Kafka Data Governance Contractor

Data Governance Contractor - Streaming Schema Governance
London | Outside IR35

This is an opportunity to play a key role in a major data transformation programme focused on establishing and embedding Kafka schema governance at scale. You will help shape governance frameworks, drive stakeholder alignment, and ensure robust controls are implemented across a complex streaming data environment.

The Company

A leading financial services organisation currently building and scaling its enterprise event-streaming capability. As part of a major data transformation programme, the business is implementing Kafka schema governance from the ground up, creating the standards, controls and operating processes needed to support a large-scale Kafka estate of over 300 topics within a regulated environment.

The Role and Deliverables

• Establish and operate a Kafka schema governance framework covering schema quality, nullability, and lifecycle management.
• Facilitate agreement and ratification of schema governance rules, topic taxonomies, and operating standards.
• Define governance processes, including schema review gates, change control, exception management, and ownership models.
• Support onboarding and adoption of the governance framework through stakeholder engagement and guidance.
• Lead assessment and remediation activities across an existing Kafka estate, including schema compliance reviews and prioritisation of issues.
• Drive schema version governance, deprecation processes, and consumer migration activities through to completion.

Your Skills & Experience

• Strong experience delivering data governance or cloud governance programmes.
• Must-have experience with Kafka, including schema governance, schema registry, and data contract concepts.
• Experience working with Confluent Kafka, Avro, or comparable schema management technologies.
• Ability to translate governance, regulatory, or policy requirements into technical controls and operating frameworks.
• Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence governance, architecture, engineering, and business teams.
• Experience producing governance documentation, process design, and audit-ready evidence.

How to Apply

If you have strong Kafka and Data Governance experience and are interested in a high-impact contract opportunity, please apply with your latest CV.