Water Data Steward & Standards Architect

HDR; Olympia (WA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

HDR is seeking an experienced data governance leader embedded in the Water Business Group. The role emphasizes defining and managing data definitions, standards, and workflows to support structured data, reporting, and AI use cases across water projects.

You will collaborate with a broad network of data stewards and technical leaders, driving adoption of data practices and ensuring data quality and reuse across HDR’s Water initiatives.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in a related discipline.
• Minimum of 10 years of experience in the Water engineering industry.
• Experience building and leading diverse teams.
• Ability to collaborate with operations, technical, and marketing leaders.
• Active participation in HDR’s employee‑owned culture is required.

Responsibilities

• Establish and coordinate a network of SME expertise across the Water Business Group to define technical standards and align with Water data practices.
• Develop and maintain business‑aligned data definitions for engineering terms supporting data models, reporting, automation, and AI use cases.
• Use your technical network to build alignment and consensus around data processes, priority, and expectations.
• Promote consistent, responsible use of technical data, including access, data quality, and best practices for format and reuse.
• Support governance of externally sourced datasets (access, approvals, inventory awareness, storage, and lifecycle considerations).
• Promote data fluency across the Water Business Group.
• Coordinate with the Technology Director to align data workflows and initiatives to Water BG Strategy.
• Lead change management efforts to drive adoption of data standards, practices, and tools across the Water BG.
• Regularly communicate with Data Stewards and Enterprise Data teams to ensure alignment.
• Ensure new tools identified for implementation within the Water BG are aligned to data strategy.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Change management

Data governance

Team development

Water industry

Education

Bachelor’s degree in architecture, engineering, data science, business, computer science, or related discipline

Job description

HDR is seeking an experienced data governance leader embedded in the Water Business Group. The role emphasizes defining and managing data definitions, standards, and workflows to support structured data, reporting, and AI use cases across water projects.

You will collaborate with a broad network of data stewards and technical leaders, driving adoption of data practices and ensuring data quality and reuse across HDR’s Water initiatives.