American Chemical Society

Data Governance Program Lead (T1)

American Chemical Society • $110K — $130K *
Columbus, OH 43230In-Person
Enterprise Technology
8 - 10 years of experience
Today
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Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Management, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
  • 8+ years of experience in data management or data governance roles.
  • Proven experience in implementing enterprise data governance programs, including steward networks and data quality frameworks.
  • Familiarity with enterprise data catalog platforms, especially Collibra or Atlan.
  • Strong relationship-building skills with the ability to influence without authority.
  • Solid understanding of data modeling concepts for effective engagement with technical teams.
  • Experience with cloud data platforms, specifically Snowflake.

Responsibilities

  • Drive data governance execution aligned with business value and report KPIs to executives.
  • Translate executive goals into operational data governance momentum.
  • Assess and improve governance maturity across data domains and identify stewardship gaps.
  • Collaborate with domain stewards to enhance governance from data consumption to source systems.
  • Engage with stakeholders to build trust and drive execution of governance initiatives.
  • Present project insights and recommendations to executive committees as needed.
  • Design and manage a Data Steward Council with defined meetings and accountability structures.

Benefits

  • Generous vacation plan.
  • Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance options.
  • Employee savings and retirement plans.
Full Job Description
CAS is currently seeking a Data Governance Program Lead. This position will be located in our headquarters in Columbus, Ohio.
Key Responsibilities

Governance Program Leadership
  • Drive the execution roadmap for data governance across business data domains, prioritizing sequence based on business value creation, and reporting KPIs (to be defined) to the executive steering committee in business terms.
  • Translate executive alignment into operational momentum; this role is responsible for making sure it shows up in how the business works with data.
  • Assess governance maturity across business data domains; identify gaps in stewardship coverage, data quality rules, and metadata completeness.
  • Work with domain stewards to extend governance practices upstream from Snowflake consumption layers toward source systems and pipelines.

Cross-Functional Influence & Stakeholder Engagement
  • Operate as a peer to business stakeholders, using steering committee alignment to drive execution and build trust with those who have seen governance stall in the past.
  • Present project status, findings, and technical recommendations to the steering committee as requested.
  • Demonstrated ability to sequence quick wins ahead of long-cycle structural fixes in ambiguous, low-authority environments.
  • Prioritizes ruthlessly: picks the quick win that proves value over the comprehensive fix that takes six months and produces nothing visible.

Data Steward Council
  • Design, launch, and run a standing Data Steward Council with structured meeting cadence, decision rights, escalation paths, and action tracking.
  • Evaluate the current cohort of named stewards; identify capability or engagement opportunities.
  • Build a capable steward network through enablement materials, playbooks, and onboarding guides so stewards can operate independently within defined accountability.
  • Coach stewards on data quality remediation, metadata ownership, and issue escalation - not just governance theory.

Data Catalog Stewardship
  • Serve as an operational owner to the data catalog as the metadata and governance platform of record, embedding it into workflows across business data domains.
  • Maintain catalog continuity - governance rules, steward workflows, domain coverage, and data quality configurations - through any platform transition.
  • Partner with data engineers to support automated metadata ingestion from Snowflake and, where applicable, upstream source systems.

Semantic Model Design & Development
  • Contribute to the design and extension of a business semantic model providing consistent, trusted definitions for key metrics, entities, and relationships across business data domains.
  • Build on existing semantic layer components; extend rather than rebuild.
  • Coordinate with engineers, data modelers, and platform architects to ensure semantic model contributions are technically grounded and consumable by self-service tools and AI applications.
  • Design and recommend governance processes for semantic model change management - version control, approval workflows, impact assessment.

Data Fluency & Community
  • Support and evolve the existing Data Fluency curriculum into an ongoing community capability.
  • Contribute to community-building activities: office hours, practitioner spotlights, and domain-specific workshops.
  • Track adoption and competency measures; use findings to inform content adjustments.
Qualifications

Required
  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Management, or a related quantitative field, or equivalent experience.
  • 8 years or more of experience in data management, data governance, or related data platform roles.
  • Experience delivering components of an enterprise data governance program - including steward network support, data quality frameworks, and catalog workflows.
  • Working knowledge of an enterprise data catalog platform (Collibra or Atlan preferred).
  • Demonstrated ability to build and sustain collaborative working relationships with business stakeholders; competent in influencing without formal authority.
  • Solid understanding of data modeling concepts; able to engage credibly with data engineers and architects.
  • Experience with cloud data platforms (Snowflake or equivalent).
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills; able to translate technical governance concepts for varied audiences.

Preferred
  • CDMP Practitioner or higher (or equivalent DAMA-aligned certification such as DGSP).
  • Experience building a data governance program that delivers business impact.
  • Experience supporting data literacy or data fluency programs.
  • Background in scientific, publishing, or information-intensive industries a plus.
  • Exposure to AI governance considerations and prompt-to-data traceability a differentiator.

CAS offers a competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package, including a generous vacation plan, medical, dental, vision insurance plans, and employee savings and retirement plans. Candidates for this position must be authorized to work in the United States and not require work authorization sponsorship by our company for this position now or in the future.

About American Chemical Society

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 150,000 members at all degree levels and in all fields of chemistry, chemical engineering, and related fields. The ACS is a non-profit organization and holds a congressional charter under Title 36 of the United States Code. Its headquarters are located in Washington, D.C., and it has a large concentration of staff in Columbus, Ohio.
Learn more about American Chemical Society
Size
7,000 employees
Industry
Manufacturing & Automotive
Founded
1876
* Ladders Estimates

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