The Data Catalog Lead plays a key role in advancing New York Life’s data governance initiatives. This hands-on engineering team leader role focuses on the design, development and execution of NYL’s metadata management strategy, platforms and frameworks.
This position would lead a team of data governance analysts and engineers and collaborate with product managers, technology teams and data owners/steward from the business to deliver capabilities like enterprise data catalog, end to end data lineage, semantic layer for AI use cases and governance workflows using platforms such as Atlan and Unity Catalog.
The key business outcomes that this position will drive are:
• Enhancing data discoverability via the build, roll-out and adoption of the enterprise data catalog platform
• Establishing data ownership frameworks and ensuring compliance with data governance standards across the enterprise.
What You’ll Do:
• Define and drive the meta data management strategy.
• Lead the engineering design and development of data governance platforms (ATLAN), including but not limited to:
• Product engineering and bespoke solution development in partnership with infrastructure, data engineering & the vendor partners.
• Technical integration with relevant data platforms.
• Build & maintain governance processes & workflows.
• Collaborate with business data owners, stewards, data product managers, SMEs, and engineers to drive alignment on governance outcomes and adoption of governance tools and processes.
• Drive social events like roadshows, lunch and learns, training sessions, user enablement/onboarding sessions.
• As the Product Owner, participate in and lead the Agile ceremonies by owning the product backlog, managing the deliveries and soliciting/acting on customer feedback.
What You’ll Bring:
• 15+ years of professional experience, including 10+ years in a data governance or data engineering function, as a hands-on leader.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field.
• Strong understanding of data governance frameworks, metadata management, and data cataloging/lineage concepts.
• Proven ability to translate business needs into governance policies, standards, and workflows.
• Product owner / product management skills to drive user engagement & product adoption.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills and experience working across business and technical teams.
• Familiarity with data warehousing, SQL, data analysis and data modeling concepts.
Required Skills:
• Hands-on experience with metadata management tools – prior experience with leading rollouts of enterprise data catalogs will be a stand-out skill.
• Familiarity with data quality and observability tools.
• Experience applying governance frameworks, glossary management, and stewardship processes.
• Working in Agile environments as a Product Owner, using Jira, Confluence, and SharePoint.
Preferred Skills:
• Prior experience with ATLAN will be a stand-out skill.
• Exposure to the AWS/GCP cloud stack, DataBricks, Anomalo
• Exposure to AI-enabled governance accelerators, metadata enrichment, cataloging & experience with building the sematic layer for Agentic AI solutions.
• Experience driving/supporting data warehousing, data modernization or cloud migration initiatives in enterprise settings.
Pay Transparency
Salary Range: $147,500-$211,000
Overtime eligible: Exempt
Discretionary bonus eligible: Yes
Sales bonus eligible: No
Actual base salary will be determined based on several factors but not limited to individual’s experience, skills, qualifications, and job location. Additionally, employees are eligible for an annual discretionary bonus. In addition to base salary, employees may also be eligible to participate in an incentive program.
Company Overview
At New York Life, our 180-year legacy of purpose and integrity fuels our future. As we evolve into a more technology-, data-, and AI-enabled organization, we remain grounded in the values that drive lasting impact.
Our diverse business portfolio creates opportunities to make a difference across industries and communities—inviting bold thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and purpose-driven innovation. Here, you’ll find the rare balance of long-standing stability and forward momentum, supported by an inclusive team that honors tradition while embracing progress.
As a Fortune 100 mutual company, we offer a place to grow your skills, contribute to meaningful work, and deliver solutions that matter. Your ideas drive what’s next, and your growth powers it.
Our Benefits
We provide a full package of benefits for employees – and have unique offerings for a modern workforce, including leave programs, adoption assistance, and student loan repayment programs. Based on feedback from our employees, we continue to refine and add benefits to our offering, so that you can flourish both inside and outside of work. Click here to discover more about our comprehensive benefit options or visit our NYL Benefits Site.