Data Governance Specialist

Role: Data Governance Specialist Location: Dubai Working Arrangement: Office Based Salary: Competitive tax-free salary, relocation package, and comprehensive healthcare coverYou've spent years making sure sensitive data is classified correctly, stored in the right jurisdiction, accessed by the right people and retained for exactly as long as it should be. You understand that in a sovereign, safety critical environment, data governance isn't a policy document. It has to be technically enforced.We're building a certification grade aerospace programme in Dubai. Greenfield. The data environment is being built now, and you'll have the opportunity to establish governance properly from the beginning rather than inheriting years of bad habits and trying to untangle them.Your role: implement and enforce the programme's data classification framework across all systems. Own data residency and sovereignty controls. Define and implement retention policies. Support EDMS governance. Prevent inappropriate cross border data movement. Conduct governance audits, drive remediation and make sure the people working with programme data understand exactly what is required of them.You'll work across Engineering, IT, Security and Quality, reporting to the Manager, Data, Analytics & AI.First 90 days:You'll implement the data classification framework across the programme's primary systems, including automated classification wherever possible. You'll verify that programme data is held within the correct sovereign jurisdiction and that appropriate access and cross-border movement controls are operating effectively.You'll establish retention policies across all major data categories, implement them within the EDMS and file storage environment, complete the first data governance audit and establish the remediation plan. You'll also deliver data governance training across the initial team with completion tracking in place.By month 12:100% of programme data classified. Zero data residency violations. Retention policies implemented and automated across all major data categories. Governance findings remediated within 30 days. Data governance training completed across the organisation.What we're looking for:You have 8+ years' experience in data governance, information management or data compliance, including at least 3 years working within defence, aerospace or another sovereign data environment.You've personally implemented data classification frameworks at organisational level and understand how to enforce and audit them. You have practical experience implementing data residency and sovereignty controls, retention management with automated enforcement and engineering document management systems.You understand the consequences of getting data sovereignty wrong. You're rigorous without creating unnecessary friction and can work effectively across engineering, IT and security teams.Experience with certification grade data handling, automated classification tooling and cross border transfer controls is highly desirable.PackageBased in Dubai, full time and office based. Competitive tax free salary, relocation package and comprehensive healthcare cover.If you've implemented data governance in a sovereign or highly regulated environment and want to build the framework for a greenfield aerospace programme from the ground up, get in touch.