Data Governance & Delivery Lead

Location: Waltham, MA - Hybrid (3 day/week - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday)

ERGO NEXT’s mission is to help entrepreneurs thrive. We’re doing that by building the only technology-led, full-stack provider of small business insurance in the industry, taking on the entire value chain and transforming the customer experience.

Simply put, wherever you find small businesses, you’ll find ERGO NEXT.

Since 2016, we’ve helped hundreds of thousands of small business customers across the United States get fast, customized and affordable coverage. We’re backed by industry leaders in insurance and tech, and we still have room to grow - that’s where you come in.

We’re looking for a Data Governance & Delivery Lead to join our Data Organization as we bring Data Science, Analytics Engineering, and Data Engineering into a more unified operating model. This newly created IC4 role sits between technical delivery and business stakeholders, helping the data org scale with clearer intake, prioritization, ownership, delivery visibility, and governance.

This is not a project coordinator or Jira administration role. We’re looking for someone with real fluency in how data teams operate, how data pipelines and ownership boundaries work, and how to build trust across technical and business teams without adding unnecessary bureaucracy. The role works directly with the Global VP of Data and partners closely with leaders across Data Engineering, Analytics Engineering, Data Science, Claims, Finance, Actuarial, Product, and Underwriting.

What You’ll Do:

• Design, launch, and run a structured intake and prioritization process across Data Science, Analytics Engineering, and Data Engineering.
• Own the operating model for cross-team sign-off, ownership boundaries, escalation paths, and delivery traceability.
• Partner with technical data leaders to identify dependencies, surface risks, and prevent downstream impact from schema, pipeline, or platform changes.
• Translate business needs from Claims, Finance, Actuarial, Product, Underwriting, and other stakeholders into clear, intake-ready data requests.
• Create visibility into active commitments, blocked work, risks, decisions, and upcoming milestones for the Global VP of Data and executive stakeholders.
• Embed the Data Organization earlier in product, engineering, annual, and quarterly planning cycles so data requirements are understood before they become blockers.

What We Need:

• 7+ years of experience operating in a data-intensive environment, ideally in insurance, fintech, financial services, or another regulated industry.
• Strong working knowledge of Data Engineering, Analytics Engineering, and Data Science functions, including how ownership boundaries and handoffs work in practice.
• Experience owning or building intake, prioritization, governance, delivery, or operating processes across multiple technical teams.
• Ability to understand data pipelines, schema changes, semantic layers, data quality, downstream dependencies, and modern data platform concepts well enough to identify risk and ask the right questions.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to run meetings involving both senior business stakeholders and technical data leaders.
• Proven ability to influence without direct authority, resolve ambiguity, document decisions, and hold teams accountable through process, transparency, and relationships.

Unstoppable Qualities:

• You build structure in ambiguous environments and know how to turn ad hoc coordination into a scalable operating model.
• You bring governance without bureaucracy - enough process to create clarity, not so much that it slows the business down.
• You can translate between technical data teams and business stakeholders, holding ground with both.
• You know when to escalate, when to resolve directly, and how to make risks visible before they become incidents.
• You are comfortable influencing senior technical leaders without needing a formal reporting line.

The range displayed on this job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire base salaries for the position in the location(s) listed. Within the range, individual pay is determined by additional factors, including, without limitation, job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. ERGO NEXT employees are also potentially eligible for our annual performance-based incentive program, in addition to our benefits package, consisting of our partially subsidized medical plan, fully subsidized vision/dental options, life insurance, disability insurance, 401(k), flexible paid time off, parental leave and more.

US annual base salary range for this full-time position: $134,000-$220,000 USD

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that some underrepresented people are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At ERGO NEXT, we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and respectful workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

One of our core values is 'Play as a Team'; this means making sure everyone has an equal chance to participate and make a difference. We win by playing together. ERGO Next Insurance is an equal opportunity employer and prioritizes building a diverse and inclusive workplace. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants of any type and do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, genetic information or characteristic, gender identity and expression, veteran status, or other non-job-related characteristics or other prohibited grounds specified in applicable federal, state, and local laws. ERGO Next's policy is to comply with all applicable laws related to nondiscrimination and equal opportunity and will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.