Associate Director, Data Governance

Role Summary

Associate Director of Data Governance will be part of the Data and Analytics Platform team within Information Technology department. The Data and Analytics Platform team is responsible for the data infrastructure, data management best practices, analytics tools and data governance. Our customers are data engineering teams that use the platform to build data products and analytics for business users. The Associate Director of Data Governance is accountable for driving adoption and implementation of data governance technologies and processes across the enterprise. This position will work closely with data science and data engineering teams to establish data governance best practices, processes, technologies and work with information security team to implement data security controls using data governance & data security tools. This position is also accountable for developing the product roadmap for data governance, maintenance of tech stack and adoption of processes. This position is also responsible for communication with senior leaders in IT and business functions to provide updates, influence, and drive organization change management (OCM).

Responsibilities

• Define data governance strategy, including technologies, technical controls, policies, procedures, and standards for data management
• Implement and maintain data security measures to protect data from unauthorized access and misuse
• Work with various stakeholders, including data owners, IT teams, and business users, to understand their data needs and ensure that the data governance framework meets their requirements
• Continuously monitor the effectiveness of the data governance controls and identify areas for improvement
• Builds and manages data catalogs, providing a centralized repository of information about data assets, their lineage, and governance policies
• Communicate with senior leaders to provide updates, drive alignment and influence adoption
• Manage metadata management, data quality rules and governance policies to provide context on data
• Manage the data governance product roadmap and releases
• Review data architecture and design from data engineering teams to ensure data governance best practices and appropriate security controls are incorporated
• Publish data engineering and data management standards along with developing trainings for data engineers and architects
• Identify commonly used data ingestion & transformation pattern and build reusable data transformation utilities
• Develop and implement data security controls, policies, and procedures to protect data at rest and in transit in partnership with IT Infosec
• Conduct risk assessments to identify security vulnerabilities and gaps in data governance controls
• Work with information security team to develop and implement incident response plans
• Define and document how the implementation of a new system or new interfaces between systems impacts the data security posture of the current environment
• Evaluate security architectures and designs to determine the adequacy of security design and architecture proposed or provided in response to business requirements
• Continuously monitor data security posture and vulnerabilities identified by data security scanning tools, prioritize based on risk and implement short term and long-term measures to fix security vulnerabilities
• Drive the evaluation of “ideas” to bring tangible, actionable solutions
• Solve for data security gaps, enable new technology for data governance and data security controls, maintain and enhance data governance tools
• Manage and develop a high performing team by setting direction, goals, development plans, actionable feedback, and coaching
• Manage service vendors and contract team members to develop, operate and support data governance technologies and processes

Qualifications

• BS/BA degree in related discipline and 11+ years of related experience; or,
• MS/MBA degree in related discipline and 9+ years of related experience; or,
• PhD in related discipline and 5+ years of related experience, or
• Equivalent combination of talent, education, and experience
• 10+ years of practical experience in any of data management areas like data architecture, data engineering, data governance & security
• 5+ years of experience successfully leading enterprise data governance initiatives
• 5 + years of experience in design and implementation of data security controls
• 5 + years of experience with technology architecture & design with product-based approach

Skills

• Proficiency with at least a few of the data infrastructure, transformation & visualization tools like AWS Redshift, AWS Glue, DBT, Tableau, Python, R, POSIT, Airflow, Athena
• Expertise with at least one of data governance tools like Alation, Atlan, Collibra, Unity Catalog
• Proficiency in SQL as Code, Infrastructure as Code, Data as Product, GitOps, DevOps, CI/CD
• Experience with Agile, Scrum methodologies and DevOps methodologies with ability to leverage hybrid and cloud native solutions
• Experience in defining data governance approach to AI/ML is preferred
• Experience in GxP regulated industries, Biotech/Pharma is preferred
• Experience in Data Bricks and AWS Data Management Stack is preferred
• Good understanding of IT governance, inspection, and regulatory requirements for validated systems
• Ability to work in a matrix environment with evolving operating model
• Independent, self-motivated, self-managing, proactive and responsive with a bias for action and results
• Ability to collaborate with senior functional leaders to drive alignment and facilitate incremental progress on complex and cross functional programs that need deep knowledge of technical concepts involved
• Strong analytical, problem-solving abilities, attention to detail and business communication skills

Education

• BS/BA degree in related discipline and 11+ years of related experience; or,
• MS/MBA degree in related discipline and 9+ years of related experience; or,
• PhD in related discipline and 5+ years of related experience, or
• Equivalent combination of talent, education, and experience

Additional Requirements

• Work Environment/Physical Demands: Our office is a modern, open-plan space that foster collaborations and creativity. We provide all necessary equipment, including dual monitors and ergonomic chairs, to ensure a comfortable workspace.