Data Governance Specialist

Benefits:

• 401(k) matching
• Competitive salary
• Health insurance
• Paid time off

About this Role:

The Data Governance Specialist will support enterprise-level data governance initiatives across the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This role is responsible for implementing data governance frameworks, policies, and standards that promote data quality, security, and compliance across multiple HHS mission areas. The Data Governance Specialist will work closely with data stewards, data owners, program managers, and IT leadership to ensure effective data management and enable trustworthy, mission-critical decision-making.

This position requires strong knowledge of data governance principles, metadata management, data lineage, and federal data policies. The ideal candidate has experience working in complex data environments, preferably within a federal agency, and can drive governance implementation across distributed teams and systems.

Key Responsibilities:

Data Governance Framework Implementation

• Support the development and execution of an enterprise data governance strategy aligned with HHS goals and federal policies.
• Define and implement governance processes that improve data quality, consistency, classification, and stewardship.
• Establish and maintain data governance policies, data standards, and data usage guidelines.
• Support maturity assessments and roadmap development for governance adoption and enterprise data management (EDM).

Data Quality & Compliance

• Develop data quality rules, validation metrics, and monitoring processes to ensure data accuracy and completeness.
• Conduct data profiling activities to identify data inconsistencies and remediation needs.
• Work with stakeholders to resolve data quality issues and establish preventative controls.
• Ensure alignment to security regulations, FISMA, Privacy Act, HIPAA, and HHS data policies.

Metadata & Data Lineage Management

• Implement metadata standards to enhance data discoverability and transparency.
• Support enterprise metadata repositories, data catalogs, or data dictionaries.
• Ensure data traceability by maintaining data lineage across systems, applications, and business processes.

Stakeholder Engagement & Governance Operations

• Facilitate data governance working groups, data steward councils, and governance boards.
• Partner with system owners and data stewards to enforce governance policies.
• Document roles and responsibilities for data ownership and stewardship.
• Promote data governance adoption through communication and change management strategies.

Tools, Reporting, and Analytics Support

• Support data governance tool implementation (e.g., Collibra, Informatica Axon, Alation, SAP Data Hub).
• Work with data analysts and BI teams to ensure governed data is used in reporting and analytics.
• Produce governance dashboards and metrics to measure compliance and data quality improvements.
• Provide training and mentorship on governance best practices and tools.

Qualifications and Skills:

• U.S. Citizen with the ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust clearance.
• Bachelor's degree in Information Science, Data Management, Business Analytics, or related field.
• 7+ years of professional experience in data governance, data management, data quality, or enterprise data programs.
• Strong understanding of data governance frameworks (DAMA, DCAM, or equivalent).
• Experience with metadata management, master data management (MDM), and data classification models.
• Experience establishing data governance processes within enterprise or federal environments.
• Strong communication and facilitation skills; able to communicate complex data concepts to non-technical stakeholders.

Desired Skills and Competencies:

• Experience supporting HHS or other federal agencies (CMS, NIH, HRSA, ACF, FDA).
• Familiarity with federal data strategy, OMB M-19-23, and CDO Council guidance.
• Experience with data governance tools such as Collibra, Informatica Axon, Alation, Talend, or IBM InfoSphere.
• Working knowledge of SQL, data architecture concepts, and data modeling.
• Experience in Agile environments and with enterprise platforms like AWS, Azure, or Snowflake.
• Certifications such as DGSP (Data Governance Specialist), CDMP, DCAM, or PMP.

Flexible work from home options available.