A major Belgian financial institution is expanding its Data Hub tribe to support a bank-wide BI and data strategy across business lines and functions. As Program Manager Initiative Owner, you will shape a data tooling strategy built around Data Mesh, Data Products, and Self-Service principles, with Data Virtualization, data architecture, and governance as core components.
The mission
The Data Hub delivers transversal BI solutions across front-end and back-end development, while helping establish consistent data governance and a stronger understanding of data across the organisation. The programme will define how data is ingested, processed, stored, governed, exposed, and used for analytics. It will connect existing infrastructure with cloud-based data platforms and support better data quality, security, compliance, and decision-making across the Belgian banking sector.
You will own the initiative from strategy through adoption. Your scope covers the target data architecture, business requirements, data product definition, technology assessment, implementation roadmap, and coordination with business stakeholders, data teams, and technology leaders. You will also guide the rollout of a self-service data platform for business users and connect the initiative to the wider Data Services programme.
Your responsibilities
- Define a data management strategy that aligns Data Mesh, Data Products, Self-Service principles, and business objectives.
- Translate stakeholder needs into useful, governed data products and clear delivery priorities.
- Design the target data architecture across ingestion, processing, storage, analytics, and integration with existing applications.
- Evaluate cloud-based data platforms, data catalogs, data governance tools, data virtualization solutions, and data visualization tools.
- Establish the implementation roadmap with milestones, dependencies, resources, and measurable outcomes.
- Guide data teams through delivery, adoption, training, and governance so that business users can use data independently and responsibly.
Your profile
Essential skills
- Bring at least 5 years of experience in data management, data architecture, or data engineering, including work with Data Mesh, Data Products, and Self-Service principles.
- Apply data governance, data quality, and data security principles to organisation-wide data initiatives.
- Understand how data ingestion, processing, storage, analytics, pipelines, APIs, and visualisation capabilities fit into an integrated architecture.
- Assess cloud-based data platforms and related data catalogs, governance tools, data virtualization solutions, and data visualization tools.
- Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to non-technical stakeholders through presentations and documentation.
- Coordinate cross-functional teams and work effectively as a senior program manager for data management initiatives in a complex organisation.
- Bring an Agile mindset based on pragmatism, knowledge sharing, feedback, and shared team outcomes.
Preferred skills
- Familiarity with DevOps practices and CI/CD pipelines.
- Understanding of data science and machine learning concepts, including data modeling and data mining.
- Practical experience with Scrum.
Languages
- English: sound professional knowledge, CEFR level not specified.
- Dutch: preferred, CEFR level not specified.
- French: preferred, CEFR level not specified.
Education
- Bachelor’s or master’s degree in IT, engineering, or an equivalent level of professional experience.