Data Governance Lead

Edinburgh | Personal Contract (dependent on skills and qualifications) | Full‑time (hybrid)

Benefits: Joint‑contribution pension 6% (12% total), enhanced maternity & family leave, life assurance, HolidayPlus, Virtual GP, Employee Assistance Programme, retail & leisure discounts, and many more.

The purpose of this role is to mature SGN’s data ownership capability across data by embedding foundational data ownership. Data owners should understand what data they own and adopt their responsibilities for managing that data (in collaboration with IT) so it is fit for purpose in delivering business outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Lead on the rollout of SGN’s data governance framework by establishing data ownership and decision rights over SGN’s critical datasets.
• Provide secretariat support for SGN’s domain data governance forums – arranging attendance and tracking minutes and actions.
• Provide regular updates on progress against the data ownership maturity roadmap and KPIs to sponsors in Information Management and other relevant stakeholders.
• Build relationships and engage business teams, relevant IT and specialist SMEs who own and control data across priority data domains (e.g., HR, Finance, Operations).
• Collaborate with data architects on the creation and maintenance of data management documentation such as conceptual data models and data flow diagrams.
• Coach and support data owners on their data ownership responsibilities:
• Identify critical data and create data glossaries.
• Raise data risk issues so they can be managed and mitigated.
• Incorporate good data quality management through business process improvements or data enhancement (cleanse/fix etc).
• Liaise with project teams and other business areas to share knowledge on the activities undertaken within the data governance team with relevant stakeholders across SGN.
• Manage SGN’s enterprise data catalogue and business data glossary.
• Promote a strong data culture:
• Lead the adoption of a data‑driven culture by promoting awareness, education and advocacy of data governance principles, tools and best practice across all levels and business areas in SGN.
• Provide leadership and training on how we treat data as a shared asset that can be used by others.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in data governance and data management, including running data governance forums.
• Excellent communicator – ability to influence at all levels in the organisation and convey complex concepts to audiences across different business and technical backgrounds.
• Strong collaborator – experience of cross‑functional work and building relationships across diverse stakeholder groups.
• Extensive knowledge of data governance frameworks such as DAMA‑DMBOK.
• Experience in using data management tools to capture business metadata such as data catalogues, glossary terms and lineage.
• Understanding of data modelling, data engineering and data architecture principles.
• Knowledge or experience of areas of compliance such as Ofgem data regulation and risk management.
• Familiarity with best practice for data quality management, data security and data privacy regulations.

Not sure you meet every requirement? Research shows some people – particularly women and those from under‑represented backgrounds – may hesitate to apply unless they meet every criterion. At SGN, we value diverse backgrounds, experiences and perspectives. If this role interests you but you’re not sure you tick every box, we’d still love to hear from you – you might be just who we’re looking for, now or in the future.