We are looking for a
Principal Data Governance Architect to join our
Data Governance Team based out of
Atlanta, GA (hybrid, 2 days per week onsite)
About the role The Principal Data Governance Architect advances UCB's mission by governing U.S. commercial data assets that enable patient insights to drive scientific and business innovation. This role ensures data is Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR principles)-accelerating digital transformation and supporting informed decision-making. By embedding UCB's patient value principles and collaborating across functions, the Principal Data Governance Architect strengthens data-driven outcomes and supports UCB's objectives for scientific excellence, inclusive leadership, and collective success.
Who you'll work with The Principal Data Governance Architect partners closely with stakeholders across IT, business units, and the Global Data Office to anticipate organizational needs and translate them into scalable, governed data solutions. Drawing on a deep understanding of enterprise data flows, Systems of Record, and the intersection of business processes with technical architecture, this role guides the strategic evolution of UCB's data platforms-including Azure Databricks, Collibra, and Power BI-to deliver value for both business users and enterprise data consumers. Reporting to the Head of U.S. Data Governance, the role serves as a connective leader across teams, bridging technical implementation and business intent while strengthening governance accountability, data literacy, and adoption across the organization.
What you'll do Data Governance Strategy & Leadership:
- Architect and steer the US Data Governance Roadmap for metadata management UCB's data strategy by proactively identifying critical data gaps, evaluating potential solutions, and aligning cross-functional stakeholders to drive enterprise-wide adoption
- Translate business priorities into data architecture roadmaps, oversee execution, and ensure outcomes are communicated in a clear, actionable way to stakeholders at all levels
- Drive cross-council and working group alignment, ensuring data governance decisions advance broader enterprise vision and maintain consistency across data domains
- Lead data governance decision-making with domain expertise, ensuring appropriate business and technical stewards drive policy, standard, and process development aligned to enterprise objectives
- Establish and govern Systems of Record authority across the enterprise, driving alignment on data sharing vision, ownership, and accountability across domains
- Define and govern the US Go-to-Market business metadata strategy for Life Science domains (HCP/HCO, Payer, Patient, etc.), ensuring alignment between commercial brand needs and technical schemas
Stakeholder Engagement & Enablement:
- Champion data fluency and governance awareness across the organization, enabling business leaders to leverage high-quality, well-governed data for informed decision-making
- Serve as the authoritative liaison between IT data teams and business stakeholders, translating technical concepts into business terms and business requirements into technical specifications
- Facilitate Data Governance councils and subcommittees, bringing data impact perspectives and proactive insight into scope, vision, and feasibility discussions
- Lead and facilitate working groups of business and technical data stewards, driving implementation of policies and processes while fostering capability-building, consistency, and knowledge sharing
- Mentor and coach business data stewards in developing their governance expertise, guiding the creation and maintenance of accurate business definitions, business rules, metrics, and metadata
- Elevate team capabilities through hands-on technical guidance, knowledge transfer, and establishment of best practices that enable stewards to operate with increasing independence and impact
Platform Alignment & Technical Oversight:
- Maintain the Data Intelligence platform (Collibra), ensuring accurate metadata, business glossaries, data dictionaries, and data catalogs are current and accessible
- Drive data lineage strategy and implementation across platforms (Unity Catalog on Azure Databricks, Collibra) to ensure end-to-end transparency and traceability of enterprise data flows
- Coordinate schedules and managing jobs for ingesting metadata from data sources, ensuring timely synchronization between technical platforms and governance tools
- Oversee platform health monitoring and object usage analytics for the Data Intelligence community, driving continuous improvement and optimization recommendations
- Partner with IT teams to validate technical implementations against business requirements, providing quality assurance and holding teams accountable for governance deliverables and commitments
- Drive strategic collaboration with Digital Technology (IT), Global Data Office, and US Data Operations teams on platform integration requirements and enterprise data policy implementation
Data Quality, Compliance & Reporting:
- Ensure appropriate data policies and controls are architected and linked to sensitive datasets (e.g., Financial, PII) with proper implementation across the Data Intelligence community Assist in triage and analysis of data quality issues, supporting impact assessment, mitigation, and remediation activities
- Lead impact analysis for data definitions and processes across lines of business, ensuring business continuity, standardization, and strategic alignment with enterprise data architecture
- Establish and monitor governance metrics, prepare executive-level reports and strategic recommendations for councils and Steering Committee Drive data maintenance, issue management, and change control excellence for data assets within Data Governance scope, leveraging SharePoint and Teams for collaboration and documentation
- Collaborate with business data stewards to create and maintain accurate business definitions, business rules, metrics, and metadata for their respective domains
- Lead triage and analysis of complex data quality issues, driving impact assessment, mitigation strategies, and remediation activities with clear accountability and resolution timelines
Interested? For this role we're looking for the following education, experience and skills Required:
- Master's degree in a quantitative field (e.g., Business, Management Information Systems, Computer Science, Data Science, Information Technology, Analytics, or related field)
- 10+ years of experience in data management, data governance, or related data stewardship roles
- 5+ years of experience with data governance platforms and tools (Collibra, Informatica, Alation, or equivalent)
Preferred:
- Demonstrated expertise building and scaling Data Catalogs, Data Dictionaries, Business Glossaries, and metadata repositories across multiple business domains
- Deep understanding of data flows and the strategic impact of data throughout the system landscape from creation to consumption into downstream business systems and data warehouse/lake environments
- Working knowledge of SQL and ability to validate data queries, understand relational data structures, and review technical implementations
- Strong understanding of enterprise data architecture principles and industry - standard design best practices
- Knowledge of modern, cloud - native data pipeline architectures and orchestration frameworks
- Proven ability to lead cross-functional initiatives, aligning diverse stakeholders (IT, business, analytics) toward shared governance objectives while ensuring accountability
- Track record of mentoring and developing team members, fostering capability-building and knowledge transfer across data governance functions
- Collibra certification (Data Steward, Ranger, or equivalent) with demonstrated platform leadership experience
- Familiarity with Collibra APIs for technology stack integration and automation
- Experience with Unity Catalog on Azure Databricks for data governance and access control architecture
- Deep experience with enterprise data lineage tools and automated metadata capture strategies across complex platform ecosystems
- Experience with data warehouses (Azure, Snowflake, SQL Server) and reporting/visualization tools (PowerBI)
- Experience with data processing, including ETL/ELT workflows and integration patterns from data sources to data warehouses to governance tools
- Programming language experience (Python, R) for data analysis and automation
- Knowledge of Master Data Management (MDM) and Reference Data Management practices and their roles in enterprise data governance
- Familiarity with data privacy and regulatory principles (U.S. federal and state regulations, GDPR, HIPAA, etc.)
Internal applicants should be in their current job for at least 12 months, must meet performance standards and are not on formal corrective/disciplinary process (PIP), warning, final warning, or compliance warning letters within the last 12 months. Please inform your Manager or your Talent Partner before applying to any internal job opportunities.
Unless explicitly stated in the description, this role is hybrid with 40% of your time spent in the office, regardless of your current contractual agreement. If your current working arrangements differ, please contact your Talent Partner to discuss before submitting your application.
Requisition ID: 92529
Recruiter: Rachel Kielb
Hiring Manager: Adam Lichfield
Talent Partner: Yolanda Johnson
Job Level: MM II
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