The Master Data Governance Specialist / Data Governance & Quality Analyst is responsible for establishing, enforcing, and continuously improving data governance standards and data quality controls across enterprise systems (e.g., SAP S/4HANA and downstream platforms). Goal of function: Act as the liaison between business process owners, functional consultants, and the offshore/onshore technical team to ensure consistent application of data governance, data quality, and information governance practices across systems and tools. **Roles and Responsibilities** 1. Data Governance Framework & Policies + Support definition and implementation of: + Data governance policies + Data standards + Naming conventions + Data ownership and stewardship models + Ensure data domains (e.g., Customer, Vendor, Material, Finance) have: + Defined owners + Clear business rules + Approval workflows + Enforce governance processes for: + Data creation + Data change + Data deactivation + Support implementation and ongoing maintenance of information governance tooling (e.g., Collibra or similar platforms), including: + Business glossaries and data definitions + Data domain, ownership, and stewardship metadata + Data policies, standards, and rule documentation + Lineage, classification, and critical data element (CDE) attributes (where applicable) 2. Data Quality Management + Define and maintain data quality rules (accuracy, completeness, validity, timeliness). + Perform regular: + Data profiling + Data validation + Reconciliation checks + Identify: + Data defects + Root causes + Process gaps + Drive corrective and preventive actions with IT and business teams. 3. Monitoring & Reporting + Develop and maintain data quality dashboards and KPIs. + Publish and maintain governance and data quality metrics, definitions, and ownership information within information governance platforms for leadership visibility and audit readiness. + Report on: + Data quality trends + Compliance with standards + High-risk data issues + Provide insights to leadership on: + Data risks + Improvement opportunities 4. Stakeholder Engagement + Internal: + Business Data Owners + Data Stewards + SAP COE / IT + Analytics & Reporting teams + Risk, Audit, and Compliance teams + Responsibilities: + Act as a trusted advisor on data quality and governance. + Facilitate governance forums and working groups. + Educate stakeholders on: + Data standards + Roles and responsibilities + Best practices + Support and enable Data Owners and Data Stewards in using information governance tools by defining standards, templates, and usage guidelines. 5. Process & Control Integration + Embed data governance into: + Business processes + System workflows + Change management + Ensure data controls align with: + SOX + GDPR + Regulatory requirements + Support audits and regulatory reviews related to data. 6. Continuous Improvement + Identify opportunities to: + Automate data quality checks + Reduce manual data corrections + Improve data lifecycle management + Support: + Master Data Governance (MDG) initiatives + Data transformation programs + S/4HANA or ERP modernization efforts + Contribute to the evolution and adoption of information governance tooling capabilities in collaboration with Data Leads, IT, and tool vendors. 7. Act as primary point of contact for data issues + Communicate data risks and impacts to business + Provide data quality and performance reporting **Qualifications and experience** Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Data Management or a related field. **Required professional experience** + 15+ years in SAP Master data management, specifically in S/4HANA implementation or support. + Proven experience in SAP domains: Material Master, Business Partner (Customer/Vendor), or Finance **Important personal qualities:** + **Strong stewardship mindset:** Acts as a custodian of enterprise data, ensuring accuracy, consistency, and adherence to governance standards. + **Analytical and detail-oriented: Demonstrates** high rigor in defining, validating, and monitoring data quality rules, metrics, and controls. + **Structured and methodical: Applies** disciplined approaches to data profiling, issue analysis, root cause identification, and documentation. + **Influence without authority:** Effectively guides data owners, stewards, and stakeholders toward governance compliance through expertise and collaboration. + **Clear and precise communicator:** Translates complex data concepts, rules, and quality findings into clear, actionable guidance for business and technical audiences. + **Policy- and control-conscious:** Understands regulatory, audit, and compliance expectations and embeds them into governance practices and artifacts. + **Collaborative and facilitative: Works** constructively across business, IT, and analytics teams to align definitions, standards, and quality outcomes. + **Tool- and process-oriented: Values** structured use of governance and data quality tools and processes to ensure transparency and repeatability. + **Continuous improvement mindset: Proactively** identifies opportunities to strengthen governance frameworks, data quality controls, and lifecycle management. + **Professional persistence:** Demonstrates patience and consistency in enforcing standards and driving adoption in complex, matrixed environments. **IT skills** + Strong hands-on experience in SAP Master data Management configuration, Business Partner (BP) setup, and Data Replication Framework (DRF). + Experience with SAP Information Steward, SAP Data Services, or similar data profiling tools. + Knowledge of SAP modules (MM, SD, FICO) and how master data impacts end-to-end business processes.Experience with Business Rules Framework Plus (BRF+) and workflow modelling. + Hands-on experience with information governance or metadata management platforms (e.g., Collibra, Alation, Microsoft Purview, or similar). + Excellent analytical and problem-solving abilities, with high attention to detail, Effective communication skills for interacting with business stakeholders and technical teams, Ability to manage multiple tasks, tickets, and priorities in a fast-paced AMS environment and experience documenting data policies, functional specifications, and data dictionaries. **Core SAP & Technical Skills** + Strong expertise in SAP S/4HANA Run Operations + Solid understanding of: + SAP Finance (FI/CO) + SAP Logistics (MM, SD, PP, WM/EWM) + SAP Basis & Technical Operations + SAP Fiori, Authorizations, Interfaces + Familiarity with SAP Solution Manager, Focused Run, ChaRM + Understanding of SAP integrations (CPI, PI/PO, third-party systems) **SAP Products** + SAP S/4HANA + SAP BW/4HANA / SAC + SAP Solution Manager / Focused Run + SAP Fiori & UI5 + SAP CPI / PI-PO + **Supporting Platforms** + ITSM tools (ServiceNow preferred) + Monitoring tools (SAP ALM, APM, AIOps) + Cloud platforms (AWS / Azure / GCP – SAP workloads) **Other Requirements:** + Travel upto 20% can be expected + Ability to support CET timezone (End state will include US as well, need to revisit this at a later time)