Director, Master Data Governance

Company Overview

KLA is a global leader in diversified electronics for the semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem. Virtually every electronic device in the world is produced using our technologies. No laptop, smartphone, wearable device, voice-controlled gadget, flexible screen, VR device or smart car would have made it into your hands without us. KLA invents systems and solutions for the manufacturing of wafers and reticles, integrated circuits, packaging, printed circuit boards and flat panel displays.

The innovative ideas and devices that are advancing humanity all begin with inspiration, research and development. KLA focuses more than average on innovation and we invest 15% of sales back into R&D. Our expert teams of physicists, engineers, data scientists and problem-solvers work together with the world's leading technology providers to accelerate the delivery of tomorrow's electronic devices. Life here is exciting and our teams thrive on tackling really hard problems.

There is never a dull moment with us.

Job Description /Preferred Qualifications

Role Summary

We are seeking a Director of Data Governance to establish and scale a modern data governance capability. This is a senior leadership role for a proven data governance practitioner who has operated in a mature governance environment and can pragmatically build governance foundations in an organization with strong functional domain data and opportunities to scale cross functionally.

The Director of Data Governance will design and implement a fit-for-purpose governance framework spanning data strategy alignment, operating model, standards, stewardship, quality, metadata, and master/reference data-without reliance on a pre-existing MDM platform. This leader will work closely with business, IT, analytics, and digital teams to enable trusted, interoperable data that supports compliance, operational excellence, analytics, AI, and digital transformation.

Why This Role

This role offers a rare opportunity to shape the enterprise data foundation of a leading semiconductor capital equipment company at a pivotal stage of its digital and AI journey. The Director of Data Governance will have executive visibility, broad scope, and the mandate to build governance that enables-not hinders-innovation, speed, and scale.

Key Responsibilities

Enterprise Data Governance Strategy & Framework

* Define and implement an enterprise data governance vision aligned to business strategy, regulatory needs, and digital/AI ambitions.

* Design a scalable governance framework covering data domains, ownership, stewardship, policies, standards, controls, and decision rights.

* Establish a pragmatic governance maturity roadmap, balancing speed-to-value with long-term sustainability.

Operating Model & Organizational Enablement

* Define and stand-up the data governance operating model, including roles (data owners, data stewards, custodians), forums, and escalation paths.

* Lead the formation of a cross-functional Data Governance Council and domain-level working groups.

* Drive adoption through clear incentives, lightweight processes, and embedded governance within business workflows.

Cross-Domain Data Alignment

* Enable harmonization and interoperability across key enterprise domains (e.g., customer, supplier, product, asset, manufacturing, service, finance) while respecting strong functional ownership.

* Define master and reference data concepts, ownership, and synchronization approaches in the absence of a formal MDM tool.

* Partner with enterprise architecture and application teams to embed governance into system design and integration patterns.

Data Quality, Metadata & Standards

* Establish data quality management practices, including critical data elements, quality rules, monitoring, and remediation workflows.

* Define enterprise data standards, naming conventions, and semantic alignment to support analytics and AI use cases.

* Lead implementation of metadata management practices (business, technical, and operational metadata), including data lineage and glossary development.

* Develop an assurance process for the Design Basis Information (foundational business and compliance decisions, data and specifications) associated with each critical data element to ensure that our products and processes continue to meet regulatory standards.

Policy, Risk & Compliance

* Develop and maintain data-related policies and standards (e.g., data access, classification, retention, privacy, and usage).

* Partner with Legal, Security, Privacy, and Compliance teams to ensure governance supports regulatory and contractual requirements.

* Support audit readiness and risk mitigation related to data.

Technology Enablement (Tool-Agnostic)

* Define governance requirements for tools supporting metadata, quality, lineage, and master/reference data.

* Evaluate and recommend governance and data management tooling as needed, without assuming immediate MDM deployment.

* Ensure governance is embedded into analytics platforms, ERP, PLM, MES, CRM,…