Data Governance Lead

Company Description

Hi! We're UW.

We’re on a mission to take the headache out of utilities by providing them all in one place. One bill for energy, broadband, mobile and insurance and a whole lot of savings!We’re aiming to double in size as we help more people to stop wasting time and money. Big ambitions, to be delivered by people like you.Got your attention? Read on...

We put people first. It’s all about you..

We are looking for a Data Governance Lead with a "builder" mindset—someone who thrives on creating structure from ambiguity and is comfortable challenging existing ways of working. You should be a pragmatic, outcomes-focused professional who can balance high-level strategy with hands-on delivery.

To hit the ground running as our Data Governance Lead, you’ll bring:

• Experience in data governance, data management, or similar roles.
• A track record of building from scratch, having set up data governance capabilities in complex organisations.
• Hands-on tooling know-how, including selecting and rolling out governance tools like Dataplex, Atlan, Collibra, or Alation.
• Deep practical knowledge of ownership and stewardship models, data quality frameworks, metadata, business glossaries, lineage, privacy controls, and enterprise data architecture.
• Comfort with low data maturity, balancing big-picture strategy with rolling up your sleeves to deliver.
• Strong stakeholder skills, working closely with data architects and engineers to get things done.

Bonus points if you’ve worked in regulated spaces (like energy, telecoms, or financial services), listed businesses, and have experience with AI governance, DAMA-DMBOK, DCAM, ISO 8000, or CDMP/DCAM certifications

We work together. Your team and the people you will work with...

You’ll join us as a Staff-level individual contributor based in our London office (hybrid), reporting straight to our VP of Data & AI. As our very first Data Governance Lead, you’ll work shoulder-to-shoulder with our Data Architects and Data Engineers to bring architecture, governance, quality, and lineage together into one seamless ecosystem. You’ll also build strong links across Data Science, Risk, InfoSec, Legal, and the wider business to make sure our data rules add clarity without slowing anyone down.

We deliver progress. What you’ll do and how you will make an impact.

This is a build role, not a maintenance one. You’ll design and roll out enterprise-wide data governance from the ground up across our regulated service lines—making sure our data is trusted and ready for operational, analytical, and AI use.

Here’s what you’ll get stuck into:

• Shape the strategy: Define a practical governance roadmap using DAMA-DMBOK and DCAM, setting up a federated model with a Data Governance Council and domain stewardship groups.
• Raise the bar on data quality: Build a quality framework from scratch—identifying Critical Data Elements, setting KPIs, and putting issue remediation in place to boost data trust.
• Lead on metadata and tooling: Partner with Data Architects to pick and embed governance tooling, while owning our business glossary, lineage, and canonical metric registry.
• Keep us safe and compliant: Write clear policies for data ownership, access, and retention that align with UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act, and sector rules—turning policy into automated controls with DataSecOps.
• Champion responsible AI: Extend governance to our AI and ML models, covering training data provenance, personal data use, and responsible AI principles (drawing on standards like ISO/IEC 42001).
• Bring people on the journey: Build a lively community of Data Owners and Stewards, driving adoption through training, change management, and clear business cases for new capabilities.

So why pick UW?

We’ve got big ambitions so there’s going to be plenty of challenges. There are also a lot of benefits:

● An industry benchmarked salary. We’ll share it during your first conversation.

● Hybrid working, with 2 days in the office.

● Electric Car salary sacrifice scheme through Tusker

● Discount on our services and you get our coveted Cashback Card for free. You’ll also get access to 100s of rewards and discounts through Perkbox

● A matched contribution pension scheme and life assurance up to 4x your salary. You can also access free mortgage advice and a financial wellbeing tool.

● Family-friendly policies, designed to help you and your family thrive.

● Discounted private health insurance, access to an Employee Assistance line and a free Virtual GP. Our wellbeing app Unmind supports your mental health.

● Belonging groups that help UW shape an even more inclusive future.

● A commitment to helping you develop your career journey through learning, coaching and new experiences

Apply here!

You’ve got this far... Hit apply - we can’t wait to hear from you! Worried you don’t hit all the criteria? We welcome applications from diverse and varied backgrounds so get your application in and let’s chat! Nicola Dorrington will be your point of contact throughout the recruitment process.

Job Description

Additional Information

uitment process.