Senior Data Governance Manager in Birmingham

Work directly with the Head of Data Governance & Quality to translate the data governance strategy into a sequenced, resourced delivery plan, owning the roadmap and priorities list, defining success measures, and reporting progress and slippage to senior leadership. Own delivery of governance change initiatives end to end, building the evidenced case for change, securing the decisions and funding to proceed, and driving through to implementation and adoption.

Co-ordinate data engineers, domain leads, system owners and data owners to make agreed changes holding each party accountable, unblocking where progress stalls, and agreeing ownership and controls at handover so change sticks.

Senior Stakeholder Partnering & Thought Leadership: Act as a day-to-day governance partner to senior business stakeholders across commercial, operational and finance domains. Preparing and delivering consultancy-quality papers and presentations, and influencing across functions to secure commitment to governance outcomes. Work with the Head of Data Governance & Quality to build and share data governance knowledge across the business. Developing guidance and briefings, raising literacy and stewardship capability among domain leads, data and system owners, and advising delivery teams and transformation projects on data best practice.

Data Domain Forums: Run the operation of the Data Domain Forums, which are chaired by the Head of Data Governance & Quality. Preparing agendas and materials, capturing decisions and minutes, and circulating outputs to attendees and wider stakeholders. Drive the actions arising from the forums. Tracking them in the governance decision log, chasing the accountable owners, escalating where progress stalls, and evidencing closure. Deputise for the Head of Data Governance & Quality in forums, boards and stakeholder meetings where required.

Data Governance Board Contributions: Prepare papers and supporting analysis for the Data Governance Board, building the case for governance initiatives such as data retention and classification, and driving the resulting actions to closure. Support the CISO, DPO and Legal where governance, privacy and security obligations intersect - translating policy into system-level requirements and driving implementation with system owners through to evidenced compliance.

DG Framework & Standards: Build out the governance framework and operating model domain structure, roles, stewardship assignments and escalation routes under the direction of the Head of Data Governance & Quality. Develop governance policies and standards, get them agreed and implemented in delivery, and champion them across the business so they are applied rather than filed. Use SQL and Power BI to interrogate data, validate the evidence behind issues and proposals, and quality-assure the reporting that supports governance decisions.

Master Data, Lineage & Catalogue: Work with domain leads and data owners to define the master datasets the business needs, agreeing the business definitions behind them and confirming they remain fit for purpose as requirements change. Lead the definition of data lineage and catalogue requirements, what needs documenting, to what depth and for what purpose. Make the content usable by the business, so stakeholders understand where their data originates and what depends on it.

Data Quality: Own prioritisation of data quality checks under the framework, holding domain leads accountable for keeping their checks current, and working with data engineers to get agreed changes built and deployed. Own the resulting data quality issue backlog. Prioritising by business impact, driving remediation with the accountable data and system owners, and reporting progress into the forums and the Data Governance Board.

ESSENTIAL The four criteria below are the basis on which candidates should be shortlisted and assessed. A candidate strong on these and light elsewhere is the right hire; the reverse is not.

• Change delivery: Proven ability to drive initiatives to completion across teams the postholder does not manage — planning, sequencing, co-ordination, escalation and follow-through. The primary differentiator for this role.
• Presentation & communication: Consultancy-level written and presentation skills. Able to produce board-quality papers and decks and present them credibly to a senior audience.
• Thought leadership: Credibility in data governance practice. Able to bring an informed external perspective, help shape the internal narrative alongside the Head of Data Governance & Quality, and raise capability in others.
• Senior stakeholder management: Track record of partnering with and influencing senior business stakeholders, including at executive level, and of navigating competing priorities without direct authority.

IMPORTANT Expected at appointment, but a gap in any one of these is not disqualifying for an otherwise strong candidate.

• Governance experience: Substantial experience in data governance, data management or a closely related discipline in a large, complex organisation.
• Governance framework & forums: Experience building governance frameworks, policies or standards and getting them adopted, and running or supporting governance forums and boards: agenda setting, papers, decision capture and action follow-through.
• Issue & backlog management: Experience owning an issue backlog through to resolution — triaging, prioritising against business impact, assigning to accountable owners and escalating stalled remediation.
• Analytical skills: Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to frame complex data issues as business problems with clear options and recommendations.
• Technical skills: Working SQL and Power BI — sufficient to interrogate data, validate evidence behind proposals and quality-assure governance reporting. A working tool, not the focus of the role.
• Platform: Familiarity with the Microsoft Azure stack and Databricks. Databricks is LRQA's main data platform and will host the data catalogue, so the postholder must be able to work within it and hold engineering conversations on its terms.

DESIRABLE — or developed in role Valuable at appointment and will shorten time to impact, but can be built in post by a candidate strong on the essential criteria.

• Master data: Experience defining master datasets with business stakeholders and agreeing the definitions behind them.
• Data lineage & catalogue: Experience leading lineage and catalogue requirements, and translating them into terms business stakeholders can use.
• Retention, classification & compliance: Experience building the case for data retention and classification, and working with CISO, DPO or Legal functions on regulatory obligations such as GDPR.
• Project & delivery engagement: Experience embedding governance requirements into transformation or system implementation projects, and advising developers and delivery teams on data best practice.
• Data quality tooling: Experience with automated data quality checking, profiling or monitoring capabilities — accountable for coverage and prioritisation rather than configuration.
• Data modelling: Working knowledge of data modelling sufficient to contribute to and challenge designs on transformation projects.
• Frameworks: Working knowledge of data management frameworks such as DCAM or DAMA and their practical application.
• Regulated data domains: Experience working within regulated or restricted data domains — for example export-controlled, nuclear, defence or geographically restricted data — and applying the access controls and handling requirements they carry.
• Azure DevOps: Experience of Azure DevOps for backlog and delivery tracking.

Who are LRQA? LRQA is a leading global assurance partner, combining deep industry expertise with innovative solutions to help organizations manage risk, improve performance, and drive sustainable growth. Operating in over 50 countries with a team of 2,500+ professionals, we support more than 60,000 clients worldwide through assurance, certification, cybersecurity, inspection, and training services. Our purpose is simple: to help businesses build a safer, more secure, and more sustainable future.

What We Offer: Join a global team where your expertise is valued and your development is supported. We offer a collaborative work environment, opportunities for professional growth, flexible working arrangements where applicable, a competitive salary aligned with the market, and a comprehensive benefits package.

Pre-Employment Checks: If you are successful in securing a role with us, we may carry out pre-employment checks, as permitted by local law, including verification of identity, right to work, employment history, education, and criminal records where applicable. These checks are conducted by our trusted screening partner, Cfirst, in compliance with applicable data protection laws. Any personal data collected will be used solely for recruitment purposes, stored securely, and retained only as required.