Data Governance Lead in London

About IG Group

IG is a FTSE 100 fintech operating across five continents, serving over 1.3m customers and handling billions of dollars in transactions – built on scale, trust, and proof. We didn't pivot to innovation; it's how we've always operated. What that means for the people who work here is real: genuinely complex problems to solve, the technology and resources to tackle them properly, and the kind of scope that's rare in established businesses. The bar is high – bring a curious and forward-thinking mindset and we'll give you the platform to define what comes next. Join us at IG – the future gets built here.

About the Role

IG's Data & AI team is scaling up how the business governs, understands, and trusts its data. As Data Governance Lead, you'll turn our data governance framework into practical, working reality — defining standards, embedding ownership, and resolving the day-to-day trade-offs that determine whether data across the business is genuinely fit for purpose.

About the Team

This role sits within the Data & AI team, reporting into the Head of Data Governance & Strategy. You'll work closely with Risk, Data Engineering, Compliance, and IG's Product teams to embed governance into how data is defined, owned, and used across the organisation. This is an individual contributor role that requires someone comfortable working on their own initiative, building relationships with stakeholders at all levels.

Key Responsibilities

• Evolve the data governance framework — Working from existing policies, help create standards and procedures for how data is defined, classified, and accessed across the organisation's data estate.
• Manage adherence to the data ownership model — Identify data owners across the business, clarify their roles, and coordinate their day-to-day governance activities.
• Lead a data governance council or working group — Run recurring forums with stakeholders from IT, Legal, Compliance, and the business to make decisions on data policy, resolve disputes, and prioritise initiatives.
• Define and monitor data quality standards — Set data quality rules and KPIs, oversee data quality assessments, and drive remediation of issues with the teams that own the data.
• Develop the IG governance tooling — Ensure business glossaries and data dictionaries are accurate, complete, and kept up to date, and help implement and administer the underlying tooling.
• Manage data access and classifications — Oversee how data is classified (e.g. public, internal, confidential, restricted) and work with Security/IT to enforce appropriate access controls.
• Support audits and risk assessments — Act as the point of contact for internal/external audits related to data handling, providing documentation and evidence of governance controls.
• Champion data literacy and culture change — Develop communication plans to build awareness of governance policies and encourage responsible data practices across the organisation.

Role Requirements

• 5+ years' experience in data governance within a regulated environment, preferably UK financial services.
• Strong working knowledge of UK GDPR and other applicable data protection regulations.
• Familiarity with established data governance frameworks such as DAMA-DMBOK, DCAM, or DGI, and proven ability to design processes that ensure adherence to an existing governance operating model.
• Experience defining data quality metrics, running data quality assessments, and implementing remediation processes.
• Enough technical understanding of databases, data warehouses/lakes, and data pipelines to govern them effectively, even if not hands-on coding.
• Strong communication skills — able to translate technical governance concepts into business terms, build relationships with stakeholders across Risk, Compliance, Data Engineering, and Product (including holding difficult conversations to land agreed timelines), and run training or change-management initiatives to build a data-literate culture.
• Experience running governance initiatives as structured programmes, including tracking KPIs, managing timelines, and reporting progress to executive stakeholders or a data governance council.

Desirable

• Hands-on experience with data governance or catalogue tooling (e.g. Collibra, Purview, Alation).
• Professional certification in data management (e.g. CDMP).
• Experience of data governance considerations in an AI/ML context.

The Perks

• Your growth fuels our success! Thrive with tailored development programs, mentoring opportunities with leaders, and clear career progression.
• Expand your network through committees, sports and social clubs.
• Enjoy extra time off for volunteering and community work.
• Competitive salary.
• Flexible Benefits Package on top of your salary (12%).
• Private medical cover for you and your family.
• Life insurance.
• Contribution to gym memberships.
• 25 Days holiday, with 1 additional day off to celebrate your Birthday & 2 additional days off a year for voluntary work (28 in total).
• The option to buy or sell holiday days.
• Unlimited access to the LinkedIn Learning Platform.
• A comprehensive global and local onboarding process.
• Employee-led LGBTQ+, Women’s, Black and Parents & Carers networks with an annual budget for organising events & projects that foster an open, diverse and inclusive culture.
• Enhanced primary (maternity), secondary (paternity), and shared parental pay and leave, as well as a range of support and benefits for parents.
• Option to participate and create ESG initiatives based on IG Brighter Future Fund.

Number of openings: 1