Global GOS Data Governance Lead

Job Title

Global GOS Data Governance Lead

Job Description Summary

The Data Governance Lead serves as the strategic authority for domain level data governance across GOS, setting the direction for how data is defined, protected, engineered, and utilized across global operations and client portfolios. This leader ensures data is trustworthy, discoverable, and operationally actionable by embedding governance into the fabric of engineering, analytics, operations, and product development. The role influences senior stakeholders, drives enterprise alignment, and elevates data as a strategic asset across the organization.

Job Description

Strategic Direction & Enterprise Leadership

• Design and implement a data governance framework that supports GOS operations across diverse client portfolios and geographies, while enabling nimble execution and minimizing unnecessary complexity.
• Architect the long‑term data governance strategy for key domains, defining CDE ownership, quality expectations, metadata standards, and domain‑specific controls aligned to enterprise frameworks and business priorities.
• Establish and scale the stewardship operating model—including roles, accountabilities, and governance rhythms—across geographies, service lines, and client-facing teams.
• Chair and lead the GOS Data Governance Council, ensuring alignment across operations, technology, analytics, and account leadership while driving adoption of enterprise-wide governance practices.
• Champion a culture of disciplined, data‑driven decision‑making across GOS by institutionalizing training, best practices, and governance maturity initiatives.

Operational Excellence & Delivery

• Own the lifecycle of domain policies, business glossaries, metadata models, and data contracts, ensuring consistency and usability across engineering, analytics, and reporting platforms.
• Establish and govern data quality KPIs, operational thresholds, and monitoring frameworks; drive accountability for remediation and structural improvement across systems such as Yardi, FAMIS360, CoStar, Autodesk Construction Cloud, and Serraview.
• Oversee schema governance and versioning discipline to ensure stability, backward compatibility, and seamless data consumption across downstream systems.
• Maintain authoritative governance repositories with full lineage, traceability, and audit defensibility spanning ingestion through consumption.

Governance, Risk & Compliance Leadership

• Embed privacy‑by‑design principles, security requirements, classification standards, and retention policies into domain workflows and engineering processes.
• Define and enforce enterprise controls—including access governance, release readiness criteria, and compliance checkpoints—to mitigate data risk and prevent operational and client-impacting incidents.
• Drive metadata, cataloging, and lineage strategy to enhance transparency, discoverability, and enterprise trust in data assets.

Enterprise Stakeholder Influence

• Serve as a senior advisor to data owners, stewards, engineering leaders, account executives, and client technology partners on governance strategy, domain design, and operational expectations.
• Navigate complex, multi-stakeholder environments to harmonize data structures, field mappings, and integration standards across diverse platforms and global client portfolios.
• Communicate data health, risk posture, and governance outcomes to senior leadership in clear, business-centric terms—enabling prioritization, investment decisions, and operational action.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Information Systems, Business, Real Estate, or related field; advanced degrees preferred for complex enterprise environments.
• 5+ years of senior experience in data governance, data management, or analytics, ideally within real estate services, facilities management, or global operational enterprises.
• Deep knowledge of governance frameworks (e.g., DAMA‑DMBOK), data quality practices, metadata management, and data privacy/regulatory standards.
• Experience leading governance across complex ecosystems and platforms such as Yardi, FAMIS360, Serraview, Autodesk Construction Cloud, and CoStar.
• Exceptional executive communication, influencing, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to drive alignment in global, matrixed, and client-facing environments.

Cushman & Wakefield also provides eligible employees with an opportunity to enroll in a variety of benefit programs, generally including health, vision, and dental insurance, flexible spending accounts, health savings accounts, retirement savings pla