Data Governance Intern

When you join Sallie Mae, you become a champion for all students.

We’re on a mission to power confidence as students begin their unique journey. To help them plan their higher education, successfully finish, and prepare for life after school. To help them Start smart. Learn big.

Students need guidance navigating this important time in their life. They need someone who acknowledges that their education path is unique. They need a partner willing to evolve and not only meet but surpass their expectations. We’re changing. Because students need a better way.

We’re looking for people who are excited to drive this transformation. To break barriers and think of new ways to adapt, help, and create better experiences for students—and for each other.

This is where diverse backgrounds, beliefs, and perspectives matter. It’s where you’re empowered to bring your authentic self to work.

Feeling your best allows you to do your best. Our benefits take care of the whole you—from physical and mental to financial and professional. You’ll get opportunities to further your education and career, support for you and your family (including your pets!), paid time off to volunteer for the things that matter to you, and more.

We’re obsessed with impact and making a real difference. For us, that means putting relationships first, asking “why not?” when tackling challenges, and continuously learning new skills.

Come do more than join something, change something. For students, for future generations, for the future of education.

Sallie Mae is proud to help Americans aspiring to create the life they want--whether that means helping them make college happen, or something more. Our colleagues across departments and across the country are united in our passion and our customer-first approach. Whether you want to join a growing company, be part of an agile workforce, or gain new skills--you're in the right place.

Program Overview:  

The Sallie Mae Internship program seeks to attract and develop exceptional early talent while adding value to our organization. Our goal is to tie academic learning into a practical business setting while fostering professional and personal growth within a student’s area of focus.   

Over the course of the summer, interns will gain exposure to senior leaders, attend meetings, work alongside mentors, and receive valuable performance feedback. 

Position Summary:

Data is arguably the most important asset that organizations have. Sallie Mae's Chief Data Office (CDO) helps to ensure that data is consistently defined and used, accessible, and protected. Effective data and analytics governance leads to better data analytics, which in turn leads to better decision-making and improved operations support. Further, it helps to minimize risk to regulatory compliance, and avoid data inconsistencies or errors in data, which lead to integrity issues, poor decision making, and a variety of organizational problems.

Our CDO team plays a crucial role in maintaining regulatory compliance, ensuring our data meets all regulatory requirements. This results in improved data quality, reduced data management costs, and increased data access for all stakeholders, ultimately leading to better business outcomes.

The CDO Intern has an opportunity to support and help further build out the Analytics Governance function across the organization. This role will help implement and mature Enterprise Data Governance, Data Quality, and Data Stewardship.

Key Responsibilities:

• Build and maintain an inventory of Business Intelligence (BI) products used across the organization, including what they do and who uses them. This helps teams understand available tools and make better data decisions.
• Explore and use our data catalog tool (Alation) to help teams find and understand the data they need. You’ll also look for ways to make the tool easier and more effective to use.
• Help ensure data is well-organized and described correctly by working with team members who add information to the data catalog.
• Support project tasks that help improve how data is managed and used across the company.
• Communicate with contributors to keep projects moving and make sure everyone has what they need.
• Research data tools and technologies, and help write clear, easy-to-understand descriptions for others to use.

Education:

• Open to undergraduate and graduate level students with expected graduation dates of Dec 2026 - May 2027

Availability:

• This is a 10 week internship and expectations for a 40 hour work week for the following dates 5/26/26-7/31/2026.
• We follow a 3 day flexible in office policy i