Data Governance Manager

Big Joe Forklifts is seeking a Data Governance Manager to help build and lead our enterprise data governance program as we continue to grow and expand our use of technology, analytics, automation, and AI. This role will partner across the organization to establish data standards, improve data quality, define ownership, and ensure that critical business information is accurate, consistent, and trusted across our systems. The ideal candidate combines strong data governance expertise with business acumen and can work effectively across both technical and functional teams. This is a highly collaborative role with the opportunity to build a data governance framework that supports Big Joe’s continued growth and transformation., * Develop and implement an enterprise data governance framework, including data standards, ownership, policies, and accountability.

• Establish and support data owners and stewards across key business functions.
• Identify and lead improvements to data quality across customers, dealer, product, parts, supplier, pricing, and other critical enterprise data.
• Define systems of record and standards for how critical data is created, maintained, and shared across systems.
• Partner with IT and business teams to ensure data quality and governance requirements are incorporated into new systems, integrations, and business processes.
• Establish common definitions for key business metrics and maintain business data definitions and standards.
• Develop data quality metrics and reporting to identify issues and measure improvement.
• Support data governance and readiness for analytics, automation, AI, and future ERP initiatives.
• Partner with business transformation and continuous improvement teams to address data-related process issues and reduce manual or duplicate data maintenance.
• Promote data ownership and accountability across the organization.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

This position does not manage direct reports., The above job description is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of duties and standards of the position. Incumbents will follow any other instructions and perform related duties, as assigned by their supervisor.

To perform the job successfully, an individual must demonstrate the following competencies:

• Business Acumen: Understands how data supports business processes, operational performance, customer experience, and decision-making.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Builds effective relationships across Sales, Operations, Supply Chain, Finance, Service, IT, and other functional areas.
• Influence & Change Leadership: Drives adoption of standards and accountability across teams without relying solely on direct authority.
• Analytical Problem Solving: Identifies root causes of data issues and develops practical, sustainable solutions.
• Systems Thinking: Understands how processes, systems, integrations, and data interact across the organization.
• Communication & Facilitation: Translates complex data concepts into clear business language and effectively facilitates cross-functional discussions.
• Ownership & Accountability: Takes initiative, follows issues through resolution, and establishes clear accountability for data.
• Continuous Improvement: Looks beyond data cleanup to improve the underlying processes that create and maintain data.

Technical Skills:

• Strong knowledge of data governance, data quality, master data management, metadata management, and data stewardship principles.
• Experience defining data standards, business rules, data ownership, systems of record, and data quality controls.
• Working knowledge of ERP and CRM data structures; experience with Salesforce and manufacturing ERP environments is preferred.
• Experience with business intelligence and visualization platforms such as Tableau, Power BI, or similar tools.
• Working knowledge of relational databases and SQL for data analysis, validation, and investigation.
• Understanding of enterprise integrations, APIs, EDI, and data movement between business systems.
• Experience developing data dictionaries, business glossaries, data lineage, and data quality metrics.
• Familiarity with data cleansing, matching, deduplication, validation, and master data processes.
• Understanding of data requirements for analytics, automation, and AI applications.
• Familiarity with data governance, MDM, data catalog, or data quality platforms is preferred., * Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems, Data Management, Business, Computer Science, Engineering, Supply Chain, Finance, or a related field required.
• 5+ years of progressive experience in data governance, master data management, data quality, data management, business systems, analytics, or a related discipline.
• 2+ years of experience leading or implementing data governance, master data, or data quality initiatives preferred.
• Demonstrated experience establishing data standards, ownership, stewardship, and data quality practices across multiple business functions.
• Experience working with enterprise CRM, ERP, business intelligence, and integrated business systems.
• Experience partnering with both business and technical teams to translate business requirements into practical data standards and solutions.
• Experience identifying and resolving data quality issues, including duplicate, incomplete, inconsistent, and inaccurate data.
• Experience supporting enterprise system implementations, integrations, migrations, or transformation initiatives preferred.
• Experience in manufacturing, distribution, industrial equipment, supply chain, or a related environment preferred.
• Experience building or maturing a data governance program in a growing or evolving organization is strongly preferred., * Bachelor’s (Required)

Experience:

• Data governance: 5 years (Required)
• Leading or implementing data governance: 2 years (Required)

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Health savings account
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Referral program
• Vision insurance

Established in 1951, Big Joe is a customer-driven North American material handling equipment company. We distribute innovative products for in-between-handling applications, purpose-built counterbalanced lithium-ion forklifts, and market-leading autonomous solutions. Based in Madison, Wisconsin, we provide engineering expertise, customer service, aftermarket parts, and warranty support to our extensive dealer network and customers.

Our company is experiencing rapid growth and is concentrating on cutting-edge technologies such as integrated lithium-ion forklifts and autonomous mobile robots. We are proud to be Powering Progress in the material handling industry.