Data Governance Specialist

Company Description Assent is the leading solution for supply chain sustainability tailored for the world’s top-tier, sustainability-driven manufacturers. Hidden risks riddle supply chains, many of which weren't built with sustainability in mind. That's where we step in. With insights from experts, Assent is the tool manufacturers trust for comprehensive sustainability. We are proud to announce that Assent has crossed the US$100M ARR milestone, granting us Centaur Status. This accomplishment, reached just 8 years following our Series A, makes us the first and only Certified B Corporation in North America's SaaS sustainability industry to celebrate this milestone. Our journey from $5 million to US$100M ARR in just eight years has been marked by significant growth and achievements. With our $350 million US funding led by Vista Equity Partners, we're poised for even greater expansion and are on the lookout for outstanding team members to join our mission. Hybrid Work Model At Assent, we proudly embrace a remote-first work model, valuing the flexibility and autonomy it provides our team. We also acknowledge the intangible benefits of occasional in-person workdays. For team members situated within 50 kms/31 miles of our five global offices in Ottawa, Eldoret, Penang, Columbus, Pune and Amsterdam, you can expect to come into the office at least one day a week. Similarly, those near our co-working spaces in Nairobi and Toronto are encouraged to work onsite once a month. Job Description We are seeking a technically skilled and detail-oriented Data Governance Specialist to join our Data Governance and Management team. This intermediate-level role plays a hands-on part in strengthening how Assent governs, secures, and manages data across platforms and domains. The Data Governance Specialist will help define and enforce data governance policies, support access controls and data security protocols, and operationalize standards for metadata and data traceability.  The Data Governance Specialist will work closely with cross‑functional teams to ensure data is governed responsibly, securely, and in alignment with regulatory and audit requirements. This is a key position for supporting organization‑wide data initiatives, ensuring that business decisions are powered by reliable, accurate, and trusted data, as we continue to build out our data governance and management function within the Product organization at Assent. The Data Governance Specialist is a hands-on role that collaborates closely with partners across the engineering, security, legal/compliance, and product organizations, and serves to solve core governance challenges in our data ecosystem. Key Requirements & Responsibilities  Support the development, enforcement, and lifecycle of data governance policies (access, classification, retention, exceptions) implemented as code with Open Policy Agent (OPA) and integrated into CI/CD. Implement and monitor RBAC/ABAC; coordinate periodic access reviews, segregation‑of‑duties controls, and privileged access governance aligned with corporate security. Contribute to the authoring and maintenance of data contracts (YAML/dbt) to enforce schema consistency, data ownership, and SLAs. Maintain a centralized policy register and SOPs for enforcement, exceptions, approvals, escalations, and reviews; provide enablement and training. Collaborate with the Metadata Management function to help define standards for metadata capture, ownership, glossary, and stewardship; align policies with catalog workflows without owning day‑to‑day operations. Assist in defining requirements and drive coverage for end‑to‑end data lineage with Engineering and Metadata Management to support audit, impact analysis, and change management. Track and report governance KPIs (e.g., policy compliance, access review completion, exception closure time) and publish dashboards for leadership. Support the evaluation and integration of governance tooling with our modern stack (e.g., Snowflake, BigQuery, dbt) and leverage automation/GenAI for documentation and exception handling. Contribute recommendations to improve governance practices; ensure alignment with internal policies, privacy standards (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, PII), and audit requirements Qualifications We strongly value your talent, energy and passion. It will also be valuable to Assent if you have the following qualifications: 5+ years of experience in data governance, data management, security, or a similar role. A degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Science, or a related field is typically required. Hands-on experience with policy‑as‑code and Open Policy Agent (OPA), including authoring and testing policies (e.g., Rego) and integrating them into CI/CD (required). Experience administering or implementing data governance/catalog tools such as Atlan or Collibra (required). Experience with Purview or Alation is an asset. Understanding of metadata and lineage concepts, access control models (RBAC/ABAC), and regulatory considerations (e.g., PII handling, GDPR, HIPAA, PCI‑DSS). Proficiency in SQL, Git Hub, Python, SQL Server and experience with BI tools such as Tableau, Power BI, or Sigma. Experience with cloud data platforms (e.g., Snowflake, BigQuery) and data transformation tools (e.g., dbt). Exposure to GenAI tools and prompt‑based automation for governance documentation and workflows. Ability to build and interpret governance dashboards and communicate findings to both technical and non‑technical audiences. Strong problem‑solving skills, attention to detail, and stakeholder management. Familiarity with agile work environments and scrum ceremonies. Experience working with cross‑functional teams to resolve governance issues and align on standards. Excellent verbal and written communication skills. Additional Information Life at Assent Wellness: We believe that you and your family’s well being is important. As a result, we offer vacation time that increases with tenure, comprehensive benefits packages (details vary by country), life leave days and more. Financial Benefits: It’s not all about the money – well, it’s a little about the money. We understand that financial health is important and we offer a competitive base salary, a corporate bonus program, retirement savings options and more. Life at Assent: There is purpose beyond your work. We provide our team members with flexible work options, volunteer days and opportunities to get involved in corporate giving initiatives. Lifelong Learning: At Assent, curiosity is not only valued but encouraged. You will receive professional development days that are available to you the day you start. At Assent, we are committed to growing and sustaining an environment where our team members feel included, valued, and heard. Our diversity and equal opportunity practices are guided and championed by our Diversity and Inclusion Working Group and our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). Our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion includes recruiting and retaining team members from diverse backgrounds and experiences, and fostering a culture of belonging where all team members are included, treated with dignity and respect, promoted on their merits, and placed in positions to contribute to business success. 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