Technical Data Governance Specialist

Plooto is at a pivotal moment in its data journey, transitioning to a comprehensive lakehouse architecture, and we are seeking a fiercely technical and self-motivated Technical Data Governance Specialist to be the hands-on architect of its foundation. This is not a role for theorists or delegators; we need a practitioner. You will be a lone wolf, responsible for both designing and, most critically, implementing the core components of our data governance framework from the ground up within our Databricks environment. Your primary mission is to rapidly transform our data landscape by inventorying, cataloging, and securing our data assets, directly enabling AI-powered self-serve analytics and ensuring the trustworthiness of our data.

Position Overview

This role is focused on the hands-on implementation and operationalization of data governance within Plooto's new lakehouse architecture on Databricks. The successful candidate will be responsible for building the data governance framework from the ground up, with a strong emphasis on practical execution and minimal oversight.

Key Responsibilities

Your mandate is to build, not just to plan. You will execute on the following priorities:

Data Asset Inventory and Mapping

• Dive deep into our source systems to conduct a comprehensive inventory of Plooto’s data assets.
• Collaborate with engineering teams to map data flows and document data lineage, establishing a clear picture of our data landscape.
• Develop and implement an initial game plan for the organization and pre-processing of raw data, aligning with our Medallion architecture principles.

Data Catalog Implementation and Enrichment

• Lead the hands-on implementation and operationalization of our data catalog using Databricks Unity Catalog.
• Systematically enrich the catalog with thorough and accurate annotations for all catalogs, tables, and fields, making data discovery intuitive and reliable.
• Ensure the catalog is meticulously maintained to serve as the single source of truth for our data assets, unlocking the potential for AI-powered analytics.

Data Quality and Observability

• Design and implement a practical data quality framework, creating and automating tests within the Azure and Databricks ecosystems.
• Establish an initial data observability platform, ensuring the quality and reliability of our most critical data pipelines.
• Work directly with data consumers to identify critical data elements and prioritize the rollout of quality monitoring.

Access Control and PII Management

• Implement and manage a robust access control framework within Databricks to ensure data is both accessible and secure.
• Develop and execute protocols for identifying, classifying, and protecting Personally Identifiable Information (PII) across the data lakehouse.
• Collaborate with Legal, Compliance, and Security teams to ensure technical implementations align with regulatory requirements like CCPA and GDPR.

Qualifications

Experience

• 3-5+ years of hands-on experience in a data governance or data engineering role with a heavy emphasis on governance implementation.
• Proven, demonstrable experience building data governance solutions from scratch in a cloud environment with Databricks tooling.
• Direct experience creating a data asset inventory and operationalizing a data catalog is mandatory.

Technical Skills

• Absolute expertise in Databricks and the practical application of the Unity Catalog is non-negotiable.
• Expert-level proficiency in SQL for data manipulation, transformation, and analysis.
• Hands-on experience designing and implementing data quality tests and frameworks using tools native to Databricks.
• Solid understanding of modern data architectures and practical experience with implementing access control and PII handling in a lakehouse environment.
• Familiarity with Azure Purview is a significant plus.

Key Attributes

• Proactive and self-motivated: You must have the ability to work independently and drive initiatives forward with minimal oversight.
• Implementation-focused: You are a builder who thrives on execution and seeing projects through to completion.
• Exceptional problem-solving skills: You can dissect complex technical challenges and devise practical, efficient solutions.
• Detail-oriented: You possess a meticulous approach to documenting and implementing governance standards.