--- title: "How data roles are evolving: From modelers to context engineers" url: "https://atlan.com/regovern-watch-center/data-modelers-to-context-engineers/" description: "Sridher Arumugham, CDAO of DigiKey, explains why data modelers and architects are evolving into context engineers, knowledge graph builders, and ontology specialists." keywords: "atlan, data governance, regovern 2025, regovern watch center" --- > Atlan is hosting Context Conference, bringing together the leaders and builders at the frontier of giving AI the context it needs to understand their business. It runs online on October 28, 2026, from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM ET. Atlan co-founder Prukalpa Sankar opens and closes the day. Leaders from AstraZeneca, BNY and Verizon share why they invest in context and what they get from it. Registrants get early access to The AI Context Gap, a new study from MIT Technology Review Insights. Register: https://atlan.com/context-conference/ **How Data Roles are Evolving: From Modelers to Context Engineers**: a session recording from Re:Govern 2025 (online, Nov 4-5, 2025), in the [Re:Govern 2025 watch center](https://atlan.com/regovern-watch-center/). Sridher Arumugham, CDAO of DigiKey, explains why data modelers and architects are evolving into context engineers, knowledge graph builders, and ontology specialists. The recording plays on the page after a short preview, then an email form unlocks the rest: [watch at https://atlan.com/regovern-watch-center/data-modelers-to-context-engineers/](https://atlan.com/regovern-watch-center/data-modelers-to-context-engineers/). ## Speakers - **Sridher Arumugham**, Chief Data & Analytics Officer, DigiKey. A Global CDO 100 honoree, Sridher has built data organizations across finance, software, and consulting. Now he's pioneering AI resilience across supply chains at DigiKey, the world's largest electronic component manufacturer. ## Company **DigiKey.** One of the world's largest electronic component distributors, DigiKey serves 180+ countries with 16.5M+ products and 25,000 daily shipments. DigiKey is pioneering AI resilience for supply chains, in a market projected to grow from $3B to $31B by 2029. ## What's inside While business process understanding and human validation remain essential, the technical roles around data are shifting dramatically. The skills that defined data architecture are evolving to focus on context engineering, knowledge graphs, and ontologies - turning structure into meaning that AI can actually use. Key takeaways: - Business process understanding stays critical - humans validate what technology builds - Data modelers and architects are evolving into context engineers and ontology specialists - Building knowledge bases and knowledge graphs becomes core technical work, not optional add-ons - The human in the loop remains essential for business logic and validation - Future-proof roles focus on creating meaning and relationships, not just structure and storage ## Session chapters 1. Human validation meets AI automation: Why business understanding remains critical even as roles become more technical. 2. From data modelers to context engineers: How traditional data roles are evolving toward ontology and knowledge design. 3. Building knowledge as infrastructure: Turning knowledge bases and graphs into foundational systems for AI understanding. 4. Keeping the human in the loop: Ensuring humans validate and guide machine-built meaning for business logic accuracy. 5. Future-proofing data careers: Shifting focus from structure and storage to meaning and relationships. ## More from Re:Govern 2025 - [CME Group: Context at Speed](https://atlan.com/regovern-watch-center/cme-group-context-at-speed/) (Session Recordings) - [Mastercard: Context by Design](https://atlan.com/regovern-watch-center/mastercard-context-by-design/) (Session Recordings) - [Workday: Context as Culture](https://atlan.com/regovern-watch-center/workday-context-as-culture/) (Session Recordings) - [Why Workday is Building a Semantic Layer](https://atlan.com/regovern-watch-center/workday-building-semantic-layer/) (Highlights) - [Workday's Learnings From its First Talk to Data experiment](https://atlan.com/regovern-watch-center/workday-talk-to-data-learnings/) (Highlights) - [How Workday Connects Context Across Business Tools](https://atlan.com/regovern-watch-center/how-workday-connects-context/) (Highlights) - [How Mastercard Designs Context at Scale](https://atlan.com/regovern-watch-center/how-mastercard-designs-context/) (Highlights) - [Mastercard's Federated Architecture for Agentic Commerce](https://atlan.com/regovern-watch-center/mastercard-federated-architecture/) (Highlights) - [How Protocols and Tools are Evolving for Agentic Governance](https://atlan.com/regovern-watch-center/protocols-agentic-governance/) (Highlights) - [The Evolution of Trust: Building the Foundations for Future-Readiness](https://atlan.com/regovern-watch-center/evolution-of-trust/) (Session Recordings) - [How Mercury Insurance is creating PII-free workspaces for AI use cases](https://atlan.com/regovern-watch-center/pii-free-workspaces/) (Highlights) - [GitLab's Strategies for Building Reliable Conversational Analytics](https://atlan.com/regovern-watch-center/gitlab-conversational-analytics-strategies/) (Highlights) - [AI-Ready Tech Pioneers Share their Single Most Effective AI Readiness Strategies](https://atlan.com/regovern-watch-center/ai-readiness-strategies-pioneers/) (Highlights) - [GitLab's Learnings from its First Experiment with Conversational AI](https://atlan.com/regovern-watch-center/gitlab-conversational-ai-learnings/) (Highlights) - [Vimeo's Approach to Data Governance in the Era of Conversational Analytics](https://atlan.com/regovern-watch-center/Vimeo-approach-to-data-governance/) (Highlights) - [Inside General Motors Metadata Lakehouse](https://atlan.com/regovern-watch-center/gm-metadata-lakehouse/) (Highlights) - [Workday's Semantic Layer Strategy](https://atlan.com/regovern-watch-center/workday-semantic-layer-strategy/) (Highlights) - [Modern Data & AI Governance Blueprint](https://atlan.com/blueprint) (Resources)