Data Governance Lead

Role Overview

Data Governance Lead at Tamara, headquartered in Riyadh. This role leads the implementation, operation, and continuous improvement of Tamara's data governance framework to ensure data is managed as a trusted, secure, well-controlled, and valuable organizational asset.

Company Overview

Tamara is the leading fintech platform in Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC region. The company serves millions of users and partners with leading global and regional brands including Apple, SHEIN, Jarir, noon, IKEA, and Amazon, as well as small and medium businesses. Tamara is Saudi Arabia's first fintech unicorn and is backed by Sanabil Investments, a wholly owned company by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), SNB Capital, and Checkout.com, amongst others. The company operates from its headquarters in Riyadh with additional regional and global support offices.

Role Purpose

The Data Governance Lead will establish clear data ownership, strengthen data quality, maintain data governance standards, embed governance requirements into business and technology processes, and support regulatory and audit readiness. The role plays a key role in maturing Tamara's data governance capabilities across data ownership, classification, quality, lifecycle management, metadata, reporting, and governance assurance.

Key Responsibilities

Policy & Framework Development

• Lead the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of Tamara's data governance policies, standards, procedures, and operating models.
• Establish and maintain data ownership, stewardship, and accountability models across business and technology functions.
• Drive the execution of data governance practices, including data classification, lifecycle management, retention, metadata management, and business glossaries.

Monitoring & Reporting

• Define, monitor, and report on data governance KPIs, KRIs, maturity indicators, and management updates.
• Maintain and enhance governance documentation, including data inventories, ownership registers, data lineage, and governance dashboards.

Data Quality & Operations

• Oversee data quality monitoring, including identifying, prioritizing, and remediating issues related to accuracy, completeness, consistency, and integrity.
• Identify opportunities to improve data governance maturity, operational efficiency, reporting quality, and control effectiveness.

Risk & Compliance

• Support compliance with regulatory and industry requirements (SAMA, PDPL, PCI-DSS, and other financial services obligations).
• Identify data-related risks and control gaps, working with stakeholders to define and track remediation plans to closure.
• Lead data governance assessments and control reviews to evaluate adherence to internal policies and regulatory standards.
• Lead the preparation of data governance evidence and documentation for internal audits, external audits, and regulatory inspections.

Stakeholder & Project Management

• Provide governance input and challenge for projects involving data usage, sharing, new platforms, analytics, and integrations.
• Partner with cross-functional teams (engineering, security, privacy, compliance, risk, product) to embed governance requirements into new systems and technology changes.
• Drive stakeholder engagement to improve data governance awareness, accountability, and adoption across the organization.
• Provide ongoing guidance and support to data owners, data stewards, and technical teams on governance best practices.

Qualifications & Experience

• 2–5 years of experience in Data Governance, Data Management, Data Quality, or Compliance.
• Previous experience in fintech, banking, or a regulated financial environment is preferred.
• Strong understanding of data ownership, stewardship, metadata management, data lineage, and lifecycle management.
• Strong grasp of compliance expectations related to data management and privacy, particularly SAMA requirements, PDPL, and PCI-DSS.
• Proven ability to identify data quality root causes, define remediation actions, and conduct governance assessments and audit support.
• University degree in Information Management, Computer Science, Risk Management, or a related field is preferred.
• Professional certifications such as CDMP, DCAM, COBIT, CIPP, or ISO 27001 are preferred.
• Experience leading enterprise data governance programs or maturity improvement initiatives is preferred.
• Prior experience operating under SAMA regulatory oversight is preferred.

Skills & Competencies

• Strong analytical skills with proficiency in Excel and experience with SQL, Power BI, Tableau, or similar reporting tools.
• Good understanding of enterprise data environments and reporting layers.
• Exceptional stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence cross-functional teams and produce clear documentation for technical and non-technical audiences.
• Ability to operate independently and manage competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Hands-on experience with dedicated data governance, cataloging, metadata, lineage, or GRC tools is preferred.