Lead Data Governance Manager

Job Description

Lead Data Governance Manager

• Lead the hands‑on implementation and operation of enterprise‑wide data governance, controls and assurance within a regulated environment.

• Be the SME on data ownership and controls across strategic data domains, providing insights, guidance and expertise to senior business data owners and delivery teams.

• Hybrid role, with up to 80% from home and the rest from our Head Office in Stratford upon Avon.

About the role

As Lead Data Governance Manager, you will be accountable for implementing, embedding and running data governance, controls and assurance across several strategic data domains (e.g. Customer, Claims, Finance).

This is a delivery-first leadership role, in which you will lead the practical delivery, operation and continuous improvement of data governance, controls and assurance across several strategic data domains. You will take accountability for translating NFU Mutual’s Data Governance Framework, target control environment and regulatory expectations into working domain‑level governance that is actively embedded, used and maintained.

You will work alongside senior business data owners to deliver analytics and AI ready data for the domains you lead, providing them with the tools and insight to assess the maturity of their domain and identify, prioritise and deliver data improvements. This includes establishing clear data ownership and stewardship in practice, ensuring responsibilities are fully understood and discharged.

Acting as the anchor point for data governance and control improvements for your domains, you will also lead resolution activity working closely with business, change, architecture and delivery teams to assess impact, coordinate corrective action and ensure appropriate controls are implemented into systems and processes by design.

Alongside this, you will contribute to the development and maintenance of effective data governance processes, standards and artefacts, and will lead and develop a specialist team, ensuring governance and assurance activities are consistently executed and that NFU Mutual’s data is demonstrably controlled.

This role is known internally as Lead Data Domain Manager

About you

You bring pragmatism, structure and momentum – you are able to balance strong control with effective business enablement.

You are someone who has delivered data governance, controls or assurance end‑to‑end.

You are comfortable being responsible for outcomes, evidence and assurance and are confident operating where governance must stand up to regulatory and audit scrutiny.

To be successful, you will have demonstrable experience:

• Implementing and embedding data governance, ownership and stewardship models within complex organisations


• Operating data control environments and managing data risk in regulated industries


• Delivering data assurance activities, including audit readiness, evidence production and issue remediation


• Working directly with Executive Data Owners and senior leaders to drive accountability and governance decisions


• Chairing governance forums and ensuring actions are delivered and tracked to completion


• Leading teams responsible for day‑to‑day domain governance, controls or assurance delivery

You will also bring hands‑on experience in one or more of the following areas:

• Data Governance & Stewardship implementation


• Data Risk, Controls and Assurance delivery


• Data Quality Management in practice


• Metadata, Lineage and Data Classification operations


• Data Management within regulated environments

Experience within insurance or financial services is highly desirable.

At NFU Mutual, we support an inclusive workplace and value all the differences that make us unique. We celebrate the creativity and innovation that comes from diverse perspectives and experiences and share a common vision of doing the right thing for our customers and employees.

We recognise that some candidates may experience barriers during the recruitment process. So, we encourage candidates to discuss any adjustments or accommodations they need to be the best they can be throughout our recruitment process.

We're proud to be a Disability Confident Employer, a Race at Work and Women in Finance Charter signatory and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, regardless of age, ethnicity, disability, neurodiversity, gender, religion, marital status, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic background.

Benefits and Rewards

When you join our team, you can expect a supportive culture and an attractive range of rewards and benefits including:

• Salary – up to £90.000 dependent on experience


• Annual bonus (up to 25% of salary)


• Contributory pension scheme, up to 20%, including your 8% contribution


• 28 days annual leave + bank holidays + buy/sell/save holiday trading scheme


• A Family Friendly policy that helps you balance your work and family responsibilities


• Private medical insurance + options to add family members


• Access to savings at High Street brands, travel and supermarkets


• £20 contribution to a monthly gym membership – subject to T&Cs


• Health and wellbeing plan - cashback for dentist, opticians, physio and more


• Employee Volunteering - volunteer in the community for one day each year


• Unlimited access to Refer a Friend £500 bonus scheme


• Life Assurance cover of 4 x salary


• Employee discounts of 15% on a range of NFU Mutual insurance policies.


• Salary sacrifice employee car scheme - subject to eligibility

Working at NFU Mutual

We’re one of the UK’s leading general insurance and financial services organisations, and for over 110 years we’ve put our customers at the heart of everything we do. Our people are just as important to us, so we’re proud to be recognised as “a great place to work”.

Our Gallup Exceptional Workplace 2025 award was not only awarded with Distinction, but it also marked us as the first UK based company to earn a Gallup Exceptional Workplace award for ten consecutive years. We’ve also been consistently recognised by Glassdoor. We appeared in the Glassdoor Best Places to Work UK list in 2023, 2024 and 2026 — and in 2026, we were the highest ranked insurance business in the UK, highlighting our strong employee experience and the positive feedback our people share on the platform.

Additionally, we were named in the LinkedIn Top 15 Companies 2025 list of “Best midsize employers to grow your career in the UK”, and we’ve been certified as a UK Top Employer by the Top Employers Institute in 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026.

We offer a supportive and empowering culture where people are inspired to perform, given opportunities to grow, and recognised and rewarded for their contribution. Our people are proud to work for a company that respects them and their communities, and they trust us to be financially sustainable—so we’re successful now and in the future.