Data Management Principal - Finance Metadata Specialist

General information

Ref # 22247

Remote? No

Ally and Your Career

Ally Financial only succeeds when its people do - and that’s more than some cliché people put on job postings. We live this stuff! We see our people as, well, people - with interests, families, friends, dreams, and causes that are all important to them. Our focus is on the health and safety of our teammates as well as work-life balance and diversity and inclusion. From generous benefits to a variety of employee resource groups, we strive to build paths that encourage employees to stretch themselves professionally. We want to help you grow, develop, and learn new things. You’re constantly evolving, so shouldn’t your opportunities be, too?

The Opportunity

At Ally, you get a startup feel, but experience the benefits of a company that has worked out the kinks and is fulfilling its purpose. We are always evolving and see that as a good thing. From owning our work to seeing its impact in the real world, our team is relentless in finding new ways technology can help make experiences better and help people. We are problem solvers, we value diverse thinking, we support one another, and we challenge ourselves to think bigger in the journey to deliver customer-obsessed tech solutions. To read more about what our tech team does, be sure to visit our tech blog at ally.tech.

Ally is committed to transforming our data governance and management capabilities to drive business value and uphold our "do it right" approach. We are seeking a results-oriented Manager who brings hands on experience in data governance and management to support the execution and continuous improvement of Ally’s data governance and management policies, enablement services, and compliance measurement within a function or business line. This pivotal role will manage the day-to-day business-line data governance and management efforts, while collaborating closely with the Enterprise Data Governance & Management (EDGM) team, and business and technology leaders across the organization to ensure data quality, integrity, compliance, and accessibility. If you are a forwarding-thinking manager with a passion for data governance and management, and you are ready to drive impactful change, we encourage you to apply.

At this time, Ally will not sponsor a new applicant for employment authorization for this position.

The Work Itself

• Enablement Services:

• Create and maintain metadata for in scope sources

• Apply knowledge of current metadata schemas and industry standards to Ally’s metadata management practices

• Assist in the development of controlled vocabularies and taxonomies

• Define and maintain an appropriate domain model to organize Finance data

• Participate in design and implementation of data models to efficiently structure and organize data for analysis and reporting

• Drive execution of metadata deliverables (lineage, data dictionaries, business glossaries, critical data elements, etc.) for aligned and prioritized data governance implementation scope

• Coordinate with and support business line data owners, business data leads, and business risk partners with data governance-related enablement activities to help your business line understand and successfully adopt enterprise data management requirements (e.g., data dictionaries, data lineage, data stewardship, data classification, data privacy, etc.)

• Partner with Finance, Risk, Compliance, Business Unit and IT teams to resolve inconsistencies between systems of record

• Enforce adherence to enterprise metadata policies, standards and procedures while collaborating across the organization to drive continuous refinement and improvement to those policies, standards and procedures

• Manage data governance, data domain, and data product execution activities within Finance

• Drive successful deployment of enterprise metadata tools within Finance

• Provide guidance and training to business and technical users on metadata tools and standards

• Conduct business line training and awareness campaigns for data governance leveraging enterprise materials

• Support data quality team in embedding data quality checks, determining data quality rule thresholds, and tracking lineage

• Track the status of key data governance activities and initiatives

• Executive Communication:

• Coordinate the preparation of reporting inputs, dashboards, and status summaries to be used by senior leadership in providing executive-level updates on progress with adhering to data governance and management requirements

• Monitor and address results of enterprise dashboards, metrics, and summaries that reflect business line / function performance and alignment with expectations and key risk indicators

• Culture Change:

• Promote a culture of data accountability, stewardship, and data-driven decision making across Finance

• Provide support in planning and executing change management efforts to ensure successful adoption of the enterprise data governance agenda across the organization

• Stay current with industry data management and data analytics trends, including embedding AI practices

• Data Issue Management:

• Support the business line in identification, prioritization, tracking, and remediation of data defect and data issue management processes

• Understand the regulatory requirements and frameworks that are applicable to your business line, especially as these requirements relate to identifying the critical data and data risks within your business line

• Work with business data leads, business risk partners, and second-line stakeholders, to monitor business line / function compliance with regulatory requirements, proactively manage data risks, and coordinate remediation of open business line data defects and data issues

• Execution Excellence:

• Manage the day-to-day execution of data governance and management requirements within the business line / function

• Own the documentation of asset-level and element-level data lineage, support business and technical metadata management activities for data dictionary and business glossary creation and maintenance

• Enterprise Collaboration:

• Work with diverse business, technology, and risk teams across the enterprise, including the enterprise data governance team, as each business line begins to take accountability for managing their data

• Policy Accountability:

• Help interpret data governance and management policies, standards, procedures, and related documentation for your business line

The Skills You Bring

• Experience: 5+ years of proven experience in metadata management preferably within financial services, with at least 1-2 years in a team lead, senior analyst, or supervisory role
• Expertise: Hands-on experience with data governance frameworks, policies, and standards (e.g., DCAM), data management concepts (e.g., data modeling, data lineage, data catalogs) and data governance tooling (e.g., Alation, Collibra, Manta, Ab Initio)
• Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in computer science, data science, information science, or a related discipline
• Leadership: Demonstrated ability to guide junior staff, coordinate cross-functional work, and support large-scale data initiatives
• Technical Skillset: Foundational understanding of database structures and data analytics (e.g., SQL, Snowflake, ETL tools, Tableau, PowerBI)
• Communication: Strong communication and stakeholder-management skills; an ability to translate data governance requirements into actionable steps for business line / function partners
• Passion: Understands the tremendous impact good data governance and management can make for an organization and is enthusiastic about supporting the organization through the journey
• Approach: Strategic mindset paired with pragmatic execution capabilities
• Risk Management: Ability to identify, assess, and mitigate data-related risks within the organization
• Collaboration: Strong collaboration skills to work effectively with diverse teams and colleagues at all levels
• Presence: Ability to communicate effectively to senior leadership in both business and technology roles
• Decision Making: Ability to manage complexity, prioritize team deliverables, and make effective decisions
• Industry Experience: Financial Services / highly regulated industry experience preferred

What Success Looks Like

• Consistent definitions across finance, risk, and regulatory reporting
• Clear lineage from source systems to regulatory reports
• Reduced audit findings related to data
• Increased trust in data used for executive and regulatory decisions

Ideal Candidate

• Thinks like an auditor but operates like a builder
• Comfortable navigating regulatory expectations and ambiguity
• Strong influencer across Finance, Risk, Compliance, and IT
• Obsessed with clarity, traceability, and control

Why This Role Matters

In a regulated banking environment, data is not only a driver of business decisions but also a foundation for regulatory compliance and risk management. These roles are critical in ensuring that data used across financial reporting, risk analysis, and AI initiatives is accurate, controlled, and fully auditable.

#LI-Hybrid

How We'll Have Your Back

Ally's compensation program offers market-competitive base pay and pay-for-performance incentives (bonuses) based on achieving personal and company goals. But Ally’s total compensation - or total rewards - extends beyond your paycheck and is designed to support and enrich your personal and professional life, including:

• Time Away: competitive holiday and flexible paid-time-off, including time off for volunteering and voting.
• Planning for the Future: plan for the near and long term with an industry-leading 401K retirement savings plan with matching and company contributions, student loan and 529 educational assistance programs, tuition reimbursement, and other financial well-being programs.
• Supporting your Health & Well-being: flexible health and insurance options including dental and vision, pre-tax Health Savings Account with employer contributions and a total well-being program that helps you and your family stay on track physically, socially, emotionally, and financially.
• Building a Family: adoption, surrogacy, and fertility support as well as parental and caregiver leave, back-up child and adult/elder day care program and childcare discounts.
• Work-Life Integration: other benefits including LifeMatters® Employee Assistance Program, subsidized and discounted Weight Watchers® program and other employee discount programs.

Who We Are:

Ally Financial is a customer-centric, leading digital financial services company with passionate customer service and innovative financial solutions. We are relentlessly focused on "Doing it Right" and being a trusted financial-services provider to our consumer, commercial, and corporate customers. For more information, visit

Ally is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, sex, religion, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy status, marital status, military or veteran status, genetic disposition or any other reason protected by law.

Where permitted by applicable law, must have received or be willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine by date of hire to be considered, if not currently employed by Ally.

We are committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodation to applicants with physical or mental disabilities. For accommodation requests, email us at View email address on click.appcast.io. Ally will not discriminate against any qualified individual who is capable of performing the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodation.

Base Pay Range:

An individual's position in the range is determined by the scope and responsibilities of the role, work experience, education, certification(s), training, and additional qualifications. We review internal pay, the competitive market, and business environment prior to extending an offer.

Emerging: 90000

Experienced: 120000

Expert: 150000

Incentive Compensation: This position is eligible to participate in our annual incentive plan