Specialist, Data Governance

Plains Marketing LP; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Plains is seeking a Senior Specialist, Data Governance in Houston to lead enterprise data governance initiatives and align them with Data and AI priorities. You will translate business problems into governance requirements, facilitate governance councils, and drive adoption across the organization with governance best practices.

The role requires ten years of governance experience, cross-functional leadership, and strong communication skills.

Qualifications

• Strong executive communication, facilitation, change-adoption, and decision-framing skills.
• Experience implementing cross-functional governance programs, operating models, ownership and stewardship practices, standards, metadata, data quality, certification, or master data capabilities.
• Knowledge of DAMA-DMBOK, federated governance, data architecture and integration, privacy and security, analytics governance, and AI governance.

Responsibilities

• Lead governance initiatives and build trusted relationships with data owners, stewards, decision makers, and executives.
• Identify ownership gaps, quality concerns, and excessive manual reconciliation through workshops and sessions.
• Translate business problems into governance requirements and advise leaders on decision needs and stewardship models.
• Define accountable data owners and maintain records of ownership, commitments, and escalation paths.
• Develop and implement governance processes within the approved operating model and support governance councils and work groups.

Skills

Executive communication

Facilitation

Change adoption

Decision framing

Education

Bachelor’s degree in business, engineering, information systems, finance, or data management

Tools

Microsoft Purview

Microsoft Fabric

Databricks

Job description

Job Type: Regular

Plains is an industry-leading transportation and midstream provider specializing in transportation, storage, processing and marketing solutions for crude oil. We own an extensive network of pipeline transportation, terminalling, storage and gathering assets in key oil producing basins and transportation corridors and at major market hubs in the United States and Canada. The company is headquartered in Houston, Texas. We’re on the lookout for passionate self-starters who thrive in fast-moving, collaborative, and innovative environments.

The Specialist, Data Governance is a senior individual contributor who leads business engagement and implementation of enterprise data governance practices at Plains. Reporting to the Manager, Data Governance Platform, the Specialist converts approved strategy and priorities into practical standards, processes, stewardship activities, and measurable outcomes. The role works across the enterprise and leads through expertise, facilitation, credibility, and influence rather than direct authority. It aligns governance work with Data and AI priorities, the Data Governance Platform roadmap, enterprise architecture, and accountable business ownership.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead engagement for approved governance initiatives, building trusted relationships with subject matter experts, data owners, stewards, decision makers, and executive sponsors.
• Use workshops, surveys, and working sessions to identify unclear ownership, inconsistent definitions, quality concerns, duplicated effort, and manual reconciliation.
• Translate business problems into governance requirements and recommendations, advise leaders on decision needs, develop the steward community, and escalates unresolved conflicts through the Manager.
• Facilitate confirmation of accountable data owners and stewards for priority domains and maintain clear records of ownership, commitments, and escalation paths.
• Implement the approved governance role model and keep stewardship close to the people with business knowledge.
• Facilitate system-of-record, source-of-truth, survivorship, data-sharing, and hierarchy discussions, documenting business and architectural considerations and routing recommendations to the appropriate authorities.
• Develop, implement, maintain, and improve governance processes within the approved operating model.
• Support governance councils and working groups through decision framing, agendas, materials, action tracking, and decision records.
• Develop glossary, definition, certification, policy, standard, procedure, intake, issue-management, and accountability practices.
• Assess new requests for value, risk, readiness, dependencies, and sequencing, and maintain reusable templates and guidance.
• Lead approved adoption and enablement activities, including workshops, communications, learning materials, and practical resources.
• Help owners and stewards incorporate governance into existing workflows, monitor participation and adoption, recommend corrective actions, and communicate responsibilities and expected outcomes.
• Contribute to the governance strategy, multi-year roadmap, maturity model, business cases, funding support, and executive decision materials.
• Execute approved initiatives using a pilot-first approach where appropriate, reporting progress, risks, dependencies, decisions, and outcomes.
• Partner with architecture, engineering, analytics, AI, information management, security, privacy, platform, and business teams so governance decisions are reflected in relevant catalog, master data, data quality, semantic, and platform capabilities.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, engineering, information systems, finance, data management, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• At least ten years of relevant experience, including substantial work in data governance, data management, information management, or business transformation.
• Demonstrated experience implementing cross-functional governance programs, operating models, ownership and stewardship practices, standards, metadata, data quality, certification, or master data capabilities.
• Strong executive communication, facilitation, change-adoption, and decision-framing skills are required, along with working knowledge of DAMA-DMBOK, federated governance, data architecture and integration, privacy and security, analytics governance, and AI governance.

Compliance with the Company’s drug and alcohol policy including pre-employment D&A testing.

Cleared criminal history (background) and satisfactory reference checks.

This position is not eligible for employment-based visa sponsorship.

Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. for the duration of their employment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in midstream energy, pipelines, or another asset-intensive regulated industry is preferred.
• Familiarity with Microsoft Purview, master data platforms, Microsoft Fabric, Databricks, or comparable technologies is an asset, as is experience supporting analytics and responsible AI governance.

Hard work is rewarded with competitive compensation and a top-tier benefits program designed to keep our employees safe, healthy and happy.

We work hard to deliver the best results to our stakeholders, and we also respect our employees' need for personal and family time, which is reflected in our benefits program.

We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.

We are committed to providing employment opportunities to all qualified individuals, without regard to age, race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, genetic information, disability, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.

Applicants with disabilities can request accessible formats, communication supports, or other accessibility assistance by contacting [e-mail].

Salary details estimated by job boards such as Indeed, Glassdoor, and LinkedIn do not represent Plains’ compensation structure.

Our Core Values

• Safety and Environmental Stewardship: We conduct our business in a manner that is safe for our employees, business partners, communities and the environment.
• Ownership and Accountability: We take ownership of our actions and are accountable to each other and our stakeholders, including the communities where we live and work.
• Respect, Fairness, and Inclusion: We treat each other with respect and fairness, and are committed to an inclusive workplace.
• Ethics and Integrity: We do the right thing, obey the law and act with the highest levels of honesty, ethics and integrity.
• Teamwork: We foster a collaborative environment and work together to achieve our goals.
• Enterpreneurship and Innovation: We are a nimble team that develops and implements creative solutions that deliver value for our stakeholders and drive continuous improvement.