Data Governance Lead Full-time

Data Governance Lead

The Lead Data Governance Analyst is responsible for establishing, implementing, and maintaining data governance frameworks that ensure the accuracy, security, and usability of healthcare data across the enterprise. This role serves as the bridge between IT, clinical and business operations, compliance, and leaders to promote data integrity, enable analytics, and support regulatory compliance (HIPAA, HITECH, CMS, Joint Commission). The Lead Data Governance Analyst will champion a culture of data stewardship, develop policies and standards, and provide leadership on projects that enhance the value of enterprise healthcare data.

Data Governance & Strategy

• Lead the design, development, and execution of the organization's data governance framework, policies, and standards.
• Partner with stakeholders across clinical, research, financial, and operational areas to establish data ownership and stewardship responsibilities.
• Define and monitor key data governance metrics, ensuring continuous improvement in data quality and usability.
• Promote Data Culture and Data Literacy opportunities through learning and sharing Data Quality & Integrity.
• Establish standards and enforce procedures for data validation, lineage tracking, and quality monitoring.
• Collaborate with data owners to resolve issues related to accuracy, consistency, and timeliness.
• Implement tools and processes to track master data management (MDM) and reference data to ensure single sources of truth across systems.

Compliance & Security

• Ensure that all data governance processes are aligned with healthcare regulations (HIPAA, HITECH, GDPR, CMS).
• Work with Information Security and Compliance teams to ensure data access, use, and sharing meet all institutional and legal requirements.
• Lead audits and documentation efforts for data governance and regulatory reporting.

Stakeholder Engagement & Leadership

• Serve as the primary liaison for enterprise data governance activities, engaging clinical leaders, research teams, IT, and business stakeholders.
• Actively participate and support the Data Governance Council or related workgroups.
• Provide guidance and training to business units, promoting data stewardship and governance best practices.

Analytics & Decision Support

• Collaborate with data engineers, BI analysts, and clinical researchers to ensure data governance policies enable effective reporting and analytics.
• Support enterprise initiatives for enterprise analytics working with domain areas on data definitions, data standardization, and single source of truth.

Project Leadership

• Lead cross-functional projects to implement new data standards, metadata repositories, and governance tools.
• Provide mentorship to analysts and serve as a subject matter expert in data governance practices.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Healthcare Informatics, Data Science, Information Systems, Health Information Management, or related field.
• 7+ years of progressive experience in data governance, data management, healthcare analytics, or enterprise data strategy.
• Demonstrated experience designing, implementing, and sustaining enterprise data governance frameworks, policies, and standards.
• Strong knowledge of healthcare data standards and biomedical terminologies (HL7, X12, FHIR, DICOM, ICD, CPT, LOINC, SNOMED).
• Experience working with EHR platforms and clinical/research data environments (e.g., Epic, Oracle/Cerner, Meditech, Athena).
• Working knowledge of healthcare regulatory and compliance frameworks (HIPAA, HITECH, CMS, NIST, Joint Commission).
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional initiatives and influence senior stakeholders across clinical, operational, IT, compliance, and research domains.
• Experience establishing data stewardship models, ownership structures, and governance councils.
• Relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in Healthcare Informatics, Information Management, Data Science, or related field.
• Professional certification in data governance, data management, or health data, such as:
• CDMP (DAMA) – Certified Data Management Professional
• DGSP or DGIQ (DGI) – Data Governance & Stewardship Professional / Certified Data Governance Professional
• CHDA (AHIMA) – Certified Health Data Analyst
• CHPS (AHIMA) – Certified in Healthcare Privacy and Security
• Experience leading enterprise-level data governance councils or healthcare transformation initiatives.
• Experience with enterprise data governance and catalog tools (e.g., Microsoft Purview, Collibra, Informatica, Alation).

Skills & Competencies

• Strategic thinker with ability to balance long-term governance needs with immediate business requirements.
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills; capable of engaging various stakeholders (clinical, IT, business, information security, compliance, privacy).
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities with a focus on process improvement.
• Passion for data-driven healthcare transformation and improving patient outcomes.

Salary Range

$115,000+ depending on qualifications

Working Conditions

Standard office conditions

Required Materials

• Resume/CV
• 3 work references with their contact information; at least one reference should be from a supervisor
• Letter of interest

Important for applicants who are NOT current university employees or contingent workers: You will be prompted to submit your resume the first time you apply, then you will be provided an option to upload a new Resume for subsequent applications. Any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) will be uploaded in the Application Questions section; you will be able to multi-select additional files. Before submitting your online job application, ensure that ALL Required Materials have been uploaded. Once your job application has been submitted, you cannot make changes.

Important for Current university employees and contingent workers: As a current university employee or contingent worker, you MUST apply within Workday by searching for Find UT Jobs. If you are a current University employee, log-in to Workday, navigate to your Worker Profile, click the Career link in the left hand navigation menu and then update the sections in your Professional Profile before you apply. This information will be pulled in to your application. The application is one page and you will be prompted to upload your resume. In addition, you must respond to the application questions presented to upload any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) that were noted above.

Equal Opportunity Employer

The University of Texas at Austin, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.

Pay Transparency

The University of Texas at Austin will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor's legal duty to furnish information.

Employment Eligibility Verification

If hired, you will be required to complete the federal Employment Eligibility Verification I-9 form. You will be required to present acceptable and original documents to prove your identity and authorization to work in the United States. Documents need to be presented no later than the third day of employment. Failure to do so will result in loss of employment at the university.

E-Verify

The University of Texas at Austin use E-Verify to check the work authorization of all new hires effective May 2015. The university's company ID number for purposes of E-Verify is 854