Metadata / Data Cataloging Senior Analyst

About the role

The Metadata / Data Cataloging Lead (Managing Consultant) leads and executes enterprise metadata baselining and catalog operationalization, with deep hands-on responsibility for configuring and using data catalog platforms to deliver measurable improvements in data discoverability, metadata quality, governance workflows, lineage, and semantic search.

Responsibilities

• Lead structured metadata intake, normalization, and enterprise baselining
• Lead and perform in-person/virtual interviews and working sessions with system owners, data stewards, custodians, and SMEs to capture and normalize technical, business, operational, and security metadata into catalog-ready records.
• Own completeness and consistency checks; drive discrepancy resolution and steward validation cycles; ensure records are ready for ingestion and ongoing maintenance.
• Configure and operationalize catalog capabilities
• Define and operationalize metadata quality controls (required attributes, validation rules, refresh cadence, auditability) and establish an evidence trail for governance reporting.
• Partner with engineering teams to implement integration patterns (connectors/APIs) sufficient to support ingestion/harvesting, lineage capture, and role-based access constructs.
• Semantic search enablement
• Lead and execute semantic search enablement across the catalog by implementing and curating: taxonomy/ontology alignment, business glossary harmonization, synonym mapping, and semantic tagging protocols, search relevance improvements via metadata enrichment and curated relationships (e.g., knowledge-graph style linking).
• Measurement of search quality (precision/recall proxies, click-through, “time-to-find,” zero-result queries, adoption metrics)
• Support evaluation and demonstration of semantic search and discovery maturity (natural language queries, faceted discovery, ranking relevance, and cross-domain linking) as required by client objectives.
• Lead AoA / tool evaluation and selection
• Lead structured evaluations of catalog solutions (discovery, glossary, lineage, workflow, UX, APIs, security/access, vendor support), including demo scripting, evidence capture, gap analysis, and comparative scoring inputs.
• Produce decision-quality artifacts (evidence logs, comparison matrices, tradeoff synthesis, recommendation inputs) and facilitate stakeholder workshops to converge on priorities.
• Governance pilots, lifecycle workflows, and federated readiness
• Lead governance and lifecycle pilots: federated stewardship readiness (role clarity, escalation, audit traceability) and data product lifecycle workflows (publish/discover/change control/versioning/SLA/deprecate).
• Support catalog population sequencing and lineage validation approaches that demonstrate traceability and refresh cadence across systems/data products.
• Delivery leadership and stakeholder management
• Own workplan execution for the metadata/catalog workstream, including milestone management, RAID tracking, and stakeholder coordination; coach junior analysts on intake standards and catalog hygiene.
• Prepare and deliver crisp status reporting and executive-ready readouts focused on outcomes (coverage, quality, adoption, time-to-discover, and backlog reduction).

Requirements

• US Citizenship required
• Must be able to OBTAIN and MAINTAIN a Federal or DoD “PUBLIC TRUST”.
• Candidates with an ACTIVE SECRET CLEARANCE OR PUBLIC TRUST or suitability are preferred.
• 8+ years of experience in data governance, metadata management, and/or enterprise data cataloging in complex environments (federal/regulated preferred).
• Bachelor’s degree obtained.
• Ability to meet the project’s client security and access requirements.
• Demonstrated, hands-on experience delivering enterprise metadata baselines and operationalizing catalog workflows (intake, normalization, validation, publishing and stewardship sustainment).
• Hands-on proficiency with one or more leading catalog/metadata platforms (e.g., Collibra, Alation, Microsoft Purview, Informatica Axon/EDC), including configuration of workflows / templates and support for integration/harvesting concepts.
• Working knowledge of metadata standards and structuring approaches (e.g., ISO/IEC 11179, DCAT-US) and practical application of schema categories (technical, business, operational, security).
• Demonstrated experience implementing or enabling semantic search / enhanced discovery in a catalog context (semantic tagging, glossary alignment, taxonomy/ontology, synonym management, and measurable relevance improvements).
• Working proficiency with SQL and comfort with APIs/integration patterns sufficient to partner with engineering and interpret technical artifacts.
• Tool certification/training (required): Vendor-provided certification or formal training credential in at least one enterprise data catalog product. Collibra / Alation / Purview / Informatica or comparable), with ability to demonstrate applied use in delivery.
• Strong client-facing communication skills: ability to lead interviews/workshops, resolve definition disputes, and translate technical metadata into business-consumable forms.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in data governance, metadata management, and/or enterprise data cataloging in complex environments (federal/regulated preferred).
• Bachelor’s degree obtained.
• Ability to meet the project’s client security and access requirements.
• Demonstrated, hands-on experience delivering enterprise metadata baselines and operationalizing catalog workflows (intake, normalization, validation, publishing and stewardship sustainment).
• Hands-on proficiency with one or more leading catalog/metadata platforms (e.g., Collibra, Alation, Microsoft Purview, Informatica Axon/EDC), including configuration of workflows / templates and support for integration/harvesting concepts.
• Working knowledge of metadata standards and structuring approaches (e.g., ISO/IEC 11179, DCAT-US) and practical application of schema categories (technical, business, operational, security).
• Demonstrated experience implementing or enabling semantic search / enhanced discovery in a catalog context (semantic tagging, glossary alignment, taxonomy/ontology, synonym management, and measurable relevance improvements).
• Working proficiency with SQL and comfort with APIs/integration patterns sufficient to partner with engineering and interpret technical artifacts.
• Tool certification/training (required): Vendor-provided certification or formal training credential in at least one enterprise data catalog product. Collibra / Alation / Purview / Informatica or comparable), with ability to demonstrate applied use in delivery.
• Strong client-facing communication skills: ability to lead interviews/workshops, resolve definition disputes, and translate technical metadata into business-consumable forms.

Skills

• Structured metadata intake, normalization, and enterprise baselining
• Enterprise metadata catalog operationalization
• Configuring and using data catalog platforms
• Implementing semantic search and enhanced discovery
• Leading evaluations and demonstrations of catalog solutions
• Leading governance and lifecycle pilots
• Collaborating with engineering teams for integration patterns
• Leading interviews and working sessions with system owners, data stewards, custodians, and SMEs
• Ensuring completeness and consistency checks
• Driving discrepancy resolution and steward validation cycles
• Ensuring records are ready for ingestion and ongoing maintenance
• Defining and operationalizing metadata quality controls
• Partnership with engineering teams for implementation of integration patterns
• Implementing semantic search and enhanced discovery
• Leading evaluations and demonstrations of catalog solutions
• Leading governance and lifecycle pilots
• Collaborating with engineering teams for integration patterns
• Leading interviews and working sessions with system owners, data stewards, custodians, and SMEs
• Ensuring completeness and consistency checks
• Driving discrepancy resolution and steward validation cycles
• Ensuring records are ready for ingestion and ongoing maintenance
• Defining and operationalizing metadata quality controls
• Partnership with engineering teams for implementation of integration patterns
• Implementing semantic search and enhanced discovery
• Leading evaluations and demonstrations of catalog solutions
• Leading governance and lifecycle pilots
• Collaborating with engineering teams for integration patterns
• Leading interviews and working sessions with system owners, data stewards, custodians, and SMEs
• Ensuring completeness and consistency checks
• Driving discrepancy resolution and steward validation cycles
• Ensuring records are ready for ingestion and ongoing maintenance
• Defining and operationalizing metadata quality controls
• Partnership with engineering teams for implementation of integration patterns
• Implementing semantic search and enhanced discovery
• Leading evaluations and demonstrations of catalog solutions
• Leading governance and lifecycle pilots
• Collaborating with engineering teams for integration patterns
• Leading interviews and working sessions with system owners, data stewards, custodians, and SMEs
• Ensuring completeness and consistency checks
• Driving discrepancy resolution and steward validation cycles
• Ensuring records are ready for ingestion and ongoing maintenance
• Defining and operationalizing metadata quality controls
• Partnership with engineering teams for implementation of integration patterns
• Implementing semantic search and enhanced discovery
• Leading evaluations and demonstrations of catalog solutions
• Leading governance and lifecycle pilots
• Collaborating with engineering teams for integration patterns
• Leading interviews and working sessions with system owners, data stewards, custodians, and SMEs
• Ensuring completeness and consistency checks
• Driving discrepancy resolution and steward validation cycles
• Ensuring records are ready for ingestion and ongoing maintenance
• Defining and operationalizing metadata quality controls
• Partnership with engineering teams for implementation of integration patterns
• Implementing semantic search and enhanced discovery
• Leading evaluations and demonstrations of catalog solutions
• Leading governance and lifecycle pilots
• Collaborating with engineering teams for integration patterns
• Leading interviews and working sessions with system owners, data stewards, custodians, and SMEs
• Ensuring completeness and consistency checks
• Driving discrepancy resolution and steward validation cycles
• Ensuring records are ready for ingestion and ongoing maintenance
• Defining and operationalizing metadata quality controls
• Partnership with engineering teams for implementation of integration patterns
• Implementing semantic search and enhanced discovery
• Leading evaluations and demonstrations of catalog solutions
• Leading governance and lifecycle pilots
• Collaborating with engineering teams for integration patterns
• Leading interviews and working sessions with system owners, data stewards, custodians, and SMEs
• Ensuring completeness and consistency checks
• Driving discrepancy resolution and steward validation cycles
• Ensuring records are ready for ingestion and ongoing maintenance
• Defining and operationalizing metadata quality controls
• Partnership with engineering teams for implementation of integration patterns
• Implementing semantic search and enhanced discovery
• Leading evaluations and demonstrations of catalog solutions
• Leading governance and lifecycle pilots
• Collaborating with engineering teams for integration patterns
• Leading interviews and working sessions with system owners, data stewards, custodians, and SMEs
• Ensuring completeness and consistency checks
• Driving discrepancy resolution and steward validation cycles
• Ensuring records are ready for ingestion and ongoing maintenance
• Defining and operationalizing metadata quality controls
• Partnership with engineering teams for implementation of integration patterns
• Implementing semantic search and enhanced discovery