Data Governance Manager Recruiters
No postings. No stacks of resumes. No chasing. You interview a short list.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
Need someone now? Call 305-306-4829.
This is what we do all day: recruit technology and IT professionals.
When nobody can explain who owns a dataset or who may access it, governance hiring needs authority to change how decisions are made.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What happens next
- Do I pay upfront?
- No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
- Must I give you exclusivity?
- We do not promise or require exclusivity here. Any terms are in the recruiting agreement we refer you to.
- Will you reveal my company?
- Not without your explicit consent before we disclose anything.
- What if I do not hire?
- No hire, no fee.
- No upfront fee
- Pay only if you hire
- Technology only
- We reach engineers who aren't on job boards
- Replacement guarantee on standard searches
Need someone now? Call 305-306-4829.
What this hire really comes down to
When nobody can explain who owns a dataset or who may access it, governance hiring needs authority to change how decisions are made. It is a functional risk management task. A competent manager understands the tension between unrestricted access for analysts and the legal necessity of data privacy. They translate regulatory requirements like GDPR or CCPA into technical implementation specs that engineers can actually code. Without this oversight, you end up with data swamps where lineage is lost and the cost of cloud storage spirals due to redundant, unmanaged datasets.
This role differs significantly from a data engineer. Where an engineer focuses on throughput and latency, a governance manager focuses on accuracy, metadata integrity, and lifecycle management. They manage the documentation that keeps your data audits clean. If your team treats data like a disposable commodity rather than an asset, you lose the ability to trust the reports coming out of your BI tools. This manager bridges the gap between your legal team and the technical architecture to ensure compliance is built into the ingestion layer rather than bolted on later.
What we check before you see anyone
Data Lineage Documentation
Ask them to explain how they map data flow from source system to end-user report. A strong candidate should describe a metadata repository or a tool like Collibra or Alation. Look for evidence of practical experience in tracking schema changes over time.
Technical Policy Implementation
Present a scenario where a business unit requests unrestricted access to raw customer data. A senior manager must detail how they balance this with security protocols. They should mention techniques like role-based access control and masking logic in SQL.
Regulatory Scope Knowledge
Probe their familiarity with specific privacy standards. They should explain the mechanics of data retention policies and deletion requests. Avoid candidates who speak only in legal generalities and cannot cite specific technical controls for PII protection.
Quality Metric Definition
Ask them to define the difference between data accuracy and data completeness. They must explain how they establish thresholds for quality alerts. A good answer includes how they handle false positives in automated monitoring systems.
Tradeoffs in Tool Selection
The Data Governance Manager must decide between purchasing a centralized metadata platform and building a custom tracking solution. Ask them to compare the two options for your specific environment. A convincing answer analyzes your current engineering overhead. They will weigh the immediate maintenance cost of a third party tool against the long term development time needed to build internal lineage scripts. They should explain how their choice impacts your existing ingestion pipelines. A weak answer focuses only on tool features or marketing claims. It fails to acknowledge that an expensive platform requires significant configuration time from your engineering staff. Look for a candidate who considers your team size and velocity. They should provide a clear plan to integrate the chosen solution without creating manual work for your developers.
Where we find them
Look for professionals currently working in highly regulated sectors like fintech or healthcare. These environments force data stewards to handle complex audit requirements daily. Focus on those who have transitioned from hands-on data engineering into governance; they understand the technical constraints of your existing pipelines better than pure policy consultants.
Target candidates who have managed metadata projects during a migration to cloud platforms like Snowflake or Databricks. They know how to enforce governance while the environment is in flux. Avoid those who have only worked in strictly theoretical policy roles, as they often struggle to implement their standards within high-velocity engineering sprints.
Mistakes we see
Hiring a manager who tries to implement a one-size-fits-all governance framework that ignores the unique performance characteristics of your current data warehouse.
Selecting a candidate who lacks technical literacy and relies entirely on vendors to manage the implementation of their policies, creating a bottleneck.
Prioritizing someone with deep knowledge of obscure legal codes but zero experience in managing the actual lifecycle of SQL-based data assets.
The search in three steps
Agree the brief
During the intake phase, we define the current maturity level of your data stack. We determine whether you need someone to build a system from scratch or maintain an existing framework.
Find and speak with people
The headhunt phase targets professionals with proven experience in translating legal requirements into specific technical controls. We filter for those who have successfully work through audit processes with data engineering counterparts.
Introduce the people who fit
In the evaluation phase, we test their ability to define quality thresholds. We verify they can communicate technical standards to non-technical stakeholders without losing clarity or accuracy.
Questions about this search
How should this role be compensated?
Compensation should reflect a blend of data architecture and compliance expertise. Look at base salaries for senior data engineers as a baseline, then adjust for the regulatory knowledge required.
What happens if our top candidate receives a counteroffer?
Counteroffers are common in this specialized field. We manage this by ensuring the candidate is motivated by the technical challenge of your governance roadmap rather than just the salary.
Is this role effective if the person works remotely?
Yes, provided they have a history of managing distributed teams and cloud-based systems. Effective communication through documentation is their primary output, which works well in remote settings.
How do I evaluate if they are a technical fit?
Test their ability to define access controls within a SQL environment. A strong candidate should speak specifically about how they structure schemas and manage user permissions.
Are there constraints on who I can shortlist?
The talent pool is small for individuals who balance law and code. Expect a narrower list than for general engineering roles, as we are filtering for both domain knowledge and regulatory experience.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What happens next
- Do I pay upfront?
- No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
- Must I give you exclusivity?
- We do not promise or require exclusivity here. Any terms are in the recruiting agreement we refer you to.
- Will you reveal my company?
- Not without your explicit consent before we disclose anything.
- What if I do not hire?
- No hire, no fee.
Pay snapshot
Data Governance Manager
$175,140
Median as published, released May 15, 2026. Matched to Computer and Information Systems Managers (SOC 11-3021).
BLS reports Computer and Information Systems Managers as a broader occupation. It does not separate Data Governance Manager, technology stack, seniority, certifications or employer sector. These figures are not a title-specific offer range.
Source: BLS OEWS May 2025.
See the salary guideHow a search runs
The Six-Step Search
- 1Search Calibration
A call about the work. You get a written search profile.
- 2Market Mapping
We identify the employer backgrounds that fit. You see where we will look.
- 3Professional Contact Intelligence
We identify individual people, not job board applicants.
- 4Persistent Personalized Outreach
Personal outreach and direct follow-through. You get search updates.
- 5Live Candidate Qualification
A recruiter checks stack, scope and motivation in conversation.
- 6Candidate Intelligence and Process Support
You receive a written brief on every person you meet.
Working with Technology Headhunters
When is the recruiting fee due?
There is no upfront fee for our contingency search. You pay only if you hire someone we present, under the terms of the signed agreement.
What are the replacement terms?
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What don't you do in a permanent search?
We do not bill by the hour for permanent search or charge a retainer unless one is agreed. We do not treat reposting your job advertisement as headhunting.