This paper presents to investigate the knowledge and skill requirements for people working in the data management space in universities and scientific research organizations. The most common set of skills required were interpersonal skills and related personal characteristics, closely followed by data specific knowledge and skills, including broad understanding of data types, metadata, regulatory and legal framework. Few current data professionals had a data specific qualification，most had learned “on the job” and through targeted professional development such as workshops，webinars and in house training.