Metadata Lead
Job Title: Principal Metadata Management Lead
Job Family: Data & Analytics / Data Governance
Job Level: JG3 (Individual Contributor)
Location: London (Hybrid)
Reports To: Head of Enterprise Data Management (Data Excellence Office)
Job Purpose
The Principal Metadata Management Lead is accountable for defining/designing, implementing (through natural teams), and scaling enterprise metadata management and data governance capabilities. The role ensures that data, analytics, and AI assets are discoverable, trusted, governed, and reusable across the organisation, enabling regulatory compliance, value from data, and AI-data readiness.
The role acts as an established thought leader on metadata, cataloguing, and governance design, with a strong focus on enterprise tooling capabilities, namely: Collibra Enterprise Data Catalogue (EDC), Databricks Unity Catalogue, and the evolution of enterprise catalogue, access, and metadata analytics (including CAT and FOX).
Key Accountabilities
Enterprise Metadata & Data Governance Thought Leadership
• Contribute to enterprise metadata management strategy, standards, and operating model
• Define and maintain governance frameworks for data, analytics, and AI assets
• Act as the principal SME for metadata, cataloguing, lineage, ownership, and stewardship models
• Ensure alignment between data governance, platform metadata, and AI lifecycle governance
Enterprise Data Catalogue & CAT
• Lead the evolution of the Enterprise Data Catalogue into a primary enterprise entry point (CAT) for discovering, understanding and accessing data and reporting.
• Clearly articulate the positioning, architecture and value of EDC, especially in relation to technical catalogues, business metadata and reporting.
• Expand catalogue capabilities to support access standardisation/automation, frictionless stewardship, unstructured data cataloguing, and semantic models to support AI-ready data and improve data governance.
• Drive AI-solutions and platform‐integrated approaches to reduce manual onboarding and improve metadata freshness/maintenance
• Enable scalable adoption of data products and analytics through metadata‐driven discovery and access patterns
• Partner with Collibra (vendor) on roadmap shaping, capability evaluation, pilots, and strategic alignment
CAT Product Ownership
• Lead the design, governance, and adoption of CAT as the enterprise marketplace for data products and reports.
• Act as delegate Product Owner for CAT, working with Product Management (IDSO Digital Platforms) and wider natural team to drive alignment, consensus and delivery of roadmap.
• Capture business feedback on the product, translating this into an evergreen backlog of features and improvements worked through the natural team.
• Own the overall strategy for CAT, including future enhancements and features.
Metadata Analytics (FOX)
• Support the design and delivery of FOX – a future product consolidating metadata analytics across platforms, reporting and sources to derive insights from metadata to reduce enterprise costs, drive efficiencies and identify quick wins for data management.
• Use metadata‐driven approaches to reduce friction between central platforms and federated delivery teams
• Contribute to FOX‐related business cases, proposals, and evolution.
Data Products, AI & Marketplace Readiness
• Working business back and technology forward (through business & IDT partners) enable governed discovery and reuse of data products through strong metadata foundations
• Champion data products, AI use cases, models, and agents into a single trusted inventory
• Lay the groundwork for future data and AI marketplace capabilities
• Embed governance, risk, and compliance by design rather than as post‐hoc controls
Stakeholder Engagement & Change Leadership
• Partner with business & IDT interfaces, platform teams, architects, and business stakeholders
• Lead workshops, demos, and enablement sessions to drive adoption and literacy
• Act as a trusted advisor to senior stakeholders on governance, metadata, and AI readiness
• Represent metadata and governance initiatives in enterprise programmes and forums
Delivery, Standards & Continuous Improvement
• Define KPIs and success measures for metadata coverage, quality, and adoption
• Author playbooks, standards, guidance, and contribute to data management capability definition (principally metadata, cataloguing, access and data governance)
• Continuously evolve governance approaches in response to regulatory, business, and technology change
• Mentor practitioners and contribute to the wider data governance & metadata management community
Key Relationships
• Data Excellence Office
• Data Architecture
• IDSO Digital Platforms (including Data Management Segment Architecture)
• IDT Engineering (Metadata Management CC)
• Business Data Owners and Stewards
• Strategic vendors and partners (e.g. Collibra, Databricks)
Skills & Experience
Essential
• Extensive experience in enterprise data governance and metadata management
• Deep hands‐on expertise with Collibra Enterprise Data Catalogue (EDC)
• Strong understanding of data platforms, APIs, and metadata integration patterns
• Strong facilitation, communication, and storytelling skills – translating complex ideas or concepts to a general audience
• Experience in working in varied natural teams
• Proven ability to operate as a senior individual contributor influencing at scale
Desirable
• Experience with Databricks, Unity Catalog, and data platforms
• Knowledge of AI governance, model registries, and emerging AI regulation
• Experience in complex, global enterprise environments
• Strong facilitation, communication, and storytelling skills
• Experience in implementing or facilitating data governance within a line of business, or cross-business
• Experience in successful data access initiatives
• Knowledge of data quality management and data observability
• Agile Ways of Working (ART) and product ownership
Impact
This role materially improves:
• Speed and confidence of data and AI use
• Data Excellence cross-business
• Reuse of data products and analytics
• Time‐to‐value for digital and AI initiatives"