Data Governance Lead

Job Description:

CM CORE - Engineering and Project Data Governance Lead

This key role reports to the Configuration and Data Management Capability Manager (CDMCM) for the UK Wide core CDM discipline.  The successful candidate will be responsible for updating the Engineering Data Governance Framework, best practice adoption, its implementation and operational support within engineering as a whole, technology development and project delivery.

The role holder will operate as technical leader for Engineering operations activities relating to the definition, mapping and flow of data governance, architecture of an end-to-end data driven environment, having the responsibility for assuring the quality of outcome and capability delivery against the stakeholder requirements.

Job Description

Leonardo is a global high-tech company and one of the key players in Aerospace, Defence and Security. Headquartered in Italy, Leonardo has over 45,000 employees and has a significant industrial presence in four markets (Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States and Poland) as well as a network of strategic partnerships across the world.

Leonardo UK is pushing the technical boundaries associated with advanced tactical sensing, data fusion, communications, machine learning and defensive aids systems and this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to play a fundamental role in our Business Transformation to enable the Digital Engineering Landscape as the Governance lead for Engineering and Project Data Management supporting Engineering technology units and Project delivery.

The Engineering and Project Data Governance Manager will lead the development, implementation, and enforcement of data governance frameworks, standards, and practices across engineering and project management domains. This role is critical in ensuring data integrity, quality, security, and availability to support engineering decisions, project delivery, and strategic planning. The postholder will collaborate closely with engineering disciplines (Systems, Software, Electronics and Mechanical), project management, IT, and compliance teams to ensure data assets are well-managed and trusted.

Within this role, you shall give clear direction into the business on Data Management policy, process and use of tools in managing to support Engineering and Project delivery. In doing so, you must be prepared to ‘challenge the norm’ and support the organisation in identifying the required tailoring to fit the lifecycle phase and/or context of a Programme and Business As Usual (BAU) while respecting the company Policies and business and customer requirements.

As the Engineering and Project Data Governance Lead, you are expected to:

• Drive a pro-active holistic approach to Data Management into the Leonardo UK (LEUK) Engineering and Project disciplines
• Support Leonardo UK (LEUK) in encouraging new ideas and innovative solutions into the Integrate Project Team (IPT) and the Line of Business (LoB) delivery

As an individual, you are expected:

Manages the technical aspects of data governance, ensuring data quality, accessibility, compliance, and security across your organization. They implement data quality checks, data lineage / cataloguing tools, and enforce governance policies across all data pipelines.

• Develop and maintain data governance frameworks policies, and procedures specific to engineering product development and project delivery data. Ensuring compliance with relevant regulations and standards (e.g., ISO, AS, MoD JSPs where applicable).
• Support the integration and alignment of engineering data with enterprise systems (e.g., TCU PLM, SAP ERP, P6, and other discipline tools). Coordinating data ownership and stewardship roles across engineering and project teams.
• Work with project team and engineering leads to ensure data governance is embedded in project lifecycle processes and management plans, specifically tailored to contracts or product roadmaps. Provide technical leadership to resolve technical, project and programme conflicts in data governance.

• Liaise with the Engineering community to ensure development and deployment of Data Management of best practice within LEUK. Lead data quality initiatives, including audits, data profiling, cleansing, and validation processes.
• Serve as the liaison between business stakeholders and IT/data architecture teams to align data governance priorities with technical solutions.
• Collaborate with CDMCM to develop a plan for capability delivery. Provide leadership and training to foster a data-driven culture within engineering and project communities.

• Monitor and report data governance performance using appropriate KPIs and dashboards.

• Develop and deliver guidance to consolidate and strengthen the position of an integrated digital engineering environment.

• Provide the governance and structure framework to ensure testing, verification, validation and certification is conducted and validated to best practice.

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Skills, Qualifications & Knowledge Required

Desirable Experience:

• A good understanding of Configuration and Data Management for product delivery in accordance with DEF STAN 05-57, or EIA649C
• Professional certifications (e.g., CDMP, PMP, PRINCE2, TOGAF).
• Experience with data modelling, metadata management, and master data management (MDM) tools.
• Knowledge of cybersecurity and information assurance practices such as Secure by Design, NIST-800, ISO27001.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and communication skills; able to influence across technical and non-technical teams.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities with a keen attention to detail.
• Experience working in regulated industries (e.g., defence, aerospace, nuclear, infrastructure) is highly desirable.
• Strong Administration Skills with an attention to detail - you are required to have a logical mind-set

Required Demonstrable Experience 

• Understand and capture end to end business data requirements across multiple application domains
• Ability to translate business requirements into context driven functional use cases.
• Definition and agree acceptance criterion for requirements with IT and Business organisations.
• Proven ability to liaise and manage 3rd party vendors to ensure product functionality is delivered to meet defined acceptance criterion.
• Ability to work collaboratively within a team environment in order to meet project deadlines and constraints – time, cost, evolving requirements and acceptance criterion

Due to the nature of our products you must be able to achieve UK Security Clearance (SC) and be authorised to access UK-Eyes-Only and ITAR material. For more information and guidance please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/united-kingdom-security-vetting-clearance-levels

Required Qualifications and Professional Experience

• HNC, equivalent or higher in Engineering or Equivalent Discipline
• Proven experience in data governance or data management within engineering or large capital projects environments.
• Strong understanding of engineering data types, flows, processes, and systems (e.g., PLM, BIM, CAD, PDM, ERP, MS Project or Primavera).
• Familiarity with industry standards and frameworks related to data modelling, governance and engineering data

Primary Location:

Contract Type:

Hybrid Working: