Data Architecture and Governance Manager

About Us

Elementis is a global specialty chemical company, with 1,300 employees operating 17 manufacturing sites across the globe. At Elementis, we bring a distinctive combination of expertise, innovation, and teamwork to every formulation challenge. We create high-value specialty additives that enhance the performance of our customers' products and make a positive change in the world. Combining our leading positions in the science of materials flow, surface modification, and formulation with access to unique natural materials, Elementis delivers unique chemistry, sustainable solutions to customers in a wide range of markets, including cosmetics, anti-perspirants, decorative and industrial coatings, automotive and ceramics.

Job Description Summary

The Data Architecture & Governance Manager plays a critical role in revising and maintaining the enterprise data architecture while establishing and enforcing the organisation’s data governance framework.
The role ensures that Elementis’ data is trustworthy, well structured, secure, and aligned with business needs. As the internal authority on data models, integration patterns, and quality expectations, you translate business requirements into clear architectural direction for internal teams and outsourced engineering partners. You ensure that all data solutions—whether built in house or by third parties—adhere to governance standards, regulatory requirements, and architectural principles. This role is central to enabling “one version of the truth” and strengthening the organisation’s ability to make data driven decisions.

Job Description

Responsibilities

Data Architecture Revising & Maintenance

• Maintain and update conceptual, logical, and physical data models that underpin the enterprise data ecosystem.
• Define integration patterns, data flows, and architectural principles that ensure scalability, security, and alignment with business needs.
• Shape the overall data environment—including the data lake, master data structures, and analytical layers—to support reporting, analytics, and operational processes.

Enterprise Data Governance, Quality and Master Data Management

• You own the Elementis data governance framework, setting policies, standards, metadata requirements, ownership models, compliance controls and other quality expectations to ensure data is accurate, trusted, and compliant.
• Work closely with Data Business Managers, Business Data Owners and Stewards to embed governance practices, resolve data quality issues, and drive consistent adoption across functions, balancing control and agility.
• You oversee global master data management (MDM) across the Data Platform and JDE (Elementis ERP system) (executed by an external 3rd party), ensuring consistent data definitions, ownership, and quality controls across functions and regions. You are accountable for the 3rd party executing MDM on behalf of Elementis.
• You ensure consistent compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, including GDPR and ethical data use.  In collaboration with risk and legal teams, you will embed responsible data practices and support a governance model that balances control with innovation.

Technical Authority for Outsourced Engineering and In-house Development

• You act as the internal technical authority for all engineering work (outsourced or done in house), reviewing designs and validating data models, pipelines, and integration approaches.
• You approve changes to data structures, ingestion processes, and platform components to ensure alignment with governance and architectural standards.
• You provide clear technical direction to external delivery teams and internal data teams, ensuring business requirements are translated into robust, scalable solutions.

Business Partnership & Translation of Requirements

• You translate business needs into architectural and governance requirements, ensuring that data structures and standards support operational and analytical use cases.
• You guide business data managers and analysts, functional leaders, and project teams on data implications, ensuring governance and architecture decisions are understood and adopted.
• You support the development of the multi‑year data roadmap, ensuring governance and architecture are embedded in future initiatives.

Leadership, Capability Building & Cultural Change

• You lead efforts to enhance data capability across the organisation, promoting adoption of governance processes, tools, and best practice data management.
• Manage and guide the Technical Specialist, ensuring strong alignment between governance, architecture, and platform integrity, and that technical decisions reinforce enterprise data standards.
• You collaborate closely with Data Managers and Business Analysts, providing architectural and governance guidance, receiving feedback on data quality and structural issues, and ensuring consistent interpretation and use of data across functions.
• You evaluate and implement data governance and management tools and processes in collaboration with IT and third‑party vendors.
• You conduct assurance to ensure ongoing compliance, data integrity, and adherence to standards.
• You stay abreast of industry trends to continually refine the organization’s data architecture and governance.

Vendor Management and Operational Oversight

• You oversee the daily performance of multiple third‑party partners delivering data services, which include platform operations, engineering and data management, ensuring delivery meets contractual commitments and business expectations.
• You ensure vendors operate with agility and responsiveness, resolving issues quickly and maintaining stable, high‑quality data operations across the data lake, pipelines, and governance tooling.
• You conduct regular service reviews, monitor SLAs, track operational KPIs, and escalate risks or performance gaps as needed.
• You act as the primary operational contact for data vendors, coordinating work, validating deliverables, and ensuring alignment with Elementis architectural principles, governance standards and roadmap priorities.
• You ensure outsourced teams follow approved data models, integration patterns, and quality expectations, and that any proposed changes are reviewed and approved through the appropriate governance channels.

Decision making

You are the decision‑making authority on enterprise data models, integration patterns, metadata structures, and architectural principles.

You have authority over data governance frameworks, standards, policies, and compliance controls.

You are empowered to take decisions related to architecture and governance, priorities, and external resource allocation to priorities.

You influence over business decisions where data structure, quality, or governance impacts outcomes.

Additional Job Description

Job Competencies & key personal attributes

• Technical Judgement & Architectural Decision‑Making: you are able to apply strong analytical and technical judgement to evaluate data models, integration patterns, and platform changes, ensuring decisions are scalable, secure, and aligned with Elementis standards and goals.
• Thinking Across the Data Lifecycle: You understand how architecture, governance, engineering, analytics, and business processes interconnect, ensuring decisions in one area support the integrity and performance of the entire data value chain.
• Moves Seamlessly from Strategy to Detail: You balance high‑level architectural thinking with hands‑on problem solving, diving into data definitions, quality issues, and data model design when needed.
• Change Leadership & Adoption Management: Governance and architecture only work if people follow them. You have the ability to drive behavioural change, influence adoption, and embed new ways of working across functions and geographies.
• Conflict Resolution & Cross‑Functional Engagement: You can navigate differing priorities across business teams, analysts, and vendors, resolving conflicts constructively and ensuring alignment without compromising architectural or governance standards. You can communicate complex technical concepts in a clear, accessible way, enabling non‑technical stakeholders to understand implications and make informed decisions.
• Plans and Aligns: You manage multiple architecture and governance activities with clarity and discipline, ensuring alignment with project timelines, business priorities, and regulatory requirements.
• Acts with Integrity and Professionalism: You uphold the highest standards of data ethics, compliance, and responsible data use, ensuring trust across the organisation.

Technical Knowledge and Skills

• Strong understanding of conceptual, logical, and physical data modelling.
• Deep expertise in data governance frameworks, data quality management, and metadata standards.
• Knowledge of master data management (MDM) principles and tools.
• Familiarity with cloud‑based data platforms (e.g., Azure, Databricks) and modern data lake architectures.
• Ability to evaluate and guide outsourced and in-house engineering work, ensuring alignment with architectural and governance standards.
• Knowledge of regulatory requirements (GDPR, PII, data ethics).
• Strong communication skills to translate technical concepts for non‑technical audiences.

Position Requirements

Education: Bachelor’s degree in business, information systems, data management, or related field.

Experience:

• Proven experience in data governance, data architecture, or a hybrid role combining both.
• Experience designing and maintaining enterprise data models or governance frameworks, including track-record of creating simple and robust documentation.
• 5+ plus of experience working with outsourced engineering teams or third‑party data service providers (preferably having the responsibility for managing the third party).
• Demonstrated ability to influence cross‑functional stakeholders and drive adoption of governance and architectural standards.
• Experience in complex, global manufacturing organisations is highly advantageous. 
• IT Skills: Clear understanding of Cloud based technology, preferably Azure, Databricks and best practice data lake methodology.  Expertise in Power BI needed.
• Language Skills: Verbal and written fluency in English.
• Working arrangements: Minimum 3 days per week in the Porto office.
• Traveling required: Occasional international travel to other Elementis sites as required