Data Steward

A data steward is the subject-matter expert accountable for the day-to-day care of data within a specific domain or set of assets. While the data owner sets policy and bears ultimate accountability, the steward does the operational work: writing and maintaining definitions in the business glossary, applying classification labels, validating data quality rules, resolving issues raised by data consumers, and reviewing access requests.

Stewardship is usually a role, not a job title — a senior analyst in finance may act as steward for finance data alongside their primary duties. What matters is formal appointment, a clear scope, and time allocated for the work.

In the Saudi context, stewardship is where NDMO compliance becomes real. The framework's controls on data classification, quality, and metadata all assume that a named person is maintaining each asset's documentation and labels; without stewards, those controls exist only on paper. A practical pattern for a Data Management Office is to appoint one steward per data domain, train them on the national classification scheme and on PDPL handling rules for personal data, and equip them with a catalog where their work — definitions, classifications, quality status — is recorded and auditable.