515 Data Operations Leader jobs in London

Every day, Global Payments makes it possible for millions of people to move money between buyers and sellers using our payments solutions for credit, debit, prepaid and merchant services. Our worldwide team helps over 3 million companies, more than 1,300 financial institutions and over 600 million cardholders grow with confidence and achieve amazing results. We are driven by our passion for success and we are proud to deliver best-in-class payment technology and software solutions. Join our dynamic team and make your mark on the payments technology landscape of tomorrow.

Ready to take your career global?

Make your mark at one of the biggest names in payments. We’re looking for a leader who can build a unified, trusted and governed data foundation to create reusable, domain driven data products that power analytics and AI. The Head of Data Governance & Enablement Platforms is responsible for the strategy, engineering, operation, and adoption of the enterprise platforms that enable trusted, governed, and discoverable data at scale.

Reporting to the Head of Data Platforms, this leader owns the portfolio of governance enablement capabilities that serve as foundational services across the Data & AI ecosystem. This includes enterprise responsibility for Data Catalog, Data Dictionary/Business Glossary, Metadata Management, Data Lineage, Master Data Management (MDM), Reference Data Management (RDM), Data Quality, Data Profiling, and the enablement of Governance Workflow Automation. These capabilities are critical to ensuring enterprise data is discoverable, understandable, trusted, compliant, and reusable by business, analytics, engineering, and AI teams.

As a member of the Data Platforms leadership team, this leader will establish governance and enablement capabilities as enterprise platform products, delivering self-service experiences, automated controls, reusable services and scalable platform capabilities. Working closely with the Head of Data Trust & Risk, Data Strategy & Architecture, Data Engineering, Security, Risk, and Compliance, this role will ensure governance requirements are operationalized through modern technology platforms and embedded across the data lifecycle.

This leader will champion a platform centric approach to metadata management, master data management, data quality, and governance automation, creating trusted data foundations that accelerate analytics, AI innovation, operational excellence, regulatory compliance, and business value realization.

What you’ll own

Platform Strategy & Leadership

Own the enterprise strategy, roadmap, investment planning, and adoption of Data Governance & Enablement Platforms. Lead the vision, implementation, modernization, and operation of enterprise Data Catalog/Business Glossary, Data Dictionary, Metadata Management, Data Lineage, Master Data Management (MDM), Reference Data Management (RDM), Data Quality, and Data Profiling platforms. Establish governance enablement capabilities as enterprise platform products with clear business outcomes, service offerings, adoption targets, and reliability objectives. Develop platform roadmaps aligned to enterprise Data, Analytics, and AI strategies. Drive platform standardization, simplification, scalability, and automation across the enterprise. Establish platform operating models, service management processes, SLAs, SLOs, and support frameworks. Lead platform and technology decisions, including build, buy, and partner evaluations with clear business and technical rationale. Manage platform budgets, vendor relationships, licensing strategies, and technology investments.

Metadata Management & Data Discovery

Own enterprise Metadata Management, Data Catalog, Business Glossary, Data Dictionary, and Data Lineage capabilities. Establish metadata driven processes that improve discovery, understanding, trust, governance, and reuse of enterprise data assets. Partner with Data Trust & Risk to define enterprise metadata, glossary, classification, and semantic standards, ensuring they are consistently implemented and enforced through governance enablement platforms across the enterprise. Deliver self-service experiences that enable business and technical users to efficiently discover and consume trusted data products. Establish lineage capabilities that provide end to end visibility across source systems, data pipelines, data products, and analytics assets.

Master Data Management

Define and execute the enterprise Master Data Management (MDM) and Reference Data Management (RDM) platform strategy, roadmap, and operating model. Partner with business stakeholders, Data Trust & Risk, and data domain owners to establish shared MDM and RDM services supporting customers, merchants, products, partners, suppliers, and other critical business entities. Enable the standardization, consistency, governance, and quality of master and reference data across the enterprise. Establish and integrate MDM capabilities that support operational systems, data products, analytics, reporting, AI, and regulatory use cases. Partner with business domains to define authoritative data sources, golden record strategies, survivorship rules, and data lifecycle management processes. Implement scalable MDM capabilities, including entity resolution, hierarchy management, relationship management, and reference data administration.

Data Quality & Profiling

Own enterprise Data Quality and Data Profiling platforms and services. Establish self-service data quality capabilities, monitoring frameworks, observability solutions, and quality controls across critical enterprise data assets Enable proactive data profiling, anomaly detection, root cause analysis, and issue management capabilities. Partner with Data Engineering and Data Product teams to embed quality controls throughout the data lifecycle. Drive continuous improvement initiatives that increase trust and confidence in enterprise data.

Governance Enablement & Automation

Partner closely with the Head of Data Trust & Risk to operationalize governance policies, standards, and controls through technology platforms. Implement governance workflows supporting data stewardship, certification, issue management, access, controls monitoring, and reporting. Enable data contracts, metadata driven automation across the enterprise data ecosystem. Establish automated enforcement mechanisms for metadata standards, data classification, retention policies, quality controls, and governance requirements. Support regulatory, audit, privacy, security, and risk management requirements through platform capabilities and automation.

Data Ecosystem Enablement

Partner with the Head of Data Strategy & Architecture and other Heads of Data Platform to align governance enablement platforms with enterprise architecture standards and target state designs. Partner with the Head of Data Engineering to ensure metadata, lineage, quality, and governance capabilities are integrated into enterprise data pipelines and products. Deliver APIs, reusable services, and integration patterns that enable governance capabilities to be consumed across the enterprise. Support data product adoption through trusted metadata, quality transparency, and discoverability. Drive platform capabilities that improve data transparency, explainability, and trust.

Leadership & Stakeholder Management

Build, lead, and develop a high performing team of platform engineers, product managers, and governance technology specialists. Foster a culture of innovation, accountability, customer focus, operational excellence, and continuous improvement. Drive enterprise adoption through enablement programs, communications, training, and stakeholder engagement. Establish strong partnerships with Data Trust & Risk, Data Strategy & Architecture, Engineering, AI, Security, Risk, Compliance, and business leadership teams. Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leaders on governance enablement technologies, data trust, metadata strategy, master data management, and data quality modernization. Communicate platform strategy, roadmaps, priorities, and outcomes to executive stakeholders and governance forums. Champion the role of governance enablement platforms as foundational capabilities that increase trust, speed, reuse, and business value across the enterprise.

What you’ll bring

• 12+ years of experience in Data Management, Data Governance Technologies, Data Platforms, Data Engineering, or related technology leadership roles.
• 5+ years leading enterprise-scale implementations of Data Governance, Metadata Management, MDM, Data Quality, or Data Platform initiatives.
• Proven experience implementing and operating enterprise Data Catalog, Metadata Management, Data Lineage, MDM, RDM, and Data Quality platforms.
• Deep expertise with leading governance and metadata technologies such as Collibra, Alation, Atlan, Informatica, Reltio, or equivalent solutions.
• Extensive experience designing and implementing enterprise Master Data Management and reference data solutions.
• Strong expertise in metadata management, business glossaries, semantic models, data lineage, classification, and cataloging capabilities.
• Demonstrated success implementing enterprise data quality frameworks, observability capabilities, profiling solutions, and quality management processes.
• Experience implementing governance workflow automation, issue management, findings management, or stewardship, in support of enterprise governance programs.
• Experience operating governance and enablement capabilities in cloud based data environments.
• Strong understanding of modern data platforms, lakehouses, data warehouses, analytics ecosystems, and data product architectures.
• Working knowledge of regulatory, compliance, privacy, and security requirements within highly regulated environments.
• Proven ability to partner with governance organizations to operationalize policy through technology and automation.
• Demonstrated experience leading platform engineering, product management, or shared services organizations.
• Strong product mindset with experience managing technology platforms as products serving internal customers.
• Exceptional communication, executive presentation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Demonstrated ability to influence outcomes across complex, matrixed organizations.
• Proven experience building, developing, and leading high performing technology teams.
• Strong strategic thinking, analytical, and problem-solving capabilities.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, Business, or a related field required.

It’s a bonus if you have

• Experience within payments, fintech, banking, or other highly regulated financial services industries.
• Expertise with public cloud platforms including AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.
• Industry recognized certifications in Data Management, Governance, Cloud Architecture, or Platform Engineering disciplines.
• Experience modernizing enterprise metadata, data quality, and MDM ecosystems in large global organizations.
• Proven success establishing enterprise scale governance technology adoption programs and Centers of Excellence.
• Experience implementing automated governance, metadata driven operations, and platform engineering practices.
• Experience supporting regulatory audits, compliance requirements, and risk management programs through governance technologies.
• Executive presence with demonstrated ability to influence senior business, technology, risk, compliance, and operations leaders

About the team

Our inclusive and global teams win together every day. We’re proud to have the best minds in the industry, who you can learn from as you grow your career. The people, the energy, the connections – it’s unmatched. Come and be part of an ever-evolving company and get dynamic opportunities that go beyond borders.

What makes a Globalpayer?

Globalpayers think like a client, act like an owner and win as one team. We’re curious and innovative – always finding better ways to deliver impact. We empower each other to make decisions, and it’s our passion that drives excellence in everything we set out to do.

Does this sound like you? Then you sound like a Globalpayer. Apply now to take your career global.

https://jobs.globalpayments.com/en/why-global-payments/benefits/

Applicant must be authorized to work in the U.S. without the need for employment-based visa sponsorship now or in the future; We will not sponsor applicants for U.S. work visa status for this opportunity (no sponsorship is available for H-1B, L-1, TN, O-1, E-3, H-1B1, F-1, J-1, OPT, CPT or any other employment-based visa).

Diversity and EEO Statements

Global Payments is an organization that stands against racism, intolerance and injustice in all its forms — one that respects, honors and celebrates the diversity of our team members and the differences among us. Our commitment to fostering a company culture that values and respects Inclusion and Diversity is steadfast. Standing together as one company, we will continue to work to drive positive change for the communities in which we live and work and stamp out injustice.

Global Payments is an equal opportunity employer. Global Payments provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, veteran status, genetic information or any other basis protected by law. Those applicants requiring reasonable accommodation to the application and/or interview process should notify a representative of the Human Resources Department.

linkedin.com/in/shonali-r-66744622 -SB

Global Payments Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. Global Payments provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, veteran status, genetic information or any other basis protected by law. If you wish to request reasonable accommodations related to applying for employment or provide feedback about the accessibility of this website, please contact jobs@globalpayments.com.