Metadata & Reference Data Lead: Governance & Quality

absa; Sandton; On-site; ZAR 800,000 - 1,200,000; Full time

Job summary

Absa is seeking a Metadata and Reference Data Lead Specialist to strengthen data governance by managing glossaries, metadata standards and data lineage. The role focuses on ownership, traceability and control across business data domains.

You’ll collaborate with Data Owners, Stewards, Risk, Compliance and Technology to embed governance practices. Ideal candidates have 5–8 years in data governance or related fields, experience with glossary management and metadata tooling, and the ability to

Qualifications

• 5–8 years’ experience in Data Governance, Metadata management or related field.
• Experience building or maintaining data glossaries, definitions and metadata repositories.
• Experience with data lineage documentation across systems and reports.
• Exposure to reference data governance including code sets and ownership.
• Ability to translate technical concepts for business stakeholders.
• Familiarity with regulated environments (banking/financial services) is a plus.
• Experience with Collibra, Informatica, Ataccama, Purview or equivalent tools would be beneficial.

Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain and advance the data glossary with clear definitions.
• Document data lineage across key systems, reports and data flows.
• Coordinate reference data reviews with owners and stewards.
• Partner with Data Owners, Stewards, and Tech teams on metadata needs.
• Identify and document Critical Data Elements and ownership.
• Maintain metadata records aligned to governance standards.
• Produce governance dashboards and progress reports.
• Support audit and regulatory evidence for data traceability.
• Contribute to policy and procedure development for data governance.

Skills

Data governance

Metadata management

Data lineage

Reference data governance

Data quality

Stakeholder engagement

Documentation

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Business, IT or related field

Certification in Data Governance, Metadata Management or similar

Tools

Collibra

Informatica

Ataccama

Microsoft Purview

Power BI

Excel

SharePoint

Job description

Absa is seeking a Metadata and Reference Data Lead Specialist to strengthen data governance by managing glossaries, metadata standards and data lineage. The role focuses on ownership, traceability and control across business data domains.

You’ll collaborate with Data Owners, Stewards, Risk, Compliance and Technology to embed governance practices. Ideal candidates have 5–8 years in data governance or related fields, experience with glossary management and metadata tooling, and the ability to