Lead, Data Governance Engineer

Founded in 1898 and headquartered in Chicago, IL, GATX Corporation (NYSE: GATX) is an industry leader with 125+ years of success—success that is powered by our people. We are proud of our high-performance culture, hard-working and enthusiastic management team, and beautiful office space in the Willis Tower.

At GATX, we hire the best and offer our employees a dynamic, energetic, collaborative environment to enable them to make an impact from day one. Enjoy the perks and benefits of a global company with the close-knit culture and community of a much smaller one. In the same way we strive to empower our customers to propel the world forward, we are dedicated to providing our people with the tools and resources they need to advance in their careers.

The Lead, Data Governance Engineer is a technical leader focused on catalogs, lineage and governance automation. They are the owner of the data governance tooling suite, responsible for identifying, improving and implementing automation.This role is responsible for improving the efficiency of data governance technical processes. It serves as the primary interface on matters related to data governance. The Engineer role must deeply understand the technology required to support and connect with the platform so that the organization can realize the full value of the data governance program. This role will support and enhance the enterprise-wide, single-truth data architecture that is centralized and secure. 

The Lead, Data Governance Engineer will interact with the GATX Data, Analytics, Reporting and Integration (DARI), GATX IT organization, business Data Owners and business stakeholders. Effective interpersonal and communications skills are critical to success in this role. The individual in this role must also be able to create and present plans, recommendations and decisions in a professional, clear and concise manner. The role is a cross-functional position that requires a smart, motivated, self-starting individual who is comfortable with ambiguity, capable of consensus-building, and able to navigate complexity.

Execution of the Data Governance Strategy

• Design, implement, and maintain data governance frameworks, policies, and procedural documentation.
• Lead Data Owners meetings
• Lead Data Governance Council meetings
• Provide support for and serve on the Data Governance Steering Committee
• Provide guidance and training to employees on data governance principles
• Mentor team members on best practices to create and foster a data governance culture
• Partner with business, engineering, security, and insights teams to embed governance requirements directly into the data lifecycle.

Data Governance Tool Management

• Configure and maintain the data catalog to ensure data is discoverable, defined, and documented with lineage.
• Implement Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and data masking policies within the tool(s) to secure sensitive data and ensure compliance with regulations and business needs.
• Translate governance policies into actionable workflows and implement within the tool(s) (e.g., approval workflows for changes to data definitions).
• Coordinate with the Data Quality & Modeling Lead to establish monitoring and enforcement of automated data quality rules to identify, report, and fix errors in real time
• Continuously monitor system performance
• Maintain data lineage of all analytic assets

Data Quality, Security and Governance

• Coordinate with developers and data owners on data quality rule implementation
• Develop automated data quality checks and enforce security/privacy policies across all data pipelines.
• Curate metadata, data, and assets
• Review, approve, or act on suggested changes to the data governance components
• Build & manage the metadata profile for the data catalog, glossary, and custom objects, including resource types, fields, relationships, and presentation arrangement
• Coordinate with engineers during pipeline development
• Ensure metadata remains current and accessible by appropriate parties.
• Establish mechanisms for data auditing, monitoring compliance with governance standards, and providing data quality analytics.

Enterprise Quality Management (ETQ Reliance)

• Design, configure, and implement solutions, acting as a bridge between technical development and strategic business needs.
• Provide technical leadership, ensuring that ETQ Reliance modules—such as CAPA, Document Control, and Audits—are customized to meet compliance, and business process requirements.
• Partner with Quality, IT, and business stakeholders to define requirements, build solutions, and manage the full project life cycle from development to go-live.
• Ensure development of the system aligns with data capture and data quality requirements for effective modeling, analytics, and downstream insights.

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering or other relevant technical discipline required.
• Minimum of five years of experience in a role supporting a data governance program.
• Strong understanding of data governance principles and practices to ensure data accuracy, consistency, and compliance throughout its lifecycle.
• Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office Suite, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate at all levels of the organization.
• Knowledge and experience in applying structured problem-solving practices; formal training and/or relevant certification is desirable.
• Extensive experience leading technical support and development of data management tools (Including data cataloging, metadata management, and data quality)

Other:

• Occasional travel is expected 
• Occasional work on nights and weekends to support production environment and meet project demands and deadlines.