Data Governance Lead

Data Governance Lead | Databricks & Unity Catalog | Worcestershire (Hybrid) | Up to £80,000 + 10% Bonus

This is a build role, not a maintenance one. You would be the first dedicated data governance hire, taking a function that currently exists in pockets and turning it into a proper capability. No inherited framework, no legacy tooling to unpick, and a hiring manager who wants to be advised rather than to hand you a playbook.

The platform is Databricks with Unity Catalog as the governance layer, supporting customer analytics, BI and a growing set of AI products. The data is sensitive and the sector is regulated, so getting this right carries genuine commercial weight.

The Role

• Establish the data governance and data management practices that underpin high quality customer data and future AI products.
• Own governance within Databricks and Unity Catalog, including access control, classification and platform-side security architecture.
• Build and own the data contract framework between product teams and the central data function, acting as the escalation point when releases break contracts.
• Own data quality, dictionaries, glossaries, definitions and lineage across the estate.
• Establish a data steward network and the forums and processes that keep governance running without you in every conversation.
• Work alongside engineering to ensure sensitive customer data is properly controlled and exposure risk is designed out.
• Partner with the Data Protection Officer and InfoSec while owning the technical and data platform side of governance.

What We're Looking For

• Demonstrable experience establishing or significantly maturing a data governance capability, with examples you can walk through.
• Solid grasp of data contracts, data lakes and modern lakehouse governance.
• Enough technical understanding to hold your own with data engineers, including working SQL familiarity.
• Confidence operating as the enforcement and escalation point, not just the policy author.
• Ability to influence across product, engineering, risk and security without direct authority.

Nice to have

• Hands on Unity Catalog experience. Comparable governance tooling such as Collibra, Alation, Purview or Informatica is equally welcome if you are ready to pick Unity Catalog up.
• Background in a regulated industry.
• Exposure to a product or value stream operating model.

What's On Offer

• Up to £80,000 base plus a 10% annual bonus.
• Hybrid working, with the team together in Worcestershire on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
• Genuine ownership. You define the framework, the standards and the roadmap.
• A modern data platform and a leadership team that treats governance as an enabler for AI and analytics, not a compliance tax.
• A two stage process: a technical conversation over Teams, then an in person interview. Quick decisions, no dragged out loops.

Interested?
Apply with your CV, or message me directly for a confidential conversation about the detail. Happy to talk it through before you decide either way.