Senior Manager, Data Management
First seen by Alion on Oct 20, 2026.
ABOUT THE COMPANY
The Rainforest Alliance is a growing network of people who are inspired and committed to working together to achieve our mission of conserving biodiversity and ensuring sustainable livelihoods. Through creative, pragmatic collaboration, we aim to rebalance the planet by building strong forests and healthy communities around the world.
JOB SUMMARY
RequirementsBachelor's degree in Data Management, Information Systems, Computer Science, Statistics, Business Administration, or a related field.8+ years of experience in data management, data governance, or a related data discipline, including 2–3 years in a formal people management role.Demonstrated experience building or scaling a data governance program from the ground up, including policy development, standards definition, and stewardship models.Experience leading master data management (MDM) and metadata management projects at an enterprise level.Hands-on experience implementing or administering a data catalogue or data governance platform (e.g., Collibra, Alation, Informatica, Microsoft Purview, or similar).Experience with data governance frameworks, data quality methodologies, and metadata management principles, along with how governance integrates with analytics, BI, and reporting systems.Experience building, lead, and mentor a team, including hiring, performance management, and career development.Working knowledge of data privacy and regulatory frameworks such as GDPR, CCPA, or sector-specific regulations, and how they inform data sharing and ethics policies (preferred).Stakeholder management skills, with demonstrated ability to improve adoption of standards across teams without direct authority.Program management experience managing multiple complex, cross-functional projects simultaneously.Demonstrated change management experience.Ability to travel a maximum of 10% per year, nationally and internationally.ResponsibilitiesStrategy & Roadmap LeadershipImplement and refine the enterprise data management strategy, aligned with our organizational and mission-level goals.Manage and evolve the data management roadmap, including prioritization methodology, trade-off decisions across competing our needs, and a regular review schedule (e.g., quarterly) with senior stakeholders.Translate high-level organisational goals into concrete, applicable data projects.Identify strategic risks (regulatory, technical, resourcing) related to data management and build mitigation plans.Lead change management efforts: run workshops and training to shift mindset and build our data literacy; develop communication plans for major policy or tooling rollouts.Metadata & Master Data ManagementLead metadata management projects to improve data discoverability, lineage transparency, and documentation.Manage master data modelling, hierarchy management, and golden record processes across important domainsEnsure integration of metadata and master data solutions with analytics, reporting, and operational systems.Lead the ongoing adoption and optimization of our data cataloguing and lineage tooling.Governance, Ethics & ComplianceExpand (and in some cases develop) frameworks and best practices for data governance, ethics, quality, metadata, and master data management.Oversee creation and adoption of enterprise data policies, standards, definitions, and controls.Ensure compliance with data-related regulatory and privacy requirements (e.g., GDPR, CCPA, and other applicable regulations).Data QualityDefine data quality standards, KPIs, and measurement methodologies across important domains at an enterprise level.Establish ongoing monitoring and reporting on data quality performance against defined KPIs.Team Leadership & People ManagementLead, and mentor (through indirect influence) a network of data owners and stewards, including onboarding and engagement through the data lifecycle.Mentor and lead your (direct) team of data professionals across data governance, data quality, and sharing and ethics.Cross-Functional Influence & Stakeholder ManagementLead cross-functional data governance forums (steering committees, councils, working groups) including business-side data owners and stewards outside the direct reporting line.Partner with engineering, analytics, product, and business leaders to agree on data priorities and roadmaps.
REQUIRED SKILLS
Data collection, Database administration, Data centre management, Data analysis, Big data and data analytics
REQUIRED EDUCATION
Bachelor's degree