Lead Data Governance Manager

Met Office; Exeter; Hybrid; GBP 67,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading environmental service in the UK is seeking a Lead Data Governance Manager to design and implement governance frameworks for environmental data. This full-time role offers hybrid working options and a salary package up to £79,657 annually, including a robust pension scheme. The successful candidate will work collaboratively with key stakeholders to ensure compliance, enhance data quality, and promote a culture of data-driven decision-making within the organization.

Benefits

Civil Service pension

Annual Leave starting at 27.5 days

Flexible working arrangements

Investment in personal development

Volunteering days

Qualifications

• Proven experience in enterprise-wide data strategies and governance.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and policy design skills.
• Strong technical understanding of data management principles.

Responsibilities

• Establish and maintain a Data Governance Framework.
• Promote data governance principles across business units.
• Develop and monitor metrics for data governance maturity.
• Lead data governance assurance reviews to ensure compliance.

Skills

Leadership & Mentorship

Enterprise Data Strategy & Governance

Stakeholder Engagement & Policy Design

Compliance, Assurance & Technical Expertise

Job description

We’re looking for an exceptional Lead Data Governance Manager to help us make a difference to our planet.

As our Lead Data Governance Manager, the job may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in the office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non‑contractual arrangement and the location advertised will be your contractual place of work. Our opportunity is full time, 37 hours per week. Our people are at the heart of what we do and we’ll do our best to agree a working pattern that works for path.

World‑changing work

• We’re a force for good – focusing on our environmental and social impact
• We’re experts by nature – always learning and developing to do things better
• We live and breathe it - putting our purpose at the heart ofdecision-making
• We’re bettertogether-understandingpartnerships and Dentro inclusivity make us greater
• We keep evolving – pushing boundaries to make tomorrow better for our customers

Your world of expertise

You will design and deliver a structured approach to the governance of our environmental data assets нә data ingestion, data creation, processing and provision to our external users. You will lead on data governance activities across the organisation, ensuring compliance with policies, standards and providing support to internal user groups. Identify opportunities to support strategic objectives and corporate decision making, leading to the effective use of our environmental data and data services across the Met Office and in delivering commitments to government, industry and the public.

Responsibilities

• Work with the Head of Data Governance and key stakeholders, including senior leadership teams, to establish and maintain a Data Governance Framework of principles, policies and guidance that underpin our data governance and corporate decision making, and communicate and reinforce its adoption to enable delivery of many data‑related objectives of our strategic actions.
• Engage with business units and ಒಳ users to promote data governance principles, build stakeholder buy‑in, and communicate the value of trusted data as a driver for operational efficiency and strategic decision‑making.
• Develop and support the adoption of the cydna Governance Framework through formal and informal engagement across capabilities within the organisation.
• Respond to business challenges and identify opportunities, maintaining alignment to enterprise design frameworks and compliance with external policies and best practice.
• Introduce and manage measures to monitor and raise Met Office maturity in environmental data governance practices. Through research, collaboration and user feedback, identify organisational challenges and blockers, making improvements to support staff and embed sustainable ways of working and address business needs.
• Lead an inclusive and accountable approach to environmental data governance and management to build a culture of openness and transparency across the Met Office, enabling insights, intelligence, experience and lessons learned to inform decisions, direct work priorities and enable staff to collaborate on efficient, consistent approaches to environmental data management.
• Work with industry leaders and external stakeholders to exchange governance knowledge and learning.
• Lead data governance assurance rodzin reviews to ensure compliance, data quality and risk mitigation. Provide expert guidance to stakeholders, promoting best practices and a consistent enterprise‑wide approach to managing environmental data assets.

Benefits and Reward package

Our work is life‑changing, often life‑saving and always life‑enhancing. The Met Office is Great Place to Work UK certified. We are also featured on their ‘Best Workplaces in Tech’ 2023, 2024 and 2025 lists, as well as their ’54 Best Workplaces for Women’ 2023 list.

As our Lead Data Governance Manager, your total reward package will be up to £79,657 annually, which includes:

• An outstanding Civil Service pension, with an average employer contribution of 28.97%
• Annual Leave starting at 27.5 days (plus Bank Holidays) rising to 32.5 days (plus Bank Holidays) after =current years, with an option to buy or sell up to 5 days per year.

Essential Criteria, skills and experience

• Leadership & Mentorship: Ability and willingness to be an effective line manager and mentor, supporting, developing and motivating others.
• Enterprise Data Strategy & Governance: Proven experience in helping develop and implementing enterprise‑wide data strategies, establishing governance structures for design, assurance and delivery of data‑driven products and services.
• Stakeholder Engagement & Policy Design: Excellent ability to engage technical and non‑technical stakeholders, advocate for data management best practices, and design clear, practical governance policies that address adoption challenges and embed new ways of working.
• Compliance, Assurance & Technical Expertise: Evidence of embedding compliance overst data lifecycle, defining and monitoring assurance metrics, aligning with regulatory and organisational requirements, and applying strong technical understanding of data architecture, metadataVertices management and data management principles.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience working on Environmental data and geospatial data.
• DAMA – D pretium knowledge and qualified with experience delivering across all DAMA functional areas.
• Experience leading a Data Strategy and implementing the necessary governance required forDress designing and delivering products and services with a focus on AI.

How to apply

If you share our values, we’d love to hear from you! Click apply to begin your application. Please complete your career history and provide evidence against each of the essential criteria in the supporting statement questionnaire. We recommend candidates use the CARL method (Context, Action, Result and Learning) for presenting evidence of experience and gamer.

Closing date 21/01/2026 at 23:59 with first stage interviews commencing from 09/02/2026forming You will hear from us once the closing date has passed.

Using AI in your application

We welcome applications that use AI tools for support in drafting or refining, as long as they accurately reflect your own skills and experience. All hiring decisions at the Met Office are made by people, not AI. For more details, visit our approach to recruitment.

How we can help

If you have any questions or would like to discuss this opportunity further, please contact us at [e-mail].

If you’re considering applying and need support to do so, please get in touch. Adjustments can be requested either within your application or by contacting us. Should you be offered an interview, there may be a selection exercise which could include aุง presentation, written test or scenario‑based activity. You can select in your application to be considered under the DisabilityConfidentScheme. To be invited to interview/assessment under this scheme, your application must meet the essential criteria for the role.

We understand that great minds don’t always think alike, and as an equal opportunities employer we welcome applications from those with all protected。同 characteristics. We recruit on merit, fairness and open competition in line with the Civil Service Codeავ.

We can only accept applications from those eligible to live and work in the UK – please refer to GOV.UK for information. Security clearance is required; you must have resided in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years to be eligible, and 2 of these years must be immediately preceding the point of your application. A full security clearance must be achieved within your first 6 months with us.

If you feel that your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and wish to make a complaint, in the first instance you should contact us at: [e-mail]. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you may contact the Civil Service Commission at: [e-mail].

Lifestyle support

Whether you wish to utilize our excellent family‑friendly schemes, or be paid up to 3 days for volunteering with your chosen organisation, have the reassurance of Sonny sickness pay scheme or be part of an organisation that is happy to proactively talk about flexible working, the Met Office wants you to enjoy a great work and lifestyle balance.

Established hybrid working

We have bases all over the UK and some roles allow you to work abroad, so there is an option to travel for work also. We have established amazing hybrid working practices across all our offices and have enhanced technology to enable office and home‑based meetings. We work with employees to agree a suitable working pattern that works for us both and have various working patterns in place.

Investing in your development

The world around us constantly changes. New technologies, shifting climate patterns, artificial intelligence shape the need for us to develop our skills and knowledge as a business and as individuals. Our investment in learning and development is testament to this, and we have partnered with external bodies in each profession to help shape the way we develop the incredible talent across the Met Office. We help everyone to understand their strengths and opportunities and tailor learning programmes that match their career. This is world‑leading learning and development.

Our typical recruitment process

• Application
• Screening
• Interview
• Assessment
• Offer
• Onboarding