Group Data Governance Lead

Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Solutions; Cheltenham; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading fluid technology company located in the United Kingdom is looking for a Group Data Governance Lead. The role involves ensuring data quality and compliance across the organisation and managing related risks. Candidates should have a Bachelor's degree and at least 7 years of experience in data governance. Key responsibilities include leading the data governance programme, driving quality initiatives, and engaging with stakeholders to promote data literacy. This position offers a competitive salary, flexible working arrangements, and comprehensive benefits.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Discretionary bonus

27 days holiday allowance

Comprehensive private healthcare

Enhanced pension plan

Qualifications

• Experience designing and implementing enterprise-wide data governance frameworks.
• At least 7 years of experience working with data, with 4+ years focused on data governance.
• Strong technical knowledge in measuring and tracking data quality.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Data Governance Programme and implement frameworks across the organisation.
• Establish KPIs to enhance data quality and monitor compliance.
• Engage stakeholders to promote data literacy and governance practices.

Skills

Leadership

Data governance

Analytical skills

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Azure Databricks

Power BI

Ataccama

Job description

Group Data Governance Lead

Role Overview

The Group Data Governance Lead is responsible for ensuring data accuracy, quality and compliance to prevent potential risks associated with inaccurate or mishandled data. The role ensures that data is trusted and used responsibly across the organisation and involves working closely with a community of data stewards to coordinate data and analytics stewardship activities for consistency and leverage.

The role also plays a critical part in managing data‑related risks such as security, access and privacy, collaborating with leaders such as the DPO and Head of Infosec to uphold data confidentiality, integrity and availability within the organisation.

Objectives and Responsibilities

• Lead Data Governance Programme: Design, implement, and oversee a global data governance framework to improve data quality and consistency across the Spirax Group and enable key projects such as ERP consolidation to be successful.
• Drive Data Quality Initiatives: Establish KPIs, baseline measurements, and lead projects to monitor, report, and enhance data quality.
• Governance Leadership: Chair the Data Governance Council and provide guidance to Data Owners, Stewards, and Custodians; define roles, responsibilities, and training needs.
• Policy and Standards Enforcement: Ensure compliance with governance policies, regulatory requirements, and data privacy/security standards globally.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Build strong relationships with business units to promote data literacy and embed governance practices.
• Platform and Process Implementation: Roll out data governance tools and MDM solutions; establish decision‑making forums, escalation paths, and issue resolution processes.
• Enterprise Data Model Development: Collaborate to identify critical data entities for mastering and quality improvement.
• Risk Management: Track and mitigate data‑related risks, ensuring integrity and compliance across geographies.
• Collaboration: Work closely with Enterprise Data Architect, Heads of Data, DPO, and Infosec teams to uphold data integrity and security. Liaise with technology partners and manage DG vendors.
• Continuous Improvement: Identify opportunities for data augmentation, manage multilingual data standards, and lead data literacy programmes.
• Develop KPIs: Develop KPIs and reports to measure governance maturity and data quality.

Previous Experience

• Experience designing and implementing enterprise‑wide data governance frameworks, policies and standards in global, complex organisations.
• Experience defining governance roles and responsibilities and identifying training needs.
• Previous experience leading cross‑functional governance committees.
• Experience integrating MDM tools or services into a data platform to create and maintain golden records, and establishing and managing MDM operations.
• Strong technical knowledge in measuring and tracking data quality, with the ability to communicate these concepts to colleagues at various levels.
• Experience collaborating with data architects and engineering teams.
• Familiarity with EDM and identification of critical data entities.
• Understanding of global data privacy, residency, retention and compliance requirements.
• A bachelor's degree in Computer Science, IT, information management, analytics, business administration, or another relevant field is preferred.
• At least 7 years of experience working with data, including 4 or more years focused on data governance.

Success Criteria

• Demonstrate Company Core Values at all times.
• Technical:
• Familiarity with Azure Databricks is an advantage.
• Hands‑on deep competency with at least one data governance platform and MDM tool, for example Ataccama, Profisee or CluedIn.
• Experience creating Power BI reports is desirable; proficiency with Excel is mandatory.
• Ability to set up data catalogues, glossaries, and data governance tools.
• Analytical and keen problem‑solver: Ability to identify and establish appropriate KPIs for data quality.
• Analytical skills for understanding data formats, masks, and designing appropriate approaches for multilingual data management.
• Curiosity and problem‑solving abilities to identify root causes of issues.
• Skills in assessing and managing data quality and data management risks.
• Influencing and people management:
• Ability to influence stakeholders to adopt data governance practices.
• Ability to champion the importance of data quality and standards to colleagues.
• Ability to lead DG teams in a matrix organisation.
• Organisational:
• Ability to structure and phase the project management of DQ/DG projects.
• Ability to juggle multiple priorities and make pragmatic decisions regarding the time allocation of DG teams.

Benefits

You will receive a competitive salary (and a discretionary bonus), flexible working and excellent benefits including 27 days holiday allowance (before bank holidays), 3 days’ paid volunteering leave, comprehensive private healthcare, enhanced pension plan, life assurance, optional participation in a Share Ownership Plan, free onsite parking, flexible benefits, and access to a personal discounts’ portal. We also offer a range of additional support and benefits through our Everyone is Included Group Inclusion Plan.

Spirax Group is a FTSE100 and FTSE4Good multi‑national industrial engineering Group with expertise in the control and management of steam, electric thermal solutions, peristaltic pumping and associated fluid technologies.

Our Purpose is to create sustainable value for all our stakeholders as we engineer a more efficient, safer and sustainable world. Our technologies play an essential role in critical industrial processes and industrial equipment across industries as diverse as Food & Beverage, Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology, Power Generation, Semiconductors and Healthcare. With customers in 165 countries, we provide the solutions that sit behind the production of many items used in daily life, from baked beans to mobile phones!

Our Purpose, supported by our inclusive culture and Values, unites us, guides our decisions and inspires us everywhere that we operate. We support our colleagues to make their difference for each other as well as customers, communities, suppliers, our planet and shareholders by creating a truly equitable working environment where everyone feels included.

Everyone is Included at Spirax Group

We are passionate about creating inclusive and equitable working cultures where everyone can be themselves and achieve their full potential. For us, that means supportive teams and strong relationships where everyone’s contribution is valued – across social and cultural backgrounds, ethnicities, ages, genders, gender identities, abilities, neurodiversity, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, and everything else that makes us human and unique.

We want everyone to be able to make their difference here, so we will always consider requests for flexible working.

We know that everyone needs some extra help from time to time too, so we have introduced a range of additional benefits through our Group Inclusion Commitments. These include gender‑neutral parental leave, 15 days of extra paid caregiver leave, paid time off and support for anyone experiencing pregnancy loss or domestic abuse, menopause‑friendly workplace principles and more. Learn more at www.spiraxgroup.com/en/life-at-spirax/our-inclusive-group/our-inclusion-commitments.

We are also a Disability Confident Committed Employer. If you would like to apply using this scheme, please select this option in our application form or notify our recruitment partners.