Metadata & Data Quality Analyst

Joining Sainsbury's as a Metadata & Data Quality Analyst offers a unique opportunity to play a pivotal role in enhancing data quality and driving impactful changes within the organisation. As part of our team, you will have the chance to manage and optimise the Group Data Catalogue, implementing data quality processes, and collaborating with stakeholders to ensure data integrity and value. With a focus on continuous improvement and innovation, you will be at the forefront of shaping data-driven solutions and contributing to the organisation's success. At Sainsbury's, you will be part of a dynamic and forward-thinking environment that values excellence, collaboration, and professional growth.

To drive and deliver the operational management of ‘assured data’ across the organisation, by progressing data quality improvements/controls and the Group Data Catalogue content and ownership, to ensure analytics, insights and decisions are based on validated data. The role will involve working across multiple teams, a mix of systems with a range of tools and technologies. Your primary responsibility will be to manage and optimise the operational management of the Group Data Catalogue, ensuring that data quality is continuously improved through profiling, rule implementation, and triage processes. You will play a crucial role in developing and implementing data catalogue processes that enable users to work with data efficiently, supporting rapid discovery, prototyping, and data science initiatives that drive production solutions. Your role will involve identifying and prioritising artefacts for ingestion, maintaining the Group Data Catalogue, and collaborating with stakeholders to address data quality issues promptly and effectively. By facilitating source system data quality remediation and coordinating with the data ownership community, you will drive appropriate data quality improvements while prioritising and completing tasks within agreed timeframes.

As a Metadata & Data Quality Analyst at Sainsbury's, you are a meticulous and analytical professional with a deep understanding of data quality management and metadata analysis. With a focus on improving data quality and ensuring the integrity of the Group Data Catalogue, you possess the expertise to develop and implement data quality triage processes, identify root causes of data quality issues, and drive continuous improvement initiatives. Your ability to prioritise work effectively, collaborate with stakeholders across the organisation, and leverage technology for data cataloguing and profiling makes you a valuable asset in ensuring high-quality data standards and operational efficiency within the company.

Essential Skills

• Advanced SQL with hands‑on experience in Snowflake, including query optimisation, profiling, and schema management
• Hands‑on experience with a data catalogue platform (Alation strongly preferred)
• Practical experience implementing or operating data quality rules, checks, and triage processes.
• Familiarity with data quality tooling (Alation Data Quality / Soda or equivalent).
• Understanding of metadata concepts: stewardship, ownership and classification.
• Awareness of data governance frameworks and their practical application

Desirable Skills

• GitHub working knowledge
• Python scripting for automation, data quality checks, and pipeline integration
• Previous experience of creating reporting and visualisations, Power BI or other
• Awareness of Data Vault Modelling
• Understanding of design and development of data stores, digital solutions and data warehouses and associated toolsets.
• Data and information management lifecycles
• Knowledge and use of data quality methodologies, approaches, and processes
• How to undertake triage, root cause analysis and resolution
• Understanding of JIRA
• Understanding of Agile principles

Skills and Behaviours

• Own it – takes full accountability for data quality issues through to resolution.
• Make it better – identifies opportunities to improve data availability that is trusted.
• Be human – Engaging with Senior Engineers and Architects to create standardised processes; builds great working relationships with colleagues (technical and non‑technical) and shows care and respect to everyone.

At Sainsbury's, data sits at the heart of how we operate, innovate and serve our customers. Our Data & Analytics team is building a technically advanced, commercially focused and impactful capability, powering our Next Level Strategy and helping to create a Sainsbury's powered by industry leading AI algorithms. We use data, technology and advanced analytics to drive better decisions across the business, from forecasting and optimisation to experimentation, personalisation and machine learning. With one of the richest retail datasets in the UK and a portfolio spanning Sainsbury's, Argos, Habitat and Nectar, the opportunity to innovate is huge. Here, you'll tackle complex challenges at scale, create measurable impact and grow quickly alongside brilliant colleagues. People who thrive with us combine business understanding, technical expertise and curiosity, with a natural instinct for problem‑solving. Join us and help shape the future of retail through data and AI.

We are committed to being a truly inclusive retailer so you'll be welcomed whoever you are and wherever you work. Around here, there's always the chance to try something new - whether that's as part of an evolving team or somewhere else across the business - and we take development seriously and promise to support you. We also recognise and celebrate colleagues when they go the extra mile and, where possible, offer flexible working.

When you join our team, we'll also offer you an amazing range of benefits. Starting off with colleague discount, you'll be able to save 10% on your shopping online and instore at Sainsbury's, Argos, TU and Habitat, and we regularly increase the discount to 15% at points during the year. We've also got you covered for your future with our pensions scheme and life cover. You'll also be able to share in our success as you may be eligible for a performance‑related bonus of up to 10% of salary, depending on how we perform. Your wellbeing is important to us too. You'll receive an annual holiday allowance and you can buy up to an additional week's holiday. We also offer other benefits that will help your money go further such as season ticket loans, cycle to work scheme, health cash plans, salary advance (where you can access some of your pay before pay day) as well access to a great range of discounts from hundreds of other retailers. And if you ever need it there is also an employee assistance programme. Moments that matter are as important to us as they are to you which is why we give up to 26 weeks' pay for maternity or adoption leave and up to 4 weeks' pay for paternity leave.