Principal Consultant Data Governance

Job description

Key responsibilities

Design and own the operating model, governance structure, methodologies, templates and tools used to run strategy execution governance for the data-and-AI vertical, as part of a broader multi-vertical governance office.

Own cross-vertical coordination for the data-and-AI vertical — portfolio visibility, dependency mapping against other verticals, and escalation of issues that exceed a single vertical's authority.

Own the governance framework for strategic-initiative delivery: stage gates, milestones, risk/issue/dependency management, budget oversight, quality and change-request governance across the vertical's strategic objectives and initiatives.

Lead the governance relationship with the Enterprise Architecture function — coordinating Architecture Review Board participation, maintaining architecture decision records, and ensuring solution designs remain compliant with enterprise standards.

Own the executive reporting relationship for the vertical: executive dashboards, portfolio reports, scorecards and decision-support insights, reported on an agreed cadence to senior stakeholders.

Set the benefit-realization methodology for the vertical — defining success measures, validating business cases, and confirming that initiatives deliver expected value before closure.

Develop and own governance frameworks, methodologies, standards, templates and playbooks used across the vertical's portfolio, including oversight of the KPI cascade tooling that connects strategic themes down to operational KPIs.

Lead periodic maturity assessments of governance, portfolio management and value-realization capability, benchmarking against industry practice and directing improvement initiatives.

Own transition and continuity planning for the vertical's governance function at the end of the current strategy horizon, including options for continuation, re-tender or in-house transition.

Provide senior mentorship and quality oversight to the Senior Consultant supporting the vertical.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in a relevant field (e.g., Data Management, Information Systems, Business, Engineering) with a minimum of 8 years' relevant experience in data governance, enterprise/programme governance, or strategy execution advisory — including at least 3-5 years operating at a principal/senior-advisory level with direct executive stakeholder engagement.

Demonstrable experience designing and running governance operating models for large, multi-workstream strategic portfolios.

Demonstrable experience engaging Enterprise Architecture functions, Architecture Review Boards, and senior executive stakeholders in complex organisations.

Portfolio and programme governance frameworks (e.g., MoP, MSP, P3O); data governance frameworks (e.g., DAMA-DMBOK).

Benefits realization methodology, KPI architecture design and executive reporting.

Executive stakeholder engagement, escalation management and cross-functional facilitation.

CDMP (DAMA) — preferred; PMP/PgMP or MoP — preferred; TOGAF — a plus.