We are looking for a Lead Data Steward to join our Technology team and take ownership of data governance and stewardship across the organisation. This role will be responsible for defining how we govern, classify, protect and manage our data, ensuring that those definitions are correctly reflected in the platform and processes we are building.
We are currently in the middle of a migration to Databricks on Azure, making this a unique opportunity to shape governance from the ground up and ensure the new platform is built with quality, security and compliance at its core.
Key Responsibilities
Define the data governance framework, including policies, standards and compliance obligations across the organisation;
Define data security standards and access control policies, including classification-based access rules and retention and lifecycle criteria.
Define the data stewardship operating model, including roles, responsibilities, escalation paths and governance procedures across data domains.
Own data classification and ownership assignment, ensuring every data asset has a defined owner, steward and classification.
Define data quality rules, thresholds and SLA standards, and oversee their implementation and monitoring by the engineering team and Junior Data Steward.
Lead the audit of the existing governance framework and define the roadmap for aligning practices with the new Databricks on Azure platform.
Work closely with the Data Architect and Data Engineers to reflect governance requirements in platform design and validate that what is built matches what was defined.
Define documentation standards for data assets, including data dictionary, business glossary and data contracts.
Coordinate with business and analytics teams to identify data owners and ensure stewardship responsibilities are understood.
Report on governance health to the Head of IT, including data quality trends, policy coverage and stewardship maturity.
Manage and develop the Junior Data Steward.
Personal Competencies
Thoroughness, attention to detail and strong analytical skills;
Good written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to work across technical and business teams and translate governance concepts clearly for non-technical stakeholders;
A mindset focused on continuous improvement and on building governance practices that people actually follow.
Professional Competencies
Experience in the utilities sector is a plus (not mandatory);
Experience working on or alongside a data platform migration;
Understanding of data pipeline concepts, including batch and streaming ingestion, to define governance requirements at the data source;
Understanding of data lake and data warehouse architectural patterns;
Experience with data cataloguing tools such as Unity Catalog, Collibra, Alation or Purview.
Leadership Competencies
Team management and development of junior roles;
Collaboration with external partners and internal stakeholders (technical and non-technical).
Qualifications
Education / Further EducationSoftware Engineering, Data Management, Information Systems or similar.
IT Know-how
Python literacy: able to read and review scripts;
Familiarity with orchestration tools such as Airflow or Prefect;
Solid experience in data governance and data stewardship, including defining policies, ownership frameworks, classification standards, access control rules and data quality standards;
Experience defining data security, compliance and retention policies in an organisational context;
Hands-on experience with Databricks on Azure and Unity Catalog: able to navigate the platform, review access grants, catalogue structures and lineage configurations, and validate that governance requirements are correctly implemented;
Strong SQL skills for querying, validating and reviewing data models and quality rules.
Languages
Portuguese (Native);
English (Advanced);
Spanish (Basic Skills).
What we offer
Health and Life insurance
Birthday day off
Team building events
Office snacks on Fridays
24-hour psychological support line
Discounted gym memberships
Great Place to Work environment and other employee benefits
Location: Vila Real & Porto
Work type: Full time, 100% in the office
We look forward to welcoming you!
By applying for this position, you consent to our data protection and processing policy for recruitment, available at: https://goldenergy.pt/info/recrutamento/
We are committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all suitable candidates, irrespective of gender, age, disability, ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or any other protected characteristic.