Senior Manager, Data Governance

Senior Manager, Data Governance

Location: Austin, TX Realtor.com HQ

This role within our Data Organization directs efforts to establish our foundational data governance and quality practice, ensuring our data assets are trustworthy, compliant, and easily discoverable. This position is central to our ambition to simplify, scale, and modernize data at RDC by shifting to a modern data operating model focused on core quality/reliability and growth/innovation.

You'll define and operationalize the complete governance framework, working closely with engineers, product managers, and cross-functional business partners to embed data quality and compliance into the data product development lifecycle. You will also manage a Data Governance team and ensure business objectives are met. This is a high-impact, hands-on role balancing governance strategy with execution, from activating governance councils and building the Business Glossary to implementing automated Data Quality (DQ) monitoring and compliance controls.

If you’re excited about building trusted, scalable, and compliant data systems and enjoy marrying strategic governance with technical execution, this role is for you.

How We Work

We balance creativity and innovation on a foundation of in-person collaboration. For most roles, our employees work three or more days in our office in Austin, TX where they have the opportunity to collaborate in-person, adding richness to our culture and knitting us closer together.

What You’ll Do:

Governance Strategy & Frameworks

• Define and operationalize the core Data Governance, Data Quality, and Metadata Management frameworks, ensuring alignment with RDC’s strategic goals.
• Direct the activation and continuous operation of the Data Governance Leadership Council (DGLC) and Data Governance Working Group (DGWG), focusing initially on high-priority business domains.
• Establish and enforce data policies and standards covering data access, data classification, data retention, and archival to ensure compliance with privacy regulations (PI data).

Data Quality, Trust & Compliance

• Oversee the development of a comprehensive DQ rule book for critical data elements (CDEs) across Silver and Gold data layers.
• Direct the implementation of the DQ scoring mechanism and DQ dashboards.
• Define and integrate the Incident Management process with the metadata catalog (Acryl) for timely tracking and resolution of data trust issues.
• Implement and manage audits to track the usage of PI data in reporting platforms to ensure continuous compliance.

Metadata, Discovery & Literacy

• Drive the identification of CDEs and the creation and validation of the Business Glossary with Subdomain Data Owners, ensuring clear, common understanding of business terms.
• Oversee the enhancement of technical metadata on the data catalog (Acryl) and manage the integration of data lineage tools (e.g., GLA) to maximize data discoverability and reusability.
• Develop and launch comprehensive data literacy and change management programs to foster cross-functional alignment, data ownership, and adoption of governance standards.

What You'll Bring

• 8+ years of experience in data management, with at least 3 years focused specifically on directing and implementing Data Governance programs in a large organization.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• Proven ability to translate abstract business objectives (e.g., "reduce data trust issues by 30-50%") into measurable, actionable DG initiatives.
• 2-5 years’ leadership experience required
• Experience defining roles and responsibilities within a federated, asset-centric data organization (e.g., Data Owners, Data Custodians, Data Stewards).
• Strong technical foundation and deep understanding of modern data platforms (e.g., Snowflake, dbt) and how to embed governance checks into the development pipeline.
• Working experience with metadata management/data cataloging tools such as Acryl/DataHub for lineage, glossary, and metadata quality monitoring.
• Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills to effectively direct the Data Governance Leadership Council (DGLC) and align executive leadership.
• High Change Management Aptitude: Proven success in driving organizational change, education, and adoption across technical and non-technical teams.
• Strong knowledge of data privacy, PI data management, and compliance requirements.
• Ability to structure and manage complex projects with high business priority and medium-to-high implementation complexity.