Data Governance Manager

Your Opportunity

The Scion Group is the largest privately held owner and operator of student housing communities in North America. With a growing data ecosystem that spans across different business units, Scion is building a modern data platform to power smarter, faster decisions.

The Data Governance Manager will design and lead the frameworks, processes, and culture that ensure our data is accurate, consistent, compliant, and strategically aligned with Scion's business priorities.

Your Impact

You will serve as the center of excellence for data governance, overseeing how Scion defines, manages, and uses data enterprise-wide. You'll establish governance structures, build data literacy across teams, and drive data quality improvements across key systems.

Your Responsibilities

• Governance Framework & Strategy
• Develop and implement Scion's enterprise data governance framework, including policies, standards, and stewardship models.
• Partner with business and IT stakeholders to align governance goals with Scion's data strategy roadmap and operational initiatives.
• Establish and chair the Data Governance Council, driving accountability across data domains (property, resident, financial, and operational).
• Data Quality & Master Data Management
• Design and operationalize a data quality framework that measures and improves accuracy, completeness, consistency, and timeliness.
• Define and monitor critical data elements (CDEs) across domains and ensure that validation rules, reconciliation, and controls are in place at every data hop.
• Oversee master and reference data management for key business entities.
• Metadata & Lineage
• Implement and manage data catalog and business glossary capabilities (e.g., Informatica IDMC, Ataccama, Collibra, or Alation).
• Define and maintain Scion's enterprise metamodel linking business terms, data assets, and technical metadata.
• Ensure data lineage is complete, accurate, and visible to business and compliance teams.
• Data Stewardship & Enablement
• Train and coordinate a network of data stewards across departments.
• Develop and deliver data governance education and training programs, building enterprise-wide data literacy.
• Partner with analytics, technology, and business teams to integrate governance controls into daily workflows and data pipelines.
• Risk, Controls & Compliance
• Collaborate with Legal, Compliance, and Security to enforce data privacy, retention, and access controls (e.g., FERPA, GDPR, CCPA).
• Establish and maintain a data controls framework, documenting validation, approvals, and lineage checkpoints for high-risk data flows.
• Provide governance oversight for regulatory reporting, audit, and financial reconciliation processes.
• System Audits & Process Standardization
• Conduct system and process audits to evaluate current-state data flows, integrations, and dependencies across business systems.
• Develop and maintain data flow diagrams and process flow documentation that capture how data moves through Scion's ecosystem (from source to Snowflake to downstream applications).
• Identify and standardize key processes and integration points to ensure consistency, transparency, and compliance across platforms.
• Recommend and enforce data process standards and automation opportunities to improve efficiency, reliability, and auditability.
• Partner with engineering and operations to ensure documented process flows are reflected in both system design and business practice.

The responsibilities listed above may not be all inclusive.

What We Require

• 8-12 years in Data Governance, Data Quality, or Data Management roles, ideally within real estate, financial services, or multi-system operational organizations.
• Proven experience implementing enterprise data governance frameworks, MDM programs, and data catalog / glossary tools.
• Prior experience defining and managing critical data elements, lineage, and quality controls across multiple systems.
• Experience with Snowflake, Power BI, SQL, and data pipeline integration tools (Informatica, dbt, etc.).

Technical Skills

• Proficiency in one or more Data Governance / MDM platforms: Informatica IDMC, Ataccama, Collibra, TIBCO EBX, or Alation.
• Strong understanding of metadata management, data lineage, and data modeling.
• Familiarity with cloud-based architectures, APIs, and data warehousing environments (preferably on AWS or Azure).

Soft Skills

• Exceptional ability to translate technical concepts into business language.
• Demonstrated success in driving cross-functional alignment and change management.
• Excellent analytical, communication, and leadership skills.

Education

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Information Systems, Engineering, Finance, or related field (master's preferred).
• Professional certifications (CDMP, DGSP, DCAM) a plus.

Operational Details

• Job location is based at Scion's Chicago corporate headquarters.
• Working hours consist of standard daytime business hours.

Your Benefits

• FLSA Status Exempt
• Discretionary annual bonus
• Paid Time Off
• Health Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Vision Insurance
• 401k Matching
• Paid Maternal Leave
• Parental Leave
• Learning reimbursement opportunities

The Scion Group LLC provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, religion, creed, national origin, color, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, physical or mental disability (as long as the employee/applicant is otherwise qualified for the job with or without a reasonable accommodation), genetic information, HIV/AIDS status, marital status, uniformed service, veteran status, pregnancy or other legally protected status or category under federal or state law. The Scion Group LLC complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in all locations in which the Company has properties. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfers, leaves of absence, compensation, training and other terms and conditions of employment. The Scion Group LLC is committed to the principles of equal employment opportunities.

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