Data Governance Specialist I

Summary of Job Responsibilities

The Data Governance Specialist at Colorado PERA supports the development, implementation, and ongoing operation of PERA’s enterprise data governance program. Working in partnership with the Data Governance Program Manager, this role helps ensure that data is trusted, secure, well-documented, and effectively used to support reporting, analytics, operational decision-making, and modernization efforts.

The Data Governance Specialist assists with data stewardship activities, business glossary and metadata documentation, data quality processes, governance standards, and stakeholder engagement across business and technology teams. This position plays an important role in helping PERA build consistent, practical, and sustainable data governance practices that support responsible data use and improve confidence in enterprise data.

Ideal Candidate Statement

Our ideal candidate is a collaborative, detail-oriented, and analytically-minded professional who is interested in helping an organization strengthen how it manages and uses data. They bring a solid understanding of data governance, data quality, metadata, reporting, and business process documentation, along with the ability to work effectively with both technical teams and business stakeholders. This individual is comfortable supporting structured enterprise initiatives, documenting data definitions and business rules, assisting with data quality analysis, and helping translate governance concepts into practical day-to-day practices. They are organized, curious, service-oriented, and able to support multiple priorities while maintaining accuracy, consistency, and attention to detail.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Employees are held accountable for all duties of the job. Individuals must be able to perform these duties with or without reasonable accommodations.

• Data Governance & Stewardship Support

  • Support the Data Governance Program Manager in implementing and maintaining PERA’s enterprise data governance framework, including policies, standards, procedures, and supporting documentation.

  • Assist with documenting data ownership, stewardship roles, decision rights, and accountability structures across business units.

  • Support the coordination and administration of data governance forums, working groups, and stewardship meetings, including agenda preparation, meeting notes, action item tracking, and follow-up.

  • Help build and maintain a data stewardship community by providing documentation, coordination, training materials, and ongoing support to data owners and data stewards.

  • Assist business teams in documenting data definitions, business rules, data quality expectations, and governance-related decisions.

• Metadata, Business Glossary, & Data Documentation

  • Support the development and ongoing maintenance of business glossaries, data dictionaries, metadata repositories, and related governance artifacts.

  • Work with business subject matter experts and technical teams to document key data elements, definitions, data sources, system relationships, and usage context.

  • Assist with documenting data lineage, source-to-target mappings, and data lifecycle information where needed.

  • Help ensure that data definitions, metrics, and reporting terminology are consistent across business areas and analytics products.

  • Maintain organized, accessible, and version-controlled governance documentation that supports transparency and reuse.

• Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement

  • o Serve as a supporting liaison between business stakeholders, data owners, data stewards, technology teams, the Data & Analytics Team, and other stakeholders.

  • o Help translate business questions and data concerns into documented governance needs, data quality requirements, or process improvement opportunities.

  • o Support communication and education efforts that promote data literacy, data stewardship, and responsible data usage across PERA.

  • o Assist with creating training materials, reference guides, presentations, and other resources that help employees understand governance practices.

  • o Build trusted working relationships across teams by providing responsive, accurate, and practical support.

• Compliance, Privacy, & Risk Support

  • o Assist with governance activities that support compliance with applicable data protection expectations, internal policies, and responsible handling of sensitive member and organizational data.

  • o Support collaboration with Legal, Enterprise Risk, Information Security, and business teams by helping document data-related risks, controls, and mitigation activities.

  • o Support the consistent application of data classification, privacy, access, and usage standards.

  • o Promote a risk-aware approach to data management while helping teams apply governance in a practical and business-focused manner.

• Process Improvement & Innovation

  • o Identify opportunities to improve data governance processes, documentation standards, issue tracking, and stewardship workflows.

  • o Support evaluation and implementation of data governance, data catalog, metadata, or data quality tools as needed.

  • o Stay informed on data governance, data quality, metadata management, analytics, and data stewardship best practices.

  • o Recommend practical improvements that make governance easier to understand, adopt, and sustain across PERA.

  • o Assist with embedding governance practices into projects, system changes, data modernization efforts, and operational workflows.

Other Duties/Responsibilities

• Performs other duties as assigned.

Job Qualifications

• Required Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Data Management, Business, or related field and 2+ years of experience in data governance, data analytics, data management, or a related field. A combination of relevant education, training, and experience that demonstrates the necessary skills, knowledge, and abilities will also be considered.

  • Working knowledge of data governance concepts such as data ownership, stewardship, metadata management, data quality, data lifecycle management, and business glossary development.

  • Strong analytical, organizational, communication, and problem-solving skills.

  • Ability to manage multiple priorities, track action items, and maintain accurate documentation.

  • Proficiency with Microsoft Office tools, collaboration platforms, and business documentation practices.

  • Ability to handle sensitive information with discretion and follow applicable data privacy, security, and confidentiality expectations.

• Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience with data governance platforms such as Microsoft Purview, Informatica, Alation, Collibra, or similar tools.

  • Experience with BI or reporting tools such as Power BI or Tableau.

  • Experience supporting data warehouse, analytics platform, modernization, or enterprise system (e.g. Snowflake, Databricks, AWS) implementation efforts.

  • Familiarity with IBM i, Oracle, SQL Server, or other similar operating systems and databases.

  • Certification, coursework, or training related to data governance, data management, or data analytics.

  • Experience in financial services, pension systems, or public sector organizations.

Working Conditions

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Standard office environment with frequent telephone communication, computer operation, and other office productivity machinery, such as a copy and printer machine.

• Occasional moving and positioning supplies in excess of 20 pounds

• All employees are expected to present themselves in a professional manner in alignment with the financial services industry

• Ability to sit for prolonged periods of time

• Ability to operate standard PC equipment

• Ability to manage frequent deadlines and tight schedules

Hybrid Work Option

• Opportunity to work from home up to three days per week. Eligibility dependent upon factors detailed in PERA's Work from Home Policy.