Principal Data Governance

DigiKey is one of the fastest growing distributors of electronic components in the addition to offering the broadest selection of in-stock electronic components and providing the best service possible to customers employees have access to a highly competitive benefits package. To learn more visit our benefits and perks page .

Position Overview :

The Principal Data Governance owns and advances the enterprise data governance program that underpins analytics and AI across the company. This role coaches Data Domain Owners and Business / IT Data Stewards establishes policies and standards and drives a multi-year roadmap that enables high-quality secure compliant and responsibly governed data and AI outcomes.

This role is based in Thief River Falls MN or Bloomington MN and follows the company hybrid policy (in-office Mondays and Wednesdays).

Responsibilities :

Enterprise Data & AI Governance (50%)

Define implement and continuously improve the enterprise data governance framework spanning data quality metadata lineage classification and access controls to support analytics and AI use cases.

Establish and maintain policies / standards for data lifecycle management (ingest curate publish) including golden records master / reference data and authoritative systems of record.

Partner with security privacy and legal to enforce data privacy and regulatory compliance (e.g. GDPR / CCPA) and data retention / archiving policies in analytics and AI contexts.

Responsible AI & Model Governance (20%)

Create guardrails for AI / ML development and use : model documentation (model cards) data provenance fairness / bias testing human-in-the-loop controls explainability and performance monitoring.

Define approval workflows and risk tiers for AI solutions (predictive models GenAI copilots) including change management and periodic reviews.

Coordinate with MLOps / Platform teams to ensure governed feature stores reproducibility versioning and incident response for models in production.

Data Quality & Stewardship (15%)

Stand up stewardship operating model : stewardship councils data domains ownership and accountability (RACI) and change control for definitions and metrics.

Define and track data quality SLAs / SLOs critical data elements (CDEs) and remediation playbooks; publish scorecards and business-ready documentation (data dictionary business glossary).

Transformation & Enablement (15%)

Coach cross-functional teams delivering data-driven transformation (CRM / Sales Supply Chain Finance Digital) to embed governance-by-design rather than as a retrofit.

Lead communities of practice and training programs for data literacy and AI safety; scale adoption of catalog / lineage quality monitoring and access workflows.

Define integration test strategies and entry / exit criteria for data across platforms during migrations and modernizations without anchoring to a single program.

Required Qualifications

Bachelors degree in Information Management Computer Science or related field (Masters preferred).

10 years in data governance / MDM with proven leadership; experience partnering with enterprise architecture data engineering and analytics / AI teams.

Hands-on knowledge of governance tooling (e.g. data catalog / lineage quality monitoring metadata / MDM) and modern data platforms (cloud data lakes / warehouses).

Demonstrated understanding of AI / ML lifecycle and risks including model risk management bias privacy and security.

Excellent communication facilitation and stakeholder management across business and technology functions including C-Suite audience

Preferred

Experience implementing responsible AI frameworks and establishing model governance boards.

Certifications (e.g. DAMA CDMP CIPP or cloud certifications).

Success Measures / KPIs

Coverage of governed domains and critical data elements; % with defined owners / stewards.

Data quality improvements against baselines; DQ incidents MTTR and SLA attainment.

AI / ML governance adoption : % models with model cards bias tests and monitoring in place.

Cycle-time reduction for compliant data access and re-use; catalog / lineage adoption metrics.

Physical Requirements :

Work is primarily performed at a desk and / or in an office environment for 3 / 4 of the day and up

The office noise level in the work environment is typically moderate

Generally spend the workday sitting at a workstation and operating computer devices such as but not limited to keyboard mouse and screen

Generally spend the workday performing repetitive motions that involve or affect the hands head and other parts of your body

Compensation :

The base pay range for this position is :

$122000

to

$167000

Many factors influence the determination of base pay within a range including the candidates work experience in related roles; the candidates knowledge skills capabilities and performance; the relative pay of other DigiKey employees in similar roles; and the budget available for the position.

Must be authorized to work in the U.S. without the need for employment-based immigration sponsorship now or in the future. The employer does not offer immigration sponsorship for this opportunity.

DigiKey Electronics is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We encourage all qualified candidates including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities and to apply and be considered for open positions.

If you are an applicant with a disability and need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process please contact Human Resources at 1- or .

Know Your Rights : Workplace Discrimination is Illegal

Required Experience :

Staff IC

Key Skills

Business Development,Classroom Experience,Dayforce,Go,Cloud Computing,AWS,Teaching,Administrative Experience,Leadership Experience,negotiation,SAS,Data Analysis Skills

Employment Type : Full-Time

Experience : years

Vacancy : 1

Monthly Salary Salary : 122000 - 167000