Lead, Data Governance

Lead, Data Governance

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Lead, Data Governance based in the United States.

This role will lead the development and operation of a scalable data governance and data security program across a modern data environment. You will establish practical standards for data classification, ownership, access, quality, and protection across analytics and internal data products. Working closely with Data Engineering, Data Science, Security, Privacy, and Legal teams, you will turn governance principles into effective technical controls. The position offers significant ownership in an environment managing sensitive, cross-border data across multiple regions and regulatory frameworks. You will also help shape responsible adoption of emerging analytics, AI, and agentic technologies involving corporate data. Success requires a balance of governance expertise, technical fluency, risk awareness, and the ability to partner effectively without creating unnecessary bottlenecks. As a fully remote individual contributor, you will have a direct opportunity to strengthen data trust, security, compliance, and operational maturity across the organization.

Accountabilities

• Build and maintain data governance policies, classification standards, ownership models, and exception processes aligned with security, privacy, and regulatory requirements.
• Own data access governance across the lakehouse and analytics environment, establishing entitlement standards, periodic access reviews, and least-privilege principles.
• Partner with Data Engineering to implement technical controls, including access policies, schema restrictions, service account management, and related governance mechanisms.
• Establish data quality standards and collaborate with Data teams to monitor performance and drive continuous improvement.
• Maintain accurate data inventories, metadata, ownership records, and lineage documentation to support operational transparency, compliance, and audits.
• Evaluate data-related vendors and emerging use cases, including analytics platforms, reverse ETL, AI query tools, notebooks, and other technologies, in partnership with Security, Privacy, and Legal.
• Support sensitive and cross-border data initiatives, including PII handling and regional data flows across engineering, operations, and new market activities.
• Prepare and coordinate evidence for SOC 2, ISO 27001, CSA STAR, partner security assessments, and applicable regulatory examinations.
• Identify and track data risks, control gaps, and remediation activities as part of the Enterprise Risk Management program.
• Serve as a trusted governance partner for Data and Security teams on questions involving access, classification, data protection, and technology adoption.
• Define practical guardrails for the responsible use of corporate data in AI, machine learning, analytics, and agentic workflows.
• Help strengthen governance processes and controls as the data environment, geographic footprint, and technology ecosystem continue to evolve.

Requirements

• 5+ years of professional experience in data governance, data security, GRC, privacy engineering, or a closely related discipline.
• At least 2 years of hands-on experience working with modern data platforms, including lakehouses or warehouses, SQL engines, BI platforms, and/or semantic layers.
• Strong understanding of established data governance frameworks such as DAMA-DMBOK, NIST, or comparable frameworks, with the ability to apply them pragmatically in a fast-moving organization.
• Demonstrated experience building or operating data classification, access control, entitlement review, or related governance programs rather than focusing exclusively on policy development.
• Familiarity with cloud data platforms and modern analytics technologies; experience with GCP is a plus.
• Working knowledge of privacy and regulatory requirements relevant to financial services, including GDPR, CCPA, cross-border data transfers, and related requirements.
• Experience supporting SOC 2, ISO 27001, or comparable security and compliance audits.
• Strong ability to collaborate with engineering teams and implement effective controls without becoming a delivery bottleneck.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain governance and risk concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Strong organizational and attention-to-detail skills, combined with the ability to manage priorities in a fast-paced remote environment.
• Comfortable operating independently as an individual contributor without direct reports.
• Experience in fintech, brokerage, or regulated financial services is preferred.
• Hands-on experience with technologies such as Trino, Apache Ranger, dbt, Cube, Metabase, Airflow, or Iceberg is a plus.
• Experience evaluating AI/ML and analytics tools, privacy programs, vendor reviews, or Data Processing Agreements is advantageous.
• Relevant certifications such as CIPT, CIPM, CISM, CISSP, CDMP, or CRISC are a plus.
• Experience as an early or first governance hire in a growing organization, exposure to Japan or EU data residency requirements, ERM, operational risk, or distributed teams is beneficial.

Benefits

• Competitive salary and stock options.
• Health benefits.
• One-time USD $500 home-office setup allowance for new hires.
• USD $150 monthly stipend provided through a Brex Card.
• Fully remote working environment.
• Opportunity to shape data governance and security practices within a rapidly evolving technology environment.
• Exposure to modern data platforms, analytics, AI, and agentic technologies.
• Opportunity to work cross-functionally with Data, Engineering, Security, Privacy, Legal, and other business teams.
• Inclusive workplace committed to building and supporting a diverse workforce.