Data Governance Lead

At National Grid, we keep people connected and society moving. National Grid supplies us with the environment to make it happen. As we generate momentum in the energy transition for all, we don’t plan on leaving any of our customers in the dark. Join us as a Data Governance Lead and find your superpower.

National Grid is hiring a Data Governance Lead for our Electricity Distribution (NGED) team. This role is designated as hybrid, with an expectation of one or two days per month in one of our offices. Requirements may vary based on business needs and company policy.

About the Role

Reporting to the Head of Data Engineering & Insight, the Data Governance Lead is responsible for establishing and embedding best-in-class data governance frameworks, policies, and practices across the organisation. This role ensures that data assets are well-defined, well-managed, and compliant with internal and regulatory standards, enabling high-quality, trusted data for business decision-making. The Data Governance Lead will act as a subject matter expert, providing guidance on data ownership, stewardship, and governance best practices. They will work closely with data stewards, engineers, analysts, and business stakeholders to develop a culture of accountability and improved data literacy across the organisation. In addition to hands-on governance implementation, this role is expected to influence strategic decisions by ensuring that data is governed in line with regulatory requirements and business needs. They will contribute to the continuous improvement of data governance maturity, ensuring alignment with industry standards and the organisation's overall data strategy.

What You’ll Do

• Own, define, and implement NGED's data governance framework, ensuring alignment with business objectives, regulatory requirements, and best practices in data management.
• Support the Head of Data Engineering & Insight in shaping the future roadmap for data governance, driving adoption of industry-leading standards, tools, and methodologies to improve data quality and compliance.
• Lead the development and enforcement of data policies, standards, and procedures, ensuring a structured approach to data governance that enhances data integrity, security, and accessibility.
• Establish and maintain data ownership and stewardship models, defining clear roles, responsibilities, and accountability structures to ensure proper data management across the organisation.
• Drive the adoption and optimisation of data governance tools and technologies, supporting data cataloguing, metadata management, and data lineage tracking to improve data transparency and accessibility.
• Collaborate with data engineers, analysts, data scientists, and business stakeholders to embed data governance best practices into day-to-day operations, ensuring consistency and compliance across all data assets.
• Implement and oversee data quality management processes, proactively identifying and resolving data inconsistencies, gaps, and inaccuracies to improve trust in business-critical data.
• Provide training and support to promote data literacy, governance awareness, and best practices, ensuring all teams understand their role in maintaining high-quality data.
• Monitor and report on data governance effectiveness, producing insights on data quality, compliance, and governance maturity, and driving continuous improvement initiatives.

About You

• Strong influencing skills and ability to communicate technical information to both technical and non-technical audiences, clearly and concisely.
• Excels at working with people and developing teams (coaching, training, facilitating and collaborating).
• Detailed knowledge/experience of the NGED product suite.
• Able to work under pressure and adapt to shifting priorities, demands and timelines and quickly update stakeholders on impact (potential or actual) to the defined delivery timecales.
• High self-awareness and emotional intelligence, able to recognise the impact of their own behaviour on others.
• Eagerness to continually develop self through high quality training and the latest industry trends with regular, guided self-reflection and mentoring.
• Knowledge and experience of implementing and leading a systems-engineering strategy, SDLC strategy, and working with cloud technologies (AWS, Azure and GCP).
• Experience in implementing data governance tools and platforms, such as AWS DataZone, Collibra, or Informatica.
• Deep understanding of data quality, metadata management, and data lineage tracking methodologies.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to engage and influence technical and business teams.
• Experience in defining and implementing data ownership and stewardship models within large organisations.

What You’ll Get

• Competitive Salary: circa £62,000 - £73,000 per annum (dependent on location, capability, and experience).
• Additional benefits include flexible benefits such as a cycle scheme, share incentive plan, technology schemes.
• Ongoing career development and support to help you cover the cost of professional membership subscriptions, course fees, books, examination fees and time off for study leave – so long as it is relevant to your role.
• Access to apps such as digital GP service for round the clock access to GP video consultations and NHS repeat prescriptions, wellbeing app to support your health and fitness.
• Access to Work + Family Space, providing support and resources for work and family life, including paid emergency childcare and eldercare.