Data Governance & Enablement Manager

Job Description:

We’re building thriving communities as one of the UK’s largest housing groups and a leading developer of affordable housing.

We believe everyone is entitled to a good home they can afford, in a place they are proud to live. More than 100,000 people live in our homes.

If you want to experience work that’s truly rewarding, join us. Because when we achieve together, customers and communities thrive.

Work for Orbit. Believe in people.

The role

Orbit is delighted to be recruiting for a Data Governance & Enablement Manager to join us in this brand-new role to Orbit Group. This is a unique opportunity to shape how data is governed, trusted and used across Orbit at an enterprise level, influencing decision-making across the organisation. The Data Governance and Enablement Manager will establish and oversee a robust data governance framework for the organisation including creation of data ownership roles and providing mechanisms to monitor and improve Data Quality across critical datasets.

The role will lead the implementation of Orbit’s Data Governance Operating Model aligned to Orbit’s modern enterprise data platform (including technologies such as Microsoft Fabric). This includes ownership of governance tooling (e.g. Microsoft Purview), metadata management, data lineage, classification, and data quality frameworks to ensure data is trusted, governed and discoverable across all data domains. You will be joining at a key time for this team, in helping to align, shape and deliver our organisational data governance framework.

This role is part of Technology, Transformation & Data where you'll help us give colleagues the infrastructure, support and insight they need to be brilliant.

What you'll achieve

• Establish and embed Data Owners and Data Stewards across key business domains, enabling clear accountability and ownership of data.
• Design and implement practical data governance solutions aligned to Orbit’s enterprise data platform (e.g. Microsoft Fabric and Azure-based technologies), including an end-to-end governance framework covering data ownership, metadata, lineage and data quality across key data domains.
• Collaborate with senior leadership to align data governance with organisational objectives, ensuring trusted data supports customer services, property lifecycle, finance and operational decision-making.
• Drive data literacy and enablement across the organisation, helping colleagues confidently understand and use data in their roles.
• Oversee and embed a structured Data Quality framework, including profiling, rules, monitoring and continuous improvement of critical datasets, with a focus on regulatory and operational reporting requirements.
• Ensure adherence to GDPR, Data Protection Act and social housing regulations by implementing appropriate controls, including data classification (e.g. PII), auditability and risk mitigation practices.
• Build strong, trusted relationships with stakeholders at all levels of the organisation, from Directors and Heads of Service through to Data Owners and operational teams, influencing behaviours and enabling accountability for data.
• Partner with Technology and Data Engineering teams to embed governance into the data lifecycle, ensuring alignment to enterprise ingestion, modelling and reporting patterns.
• Influence the embedding of data governance into business and technology processes, ensuring governance is integrated into design, delivery and operational ways of working.

What you'll bring

Essential skills

• Strong understanding of data governance frameworks, data quality practices, metadata management and how governance integrates with modern data platforms (e.g. Microsoft Fabric, Azure, Data Lake architectures).
• Experience working with data governance and metadata tools (e.g. Microsoft Purview or equivalent), including data cataloging, lineage and business glossary implementation.
• Ability to assess data quality, define rules and implement scalable solutions to improve data integrity and monitoring across critical datasets.
• In-depth knowledge of GDPR, Data Protection Act and data risk management, including data classification, protection and compliance controls.
• Proven ability to design and embed Data Governance Operating Models, including influencing and engaging stakeholders at all levels to drive adoption of Data Owner and Steward responsibilities.
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills with the ability to communicate effectively with both senior leadership and operational teams.
• Strong experience in driving cultural change, including improving data literacy and enabling business users to confidently and effectively use data.
• People management experience with the ability to lead, coach and develop a high-performing team.

Desirable skills

• Experience working within Social Housing or other regulated sectors

Why Orbit?

Choosing us means being rewarded in every sense.

Here’s what you can expect to enjoy with us.

A rewarding experience that works for you

We strive to create an inclusive experience with benefits and wellbeing programmes designed to help you, and your loved ones, to thrive. For a better work life balance, we offer flexible working opportunities for many roles.

A place to progress

From training programmes to professional qualifications, we provide opportunities to learn and develop at every stage of your career. Whether you’re a student, graduate or experienced professional we’ll support you to grow.

For leaders, our tailored development journeys are designed to stretch and strengthen your leadership skills. As well as practical training, we give you access to renowned business schools and experiential programmes for greater breadth and depth of learning.

A purpose to feel proud of

We’re proud to make a difference to people together. We’re values-driven with a commercial focus on performance - because the more profit we make, the more we can achieve for people.

What brings us together is a passionate belief in progress and people.

Read more about the values and purpose that drive us on our careers website.

How we hire

We aim to make our hiring process simple and fair:

1. Online application
2. Interview(s)
3. Decision and offer

We put the safeguarding of our customers, colleagues and contractors at the heart of everything we do and as such, certain roles will be subject to a DBS check.