Enterprise Data Specialist

Mayer Brown is an international law firm positioned to represent the world’s major corporations, funds, and financial institutions in their most important and complex transactions and disputes. We are recognized by our clients as strategic partners with deep commercial instincts and a commitment to creatively anticipating their needs and delivering excellence in everything we do.

We are a collegial, collaborative firm where highly motivated individuals with an unwavering commitment to excellence receive the opportunity, support, and development they need to grow, thrive, and realize their greatest potential all while supporting the Firm’s client service principles of excellence, strategic partnership, commercial instinct, integrated strengths, innovation, and collaboration across our international firm.

If you enjoy working with team members whose defining characteristics are exceptional client service, initiative, professionalism, responsiveness, and adaptability, you may be the person we are seeking to join our Information Technology department in our Chicago office, as an Enterprise Data Specialist.

The Enterprise Data Specialist is a pivotal member of Mayer Brown’s Data and Analytics team, responsible for analyzing, documenting, and supporting improvements to enterprise data assets, workflows, and reporting frameworks. This role combines data and technical analysis, requiring expertise in data management principles, workflow mapping, and data quality management to support our enterprise data program.  The specialist will help establish documentation and processes critical to our data platform and analytics capabilities.

Working closely with application leads, data stewards, IT teams, and business stakeholders, the Enterprise Data Specialist ensures data is accurately captured, structured, and maintained to support taxonomy, data modeling, and analytics requirements.  This position plays a key role in process documentation, functional requirements gathering, and data workflow optimization, ensuring that Mayer Brown’s data practices align with industry standards, regulatory requirements, and the firm’s long-term strategic objectives.

Essential Functions:

Enterprise Data Documentation & Requirements:

• Through cross-functional collaboration, lead creation and maintenance of enterprise data dictionaries with data definitions, sensitivity classifications, lineage, and calculation methodologies
• Align data dictionaries with enterprise taxonomy and data model standards
• Collaborate with application owners, IT teams, and business users to understand and document data flows, dependencies, and system interactions across the enterprise

Data Requirements Analysis:

• Collaborate with business leaders, data stewards, and IT teams to convert business requirements into structured, actionable technical specifications for data initiatives
• Perform gap analyses to compare the current data landscape against future-state requirements, identifying opportunities for standardization and optimization
• Collaborate with data architects and IT teams to ensure proposed solutions align with Mayer Brown’s data platforms, architecture, and system integration standards
  
  

 Taxonomy:

• Develop and maintain a firm-wide taxonomy to standardize the classification and organization of key data objects, including clients, matters, financials, people, and practice areas
• Ensure taxonomy aligns with business requirements, regulatory frameworks, and reporting structures, supporting enterprise-wide data consistency and legal industry best practices
• Continuously refine, expand, and update the taxonomy to accommodate evolving business needs, new reporting requirements, and regulatory or compliance changes
• Partner with business teams, knowledge management, information governance and practice groups to ensure taxonomy supports document classification, case management, conflicts resolutions, and financial tracking requirements
• Maintain alignment between taxonomy, data models, and business applications, ensuring consistency in data structure, classification, and accessibility across systems
• Collaborate with IT teams to implement taxonomy across databases, applications, and reporting platforms, enhancing data integration and discoverability

Data Quality:

• Establish enterprise-wide data quality metrics, validation rules, and monitoring frameworks to ensure data accuracy, completeness, consistency, and timeliness across key systems
• Conduct automated and proactive data audits and profiling to identify inconsistencies, duplication, missing values, and errors before they impact reporting and compliance
• Collaborate with data stewards and subject matter experts across practice areas to identify, analyze, track, and resolve data quality issues through structured remediation efforts
• Lead data quality improvement initiatives, including the development of automated validation rules, anomaly detection models, and error resolution workflows
• Develop future state workflow recommendations that enhance data reliability and accessibility
• Generate quarterly executive data quality reports, outlining key issues, remediation efforts, governance milestones, and quality metrics, providing transparency into firm-wide data health

Change Management:

• Act as a liaison between IT, business teams, and data governance stakeholders, ensuring alignment across data-driven initiatives and platform implementations
• Maintain and update centralized documentation repositories, ensuring that data definitions, governance policies, and reporting standards remain accurate, accessible, and version controlled
• Establish a feedback loop with business units, regularly gathering input to improve documentation, enhance reporting capabilities, and refine data-driven decision-making processes

Education/Training/Certifications:

• Required: Bachelor’s degree in Information Management, Data Analytics, Business Administration, Computer Science, or a related discipline
• Preferred: Master’s degree in Information Management, Data Analytics, Business Administration, Computer Science, or a related discipline
• Industry-recognized certifications (preferred)
  • Certified Data Management Professional (CDMP) – DAMA International
  • Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP) – International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA)
  • Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Analyst Associate or equivalent certification in AWS/GCP

Professional Experience:

• 7-10 years of experience in data analysis, business analysis, or technical documentation, preferably in a legal, professional services, or financial services environment
• Proven experience in documenting business processes, data flows, and system integrations using tools such as Microsoft Visio and Lucidchart
• Hands-on experience with data profiling, data quality analysis, and metadata management within enterprise systems and reporting environments
• Strong understanding of enterprise data documentation practices, including data dictionaries, metadata repositories, and report catalogs
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate across business and IT teams, translating business needs into structured, actionable technical documentation
• Experience supporting data governance initiatives, ensuring alignment with industry standards, regulatory compliance, and firm-wide data policies
• Preferred: experience in an international law firm or multinational professional services firm, working with multi-jurisdictional data policies, privacy regulations, and compliance requirements

Technical Skills:

• Data Documentation & Process Modeling: Strong proficiency in Microsoft Visio, Miro, or similar tools for creating system diagrams, data lineage mapping, and technical documentation
• Data Analysis: Strong Proficiency in SQL and Excel for data extraction and manipulation; familiarity with Python (pandas, NumPy) for data analysis and manipulation is a plus
• Database & Metadata Management: Experience working with relational databases (e.g., SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL) and metadata management tools such as Collibra or Informatica to document and track enterprise data assets
• ETL & Data Integration: Familiarity with ETL processes and tools such as Talend, Azure Data Factory, or SSIS for supporting data movement and transformation workflows
• Project & Change Management: Familiarity with Agile, Scrum, or PMO frameworks, using tools like JIRA, Confluence, or Microsoft DevOps for workflow tracking and collaboration on initiatives

Performance Traits:

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate effectively and professionally at all levels of the firm, including senior leadership, technical teams, and external vendors
• Ability to work in a diverse, cross-functional team environment, effectively supporting the demanding needs of a global law firm
• Proven ability to work under pressure and manage multiple priorities, meeting deadlines in a fast-paced environment with shifting priorities
• Must be a self-starter, demonstrating a high level of initiative in problem-solving, process improvement, and driving data management best practices
• Strong customer service orientation, anticipating stakeholder needs, proactively addressing concerns, and exercising independent judgment
• Exceptional attention to detail and organizational skills, ensuring accuracy in documentation, data integrity, and process adherence across multiple projects
• Maintains confidentiality and exercises discretion
• Demonstrates strong strategic thinking and problem-solving skills, analyzing complex data challenges and developing structured, actionable solutions
• Ability to present complex data concepts to nontechnical stakeholders, translating technical information into clear, business-friendly insights
• Collaborate effectively across departments and organizational levels, ensuring alignment between business needs, IT capabilities, and governance policies
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a focus on delivering business value through data-driven solutions to enhance reporting, data governance, and decision making
• Deep understanding of data analytics, business intelligence, and data management principles

The typical pay scale for this position is between $124,700 and $164,900, although the actual wage or salary could be lower or higher if the candidate’s education, experience, skills and internal pay alignment are different from those specified. 

The above is a general description of the essential duties associated with this position and does not represent an exhaustive or comprehensive list of all duties.

The Firm may modify and amend this job description at any time at its sole discretion. Nothing herein creates a contract of employment or otherwise modifies the at-will nature of employment.

We offer competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits, including medical/dental/vision/life/and AD&D insurance, 401(k) savings plan, back-up childcare and eldercare, generous paid time off (PTO), as well as opportunities for professional development and growth.

Thank you for your interest in Mayer Brown. We are committed to providing equal opportunity and reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities and disabled veterans. To request a reasonable accommodation related to the application process and/or job interview, please email uslateralrecruiting@mayerbrown.com. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.

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