SME Data Governance

Position SummaryThe Data Governance SME serves as the senior advisor for enterprise data governance initiatives, providing strategic leadership, policy guidance, and subject matter expertise to establish and mature data governance capabilities across the organization. This role is responsible for developing governance frameworks, data standards, stewardship models, metadata strategies, and compliance processes to ensure data is managed as a strategic enterprise asset.The Data Governance SME collaborates with government stakeholders, mission owners, data stewards, security teams, architects, and engineers to improve data quality, accessibility, interoperability, discoverability, and trust while ensuring compliance with Intelligence Community (IC), Federal, and organizational requirements. The position plays a critical role in supporting information sharing, data-centric security, and enterprise data modernization efforts.Key ResponsibilitiesDevelop, implement, and mature enterprise data governance frameworks, policies, standards, and operating procedures.Advise government leadership on governance strategies, data management best practices, and enterprise data initiatives.Lead governance activities supporting enterprise data management, metadata management, information sharing, and data modernization efforts.Collaborate with data owners, data stewards, cybersecurity personnel, architects, and engineering teams to establish governance controls and accountability mechanisms.Develop and maintain data standards, business rules, taxonomies, metadata requirements, and stewardship processes.Ensure alignment with ICD 504, IC Data Strategy, Federal Data Strategy, and agency-specific governance requirements.Support implementation of data-centric security principles through data classification, tagging, labeling, and metadata-driven governance approaches.Partner with Zero Trust teams to ensure governance processes support Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) and secure information-sharing objectives.Lead development of governance metrics, data quality measures, stewardship performance indicators, and program maturity assessments.Support enterprise data catalog, metadata management, and lineage initiatives to improve discoverability and transparency of data assets.Facilitate governance councils, working groups, stakeholder forums, and executive-level briefings.Conduct governance assessments and recommend process improvements to enhance organizational data maturity.Support data onboarding initiatives and ensure new datasets comply with governance standards and enterprise architecture requirements.Develop governance artifacts, policy recommendations, standards documentation, and implementation roadmaps.Promote data literacy, stewardship adoption, and governance awareness across stakeholder communities.Required SkillsGovernance & Data ManagementEnterprise Data GovernanceData StewardshipData Quality ManagementMetadata ManagementData Lifecycle ManagementData Catalog ManagementData Standards DevelopmentData Policy DevelopmentInformation ManagementData Classification and TaggingCompliance & SecurityICD 504IC Data StrategyFederal Data Governance RequirementsPrivacy and Compliance ManagementInformation Sharing PoliciesZero Trust ConceptsData-Centric SecurityAttribute-Based Access Control (ABAC)Strategic & ProgrammaticGovernance Program DevelopmentExecutive Advisory SupportStakeholder EngagementOrganizational Change ManagementRequirements AnalysisGovernance AssessmentsStrategic PlanningProcess ImprovementMinimum QualificationsBachelor’s degree in data management, Information Systems, Computer Science, Information Management, Data Science, Engineering, or related discipline.Minimum of 16 years of experience supporting enterprise data governance, data management, metadata management, information management, or related initiatives.Minimum of 5 years supporting Federal Government, Department of Defense (DoD), or Intelligence Community (IC) organizations.Demonstrated experience developing and implementing enterprise governance frameworks, policies, standards, and stewardship processes.Experience supporting enterprise metadata management, data cataloging, data lineage, and data quality initiatives.Experience leading cross-functional governance efforts involving technical, operational, security, and business stakeholders.Experience briefing senior leadership and facilitating governance boards, councils, and working groups.Knowledge of IC information-sharing requirements, data interoperability initiatives, and enterprise governance best practices.Salary range for this role $190-215K #CJSummaryLocation: Reston, VA, United StatesType: Full TimeExperience: ExperiencedDepartment: Data Science