Data Catalog Manager

Career Guide

A Data Catalog Manager leads the strategy and day to day operations of a company data catalog so people can find, understand, trust, and use data safely. The role connects business teams, data owners, and technical teams to improve data discovery, data quality visibility, and responsible access.

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Key Responsibilities

Own the data catalog roadmap and prioritize improvements based on user needs
Define standards for data descriptions, naming, tags, and ownership
Coordinate data onboarding so important datasets are documented and searchable
Partner with data governance teams to align policies and controls
Work with security and privacy teams to ensure access rules are reflected in the catalog
Set up workflows for stewardship, reviews, and approvals
Improve data trust by tracking data quality indicators and known issues
Create training and guidance so teams adopt the catalog in daily work
Monitor usage metrics and gather feedback to increase adoption
Manage vendor relationships and tool configuration for the catalog platform

Top Skills for Success

Stakeholder Management

Program Management

Change Management

Communication

Process Design

Data Governance

Data Stewardship

Metadata Management

Data Catalog Strategy

Data Lineage

Data Quality Management

Access Control Concepts

Career Progression

Can Lead To

Senior Data Catalog Manager

Data Governance Manager

Data Product Manager

Data Platform Manager

Head of Data Governance

Transition Opportunities

Data Strategy Lead

Analytics Enablement Lead

Enterprise Data Management Lead

Responsible AI Program Manager

Common Skill Gaps

Often Missing Skills

Metadata StandardsData LineageData Quality MetricsWorkflow DesignData Privacy BasicsAccess Control BasicsTool ConfigurationAdoption Measurement

Development SuggestionsStart by owning a small catalog rollout for one domain, define a minimum documentation standard, and measure adoption with clear metrics. Pair with security and privacy partners to learn access concepts, and work with a platform team to practice configuring catalog workflows and integrations.

Market Intelligence Report

Data Catalog Manager is part of the Data Governance category.Explore our market intelligence report to see how AI and hiring demand are shifting for these roles.

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Salary & Demand

Median Salary Range

Entry LevelUnited States: 90000 to 120000 USD

Mid LevelUnited States: 120000 to 155000 USD

Senior LevelUnited States: 155000 to 210000 USD

Growth Trend

Growing steadily as companies expand analytics and AI efforts and need clearer data ownership, better documentation, and stronger controls.

Companies Hiring

Major Employers

MicrosoftGoogleAmazonIBMSalesforceAccentureDeloitteJPMorgan ChaseWells FargoUnitedHealth GroupWalmartPfizer

Industry Sectors

TechnologyFinancial ServicesHealthcareRetailManufacturingTelecommunicationsGovernmentConsulting

Recommended Next Steps

Review common data catalog tools and document the strengths of each for your environment

Create a one page standard for dataset descriptions, owners, and freshness expectations

Run a pilot to catalog a high value set of datasets and capture user feedback

Set up a simple stewardship workflow for reviews and approvals

Define three adoption metrics and report them monthly

Build a training guide that shows how to find data, request access, and interpret definitions

Partner with a data quality owner to surface quality signals in the catalog

Collect a list of top search terms and improve tags and descriptions to match them