Water Business Group Data Steward

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This role shapes how our data is defined, used, and reused across our Water Business Group and HDR.

We're looking for a Water (BG) Data Steward to help bring clarity and consistency to how data is defined, shared, and used across all Water disciplines and their embodied service lines within Water for HDR. This is a leadership role, not an IT or compliance position, and it plays a key part in enabling better business decisions, data reuse, and project delivery excellence.

This role is not expected to be the subject matter expert across all Water disciplines. Instead, the Water Data Steward defines how data practices are established, aligned, and sustained across the Water Business Group by coordinating and enabling subject matter experts and technical authorities within each domain. This role is ideal for technical leaders who are able to shape "how work gets done" and extend that influence on how data supports our business. This role exists to empower our teams to define data once, understand it the same way, and reuse it confidently across projects, teams, and time.

Why This Role Matters

Across the company, we all rely on data to plan work, deliver projects, answer questions, and make decisions. But when data is defined differently from team to team, project to project, or region to region, it becomes harder to trust, harder to reuse, and harder to scale. People spend time reconciling definitions, rebuilding datasets, or explaining what something really means instead of using the data to drive decisions that move work forward.

Water Data Stewardship helps fix this at the source.

By clearly defining how our data aligns to proper business terminology, and by creating shared understanding of data for our delivery teams, this role will support turning our data into solutions that our Water BG and employees can confidently use, reuse, and build upon. It reduces confusion, prevents rework, and makes it easier for teams to answer questions to deliver their work without needing to start from scratch every time.

For project teams, this will result in less time cleaning up data and more time delivering. For technical staff, it means clearer expectations and fewer one off requests. For leaders, it means faster, more consistent answers and greater confidence in the insights they rely on. For HDR, it means enterprise & project data that is ready to support analytics, automation, and AI in a way that reflects how we work.

This role is about making data simpler, more useful, and more connected to the way we do business, today and in the future.

What You'll Do

• Establish and coordinate a network of SME expertise across the Water Business Group to define technical standards, while ensuring alignment to Water data practices and enterprise expectations

• Develop and maintain business-aligned data definitions for key engineering and technical terms that support structured data models, reporting, automation, and AI use cases.

• Use your technical network to build alignment and consensus around data processes, priority, and expected use.

• Promote consistent, responsible use of technical data, including access, data quality, best practice for format, and reuse.

• Support governance of externally sourced datasets (access, approvals, inventory awareness, storage, and lifecycle considerations)

• Promote data fluency across the Water Business Group

• Coordinate with the Technology Director to align data workflows and initiatives to Water BG Strategy

• Lead change management efforts to drive adoption of data standards, practices, and tools across the Water BG

• Regularly communicate and collaborate with other Data Stewards, Enterprise Data Science Teams, and Enterprise Data Operations staff.

• Ensure new tools identified for implementation within the Water BG are aligned to data strategy.

What This Role Is

• Embedded in the Water Business Group (not an IT role)

• Enablement-focused and collaborative

• Part of technology leadership, focused on supporting effective project delivery.

• Connected to a broader Data Steward network

• Focused on defining and enabling use of Water and service line data.

• People Who Would be a Great Fit

• Understand how data is delivered, defined and used in the Water industry and on projects.

• Trusted by peers and leaders.

• Can translate complex practices into clear, usable guidance.

• Are comfortable making decisions and driving consensus?

• Have strong data fluency (and curiosity to keep learning)

• Bring a solid technical network you can tap for feedback and alignment.

• Demonstrate credibility in data, technology, and delivery practices and can influence teams through clarity, consistency, and outcomes.

• Able to clearly communicate the importance of data integrity at all levels of the organization.

• This role is not intended for early-career staff or as a learning assignment, but for established leaders with influence and credibility.

What Success Looks Like

• This role establishes repeatable data practices by defining how data is captured, structured, governed, and reused across systems, workflows, and delivery teams. Success depends on driving adoption and aligning people, process, and technology rather than owning technical definitions in isolation.

• Maintained Water service line data glossary that people use.

• BGs have a well-known, go-to steward who can train staff and answer data questions.

• Data definitions and classifications translate into data models and AI tools that are reliable and structured enough to answer the questions leaders and teams care about

• Teams have the tools available to them to effectively leverage data for their project delivery and pursuits.

• Teams proactively reference shared definitions instead of creating local terminology.

Example of Water Data Steward Work and Potential Outcomes

In the Water, the facilities program of Business Classes (WWT&EM, Water Treatment, Pump Stations and Pipelines, and Fisheries) have standardized a data catalog for classifying facilities design according to data tags such as facility type, size, geographic location, main process areas, and other attributes that allow consistent use and data analyses for all facilities designed by the WBG.

Using data organized and validated is such a way, valuable insights can be gained in the cost of production for a facility of a certain type, size, and influences by geography. Questions can also be answered about the number of installations of a certain type, most used process configurations, and even most commonly used sub-assets, for example.

As a result, leaders and teams no longer rely on custom reports or manual interpretation to understand asset characteristics across our portfolio of designs. This approach enables consistent answers, supports better planning and investment decisions, and ensures data can be reused confidently in analytics, automation, and AI tools without repeated rework.

Reporting Structure

This role is reporting to Water Technology Director who act as the Water Data Owners.

Preferred Qualifications

• Ten years of strategic leadership experience focused on growing, developing and leading teams in change management and working with data.

• Fifteen years of overall experience providing diverse data centric solutions and services to an organization and the industry.

What We Believe
HDR is our company. Together, we build on each other's life experiences and perspectives to make great things possible every day. This shapes our collaborative culture, encourages organizational trust and connects us closer to the clients and communities we serve.

Our Commitment
As employee owners, we all have a role in creating an inclusive environment where each of us is welcomed, valued, respected and empowered to bring our authentic selves to work every day.

Our eight Employee Network Groups (Asian Pacific, Black, Hispanic/Latino(a), LGBTQ+, People with Disabilities, Veterans, Women, Young Professionals) help create a sense of belonging and foster a supportive environment where everyone is empowered to engage and contribute. Each group has an executive sponsor and is open to all employees.