every day. The base salary for this position is reflective of the range of salary levels for all roles within this pay grade across the U.S. Individual salaries within this range will vary based on factors such as role, relevant skillset, relevant experience, education and geographic location. In addition to the base salary, this role is eligible to participate in an incentive compensation plan, with any such payment based upon company, line of business and/or individual performance. Our extensive benefits programs are designed to support the individual needs of our employees and their families, encompassing physical, financial, emotional and social well‑being. You can learn more about those programs on our 53.com Careers page at: https://www.53.com/content/fifth-third/en/careers/benefits.html or by consulting with your talent acquisition partner.

LOCATION -- Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

Fifth Third Bank, National Association is proud to have an engaged and inclusive culture and to promote and ensure equal employment opportunity in all employment decisions regardless of race, color, gender, national origin, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, military status, veteran status or any other legally protected status.