Principal Data Governance Engineer

Who we are

At CarGurus (NASDAQ: CARG), our mission is to give people the power to reach their destination. We started as a small team of developers determined to bring trust and transparency to car shopping. Since then, our history of innovation and go-to-market acceleration has driven industry-leading growth. In fact, we’re the largest and fastest-growing automotive marketplace, and we’ve been profitable for over 15 years.

What we do

The market is evolving, and we are too, moving the entire automotive journey online and guiding our customers through every step. That includes everything from the sale of an old car to the financing, purchase, and delivery of a new one. Today, tens of millions of consumers visit CarGurus.com each month, and ~30,000 dealerships use our products. But they're not the only ones who love CarGurus—our employees do, too. We have a people-first culture that fosters kindness, collaboration, and innovation, and empowers our Gurus with tools to fuel their career growth. Disrupting a trillion-dollar industry requires fresh and diverse perspectives. Come join us for the ride!

Job Overview:

As a Principal Data Governance Engineer, you will lead the design, execution, and continuous evolution of our enterprise data governance strategy. With over 5 years of experience in data governance and data management, you will drive high-impact projects from concept through implementation, ensuring enterprise-wide data integrity, security, and usability. This role demands a forward-thinking leader who can guide cross-functional initiatives, influence stakeholders at all levels, and deliver scalable, automated solutions that enable effective data stewardship, regulatory compliance, and metadata transparency.

You’ll collaborate with data engineers, architects, business analysts, compliance teams, and executive leadership to define governance standards and ensure they are operationalized across platforms and domains.

What You’ll Do:

• Strategic Governance Leadership: Architect and lead the end-to-end implementation of a scalable data governance framework that aligns with enterprise goals and industry best practices.
• Project Ownership: Independently lead cross-functional data governance initiatives, from requirements gathering and tool evaluation to deployment, adoption, and optimization.
• Data Quality Automation: Design and implement advanced, automated data quality monitoring and validation solutions. Partner with product and engineering teams to embed data quality into core pipelines and systems.
• Data Stewardship Enablement: Champion a data stewardship culture across the organization. Establish stewardship roles, accountability models, and governance KPIs to ensure sustained ownership and quality of data assets.
• Metadata & Lineage Management: Lead integration of metadata management and data lineage tools via APIs and other means, ensuring consistent classification, discovery, and traceability of data assets across systems.
• Governance Tools Strategy: Evaluate, implement, and optimize data governance and data catalog platforms (e.g., Alation, Atlan, data.world, Secoda) to ensure alignment with business needs and technical architecture.
• Compliance & Risk Management: Partner with security, legal, and compliance teams to enforce policies aligned with GDPR, CCPA, and other regulatory frameworks. Design controls and audit mechanisms to ensure continuous compliance.
• Stakeholder Engagement & Enablement: Act as a thought leader and trusted advisor across departments. Lead working groups, deliver stakeholder training, and evangelize governance practices throughout the data lifecycle.
• Continuous Innovation: Proactively assess governance processes and tools, identifying opportunities to streamline, automate, or enhance governance capabilities to meet evolving business and regulatory demands.
• Documentation & Governance Reporting: Maintain high-quality documentation of policies, procedures, and workflows. Create dashboards and reporting to track data governance metrics and communicate progress to senior leadership.

What You’ll Bring:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Management, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).
• 5+ years of experience in data governance, data management, or data engineering, including proven leadership of end-to-end governance projects.
• Deep understanding of data quality frameworks, data stewardship models, metadata standards, and regulatory compliance requirements.
• Proficiency in Python or similar languages widely used in the data community
• Proficiency in SQL, dbt, cloud data-warehouses (Snowflake or similar), BI tools (Looker or similar) and YAML
• Hands-on experience with data governance and data quality platforms such as Monte Carlo, Metaplane, Alation, Atlan, or Secoda
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and data integration tools (Fivetran, data pipelines)
• Strong grasp of data privacy laws (e.g., GDPR, CCPA) and how they impact enterprise data policies and technical implementations
• Experience designing and implementing data lineage solutions that map data flows across platforms, enabling auditability and transparency
• Excellent collaboration and leadership skills, with the ability to influence and drive decisions across technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Strong communication skills and an ability to convey complex governance concepts in a clear, concise manner to diverse audiences
• Passion for clean, reliable, and well-managed data, with a continuous improvement mindset

Working at CarGurus

We reward our Gurus’ curiosity and passion with best-in-class benefits and compensation, including equity for all employees, both when they start and as they continue to grow with us. Our career development and corporate giving programs, as well as our employee resource groups (ERGs) and communities, help people build connections while making an impact in personally meaningful ways. A flexible hybrid model and robust time off policies encourage work-life balance and individual well-being. Thoughtful perks like daily free lunch, a new car discount, meditation and fitness apps, commuting cost coverage, and more help our people create space for what matters most in their personal and professional lives.

We welcome all

CarGurus strives to be a place to which people can bring the ultimate expression of themselves and their potential—starting with our hiring process. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identity, or sexual orientation. We foster an inclusive environment that values people for their skills, experiences, and unique perspectives. That’s why we hope you’ll apply even if you don’t check every box listed in the job description. We also encourage you to tell your recruiter if you require accommodations to participate in our hiring process due to a disability so we can provide the appropriate support. We want to know what only you can bring to CarGurus. #LI-Hybrid