Data Steward

Overview

The Data Steward is the accountable owner for the trustworthiness and governed use of all data in Esri’s Customer Data Platform (CDP). This role owns the platform’s data model, metadata, identity rules, data quality, and data-usage policy, ensuring that customer and marketing data in CDP is accurately defined, approved before it is ingested, continuously monitored for quality, and used only in accordance with Esri’s data governance, privacy, and access standards.

The Data Steward is a member of a team who ensure the Customer Data Platform can deliver on key business use cases. They partner most closely with the Business Analyst, platform team, and data developers. Within that team, the Data Steward holds approval authority over schemas, new datasets and sources, data-usage labels, and dataset and audience access policy. The role works closely with marketing stakeholders, Enterprise Architecture, and Esri’s privacy function to keep the CDP aligned with the enterprise data model and governed enterprise data priorities.

The goal of our Data Steward is simple: ensure that every data asset in the customer data platform (CDP) - schemas, identities, datasets, audiences, and the definitions behind them - is accountable, understood, trusted, protected, and findable, so the business can activate customer data with confidence.

Responsibilities

Data Model and Metadata

• Own the CDP Data Model schema set, field groups, identity namespaces, and the CDP data dictionary, ensuring every ingested field has an authoritative business definition, owner, and classification
• Maintain business definitions, metadata, data classifications, taxonomies, reference data documentation, and decision logs in CDP and in approved enterprise governance tools
• Document relationships among CDP schemas, source systems, identity graph, profiles, audiences, and downstream destinations, including data lineage and control points
• Approve all schema changes and taxonomy changes and maintain the documentation required to implement them
• Model data within the CDP based on business use cases to deliver key capabilities

Source and Dataset Governance

• Review and approve every new data source and dataset before ingestion into CDP, including its business purpose, attributes, mapping rules, data classification, and intended use
• Define attribute mappings, identity rules, matching criteria, and merge policies, and provide the specifications the Data Developer implements in ingestion pipelines
• Review identity resolution and profile merge results to confirm records resolve correctly and that the identity graph is not over- or under-merging customer profiles

Data Quality and Integrity

• Perform routine data profiling, comparison, validation, and quality review activities to identify missing, incomplete, duplicate, inconsistent, invalid, or improperly classified data in CDP
• Own de-duplication, merge policy, and hierarchy management for customer and account data in CDP
• Investigate data quality issues through root-cause analysis across source systems, ingestion pipelines, and the identity graph; document findings and drive corrective and preventive actions with data owners, the Data Developer, and system owners
• Define data quality rules and acceptance criteria that govern the validation of datasets, schema changes, and audiences before activation
• Publish recurring data quality metrics, exception reports, and stewardship dashboards for CDP

Data Usage, Access, and Privacy

• Apply and enforce CDP data-usage labels and governance policies and classify sensitive and personal data elements
• Serve as the approval authority for which teams, audiences, and destinations may consume which datasets, and define the access model the Application Administrator executes
• Partner with the Privacy team to ensure consent, data-subject rights, retention, and regulatory requirements (such as GDPR and CCPA) are reflected in CDP data handling, and engage privacy review when new sources, new destinations, or changes involving personal data are proposed

Standards, Documentation, and Stakeholder Engagement

• Establish and maintain the CDP data standards, stewardship procedures, intake and approval workflows, job aids, and operating documentation so recurring data activities remain consistent and repeatable
• Review use-case requirements from the CDP Business Analyst to confirm required data exists, is governed, and is approved for the intended use before audience development begins
• Communicate data definitions, quality issues, decisions, and policy changes to marketing stakeholders and technical teams, and onboard business users to CDP data standards
• Identify recurring gaps in data, processes, documentation, and controls and recommend improvements to data owners, Enterprise Architecture, and IST leadership

Requirements

• 3+ years of experience in data stewardship, data governance, master or reference data management, data quality, or a related data-management discipline
• Demonstrated experience maintaining metadata, business definitions, data dictionaries, taxonomies, or data classifications in a governance or data-management tool
• Working knowledge of data modeling concepts, including logical and conceptual data models, entities, attributes, and relationships
• Experience with master data concepts such as matching, merging, survivorship, de-duplication, and hierarchy management
• Ability to use SQL or a comparable query language to profile, compare, and validate data
• Experience performing data profiling and root-cause analysis and translating findings into corrective actions and quality metrics
• Ability to make and defend data governance decisions with business and technical stakeholders, including declining or conditioning requests that do not meet standards
• Strong documentation, communication, and attention-to-detail skills
• Experience with customer data platforms and marketing data
• Incorporate appropriate security and data privacy safeguards into work activities, communications and deliverables to protect sensitive, confidential and regulated information
• Bachelor’s degree in information systems, data management, business, analytics, or a related discipline

Recommended Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with Adobe Experience Platform, including XDM schemas, identity namespaces and the identity graph, Real-Time Customer Profile, merge policies, and data governance labels
• Hands-on experience with Customer Journey Analytics, Marketo, Adobe Journey Optimizer, Adobe Analytics
• Familiarity with Microsoft Purview, Microsoft Fabric, Salesforce, SAP, or master data management platforms such as Profisee
• Working knowledge of data privacy and consent requirements such as GDPR and CCPA as they apply to customer data
• Familiarity with data lineage, process mapping, and enterprise data architecture concepts
• Experience with Power BI or comparable tools for data quality reporting and dashboards

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About Esri

At Esri, diversity is more than just a word on a map. When employees of different experiences, perspectives, backgrounds, and cultures come together, we are more innovative and ultimately a better place to work. We believe in having a diverse workforce that is unified under our mission of creating positive global change. We understand that diversity, equity, and inclusion is not a destination but an ongoing process. We are committed to the continuation of learning, growing, and changing our workplace so every employee can contribute to their life’s best work. Our commitment to these principles extends to the global communities we serve by creating positive change with GIS technology. For more information on Esri’s Racial Equity and Social Justice initiatives, please visit our website here.

If you don’t meet all of the preferred qualifications for this position, we encourage you to still apply!

Esri is an equal opportunity employer (EOE) and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. If you need reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please email askcareers@esri.com and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information. Please note that only those inquiries concerning a request for reasonable accommodation will be responded to from this e-mail address.

Esri Privacy Esri takes our responsibility to protect your privacy seriously. We are committed to respecting your privacy by providing transparency in how we acquire and use your information, giving you control of your information and preferences, and holding ourselves to the highest national and international standards, including CCPA and GDPR compliance.