Data Governance Strategy & Transformation Director

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Position Summary:

The Governance Capability Strategy & Modernisation Lead is a Director role within the Global Data Stewardship Office, combining enterprise data-governance strategy and portfolio leadership with practical technology implementation capability. The role defines EY’s governance capability strategy, target state and modernisation roadmap, translating business and user needs and approved policy, risk and regulatory requirements into operating-model designs, implementation-ready requirements and reusable governance patterns. Working with business, risk, data and technology stakeholders, the role assesses maturity, recommends investment priorities and leads the capability-modernisation portfolio through delivery, adoption and benefits realisation. It guides reusable capabilities for modern data platforms, cloud ecosystems, analytics and AI-enabled solutions, informed by relevant regulatory, industry and technology developments. Product management practices underpin discovery, roadmap and backlog prioritisation, design, testing, approved release and operational handover, with measurable business value, adoption and control effectiveness. The role leads specialist teams in translating requirements into working metadata models, machine-readable rules, workflows and integrations, and undertakes selected proofs of concept and scoped implementations within approved delivery parameters. It works in partnership with accountable data, product, platform and control owners, rather than replacing their decision rights or operational responsibilities.

Essential Functions of the Job:

• Define and maintain the enterprise data-governance capability strategy, target state, design principles and multi-year modernisation roadmap, aligned with EY business priorities, approved policy and risk requirements.
• Assess current governance maturity and capability gaps across people, process, information, controls and technology, and translate findings into prioritised investment and implementation recommendations.
• Design the target governance operating model, including accountabilities, decision rights, governance forums, service interactions and adoption measures, without displacing the responsibilities of policy, data or technology owners.
• Translate business and user needs and approved policy, regulatory and risk requirements into implementation-ready business, functional and non-functional requirements, user stories and measurable acceptance criteria. Define reusable control patterns, metadata models, machine-readable governance rules, workflow specifications and design guardrails, maintaining traceability from source requirements to implementation, test results and control evidence.
• Lead capability design across interdependent governance domains, including metadata, discovery and classification, lineage, data quality, lifecycle, privacy, access, data products and AI-ready data.
• Lead the governance capability-modernisation portfolio, shaping business cases, investment recommendations, sequencing, delivery outcomes and transition plans. Use business and user discovery to develop capability roadmaps and prioritised backlogs with product and platform owners, negotiating priorities, dependencies and trade-offs. Guide design and delivery, assure configuration, integration, testing and acceptance evidence, and coordinate approved release, adoption and operational handover with designated owners.
• Set team-level implementation practices and assurance checkpoints consistent with approved architecture, security and change standards. Cover version control, environment separation, configuration and integration testing, user acceptance testing, defect resolution, release and rollback documentation, secure access and credential handling, auditable evidence and transition to designated support owners. Assess release readiness and submit evidence through the relevant approval processes.
• Define and oversee the change, communications, stakeholder-readiness, learning and adoption approach required to embed new governance accountabilities, processes, controls and ways of working.
• Establish and monitor measures for maturity improvement, adoption, user outcomes, control effectiveness, operational performance and realised business value, using evidence to direct continuous improvement.
• Identify and manage strategic delivery risks, sequencing constraints, cross-capability dependencies and barriers to adoption, escalating material issues and recommending corrective action.
• Monitor emerging regulation, industry practice and technology developments affecting data and AI governance, and assess implications for EY’s target capability and roadmap.
• Define capability-evaluation criteria and contribute to platform, partner and sourcing decisions, ensuring options are assessed against governance outcomes, integration, scalability, control, adoption and total-value considerations. Lead and, where required, undertake selected proofs of concept and scoped implementations to validate metadata models, governance workflows, lineage, quality rules and supported API, connector or scripting-based integrations within authorised environments.
• Engage Service Lines, Service Line Quality and the data ecosystem, including the Global Data Office (GDO), Chief Technology Officers (CTOs), Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and Regional Data Stewards. Explain technical concepts in practical business language, facilitate decisions, negotiate priorities and resolve dependencies. Build agreement on delivery, adoption and outcomes across the global, federated organisation, influencing stakeholders outside the reporting line and escalating unresolved issues.
• Provide thought leadership on modern governance practices and develop the specialist capability required to sustain the target state.

Analytical/Decision Making Responsibilities:

• Exercises Director-level judgement on complex capability and portfolio choices spanning governance, risk, operating model, investment, adoption and technology enablement.
• Uses approved policy, regulatory obligations, risk priorities, maturity evidence, architecture principles, benefits evidence and recognised governance frameworks to determine capability priorities, recommend target-state designs and sequence modernisation investments.
• Evaluates value, feasibility, supplier and platform options, change impact, delivery risk, control effectiveness and adoption trade-offs, including integration dependencies, maintainability and implementation constraints. Selects configuration and automation approaches within approved patterns, recommends interim controls and evidence requirements to designated control owners where capability gaps remain, establishes success measures and acceptance criteria, and directs corrective action within delegated authority.
• Escalates decisions that require policy-owner, Data Owner, risk, investment, sourcing, enterprise architecture, security or platform approval, including production deployment decisions outside delegated authority.
• Delivers governance capability designs, implementation assurance and assigned scoped configuration, integration, testing and evidence within delegated authority. Coordinates delivery with accountable owners and recommends decisions outside that authority; formal Product Owner accountability remains with designated product owners.
• For example, where a governance requirement must work consistently across cloud, analytics and AI environments, defines the common business requirement and reusable governance pattern, assesses implementation options, aligns accountable stakeholders and recommends the roadmap, adoption approach and evidence required to demonstrate value and effective operation. Leads validation through a scoped proof of concept, configuration or integration, confirms traceability and acceptance evidence, and coordinates approved release and operational handover with designated owners.

Knowledge and Skills Requirements:

• Deep expertise in enterprise data governance and the design of governance capabilities, operating models, decision rights, policies, standards, controls and adoption mechanisms.
• Demonstrated ability to assess maturity, define target states and translate strategy, policy and risk intent into prioritised roadmaps, business requirements, control patterns and measurable outcomes.
• Broad knowledge of metadata, discovery and classification, lineage, data quality, lifecycle, privacy, access governance, governance workflows, data-product governance and responsible use of data for analytics and AI.
• Practical delivery capability in governance platform configuration, metadata modelling and relevant rules or workflow automation, supported by cloud data platform, API and integration knowledge. Ability to evaluate capability fit, challenge designs and undertake selected scoped implementations, using SQL and an appropriate scripting language, such as Python, to validate metadata, rules and supported integrations. Depth in relevant implementation areas and the ability to lead specialists across others are required; expertise in every platform or discipline is not expected.
• Strong product management skills in business and user discovery, roadmap development, backlog prioritisation, user stories, agile delivery, release planning, adoption and value measurement. Ability to translate needs into business, functional and non-functional requirements and technical specifications, including metadata schemas, machine-readable rules, workflow specifications and measurable acceptance criteria, while managing priorities, dependencies and trade-offs with product and platform owners.
• Working knowledge of version control, environment separation, configuration and integration testing, defect management, approved deployment and rollback, least-privilege access and secure credential handling; ability to establish implementation assurance standards, review solution documentation and guide operational handover to designated support owners.
• Strong strategic thinking, commercial acumen, structured problem solving and portfolio leadership, including the ability to develop business cases, prioritise investment and manage value, risk, dependencies and performance across multiple initiatives.
• Proven change and adoption leadership, including stakeholder analysis, communications, readiness, learning, behavioural change, capability uplift and reinforcement of new accountabilities and ways of working.
• Ability to define outcome measures and use maturity, adoption, control-effectiveness, user and benefits data to evaluate progress and direct continuous improvement.
• Ability to interpret emerging regulatory, industry and technology developments and translate them into practical implications for governance strategy and capability design.
• Strong executive communication, facilitation and negotiation skills: explain technical concepts in practical business language, translate business needs into implementable solutions and build agreement with business, Service Line Quality, data and technology stakeholders. Ability to influence without reporting-line authority, resolve dependencies and agree delivery, adoption and outcomes in a global, federated organisation.
• Inclusive leadership that develops others, creates clarity and accountability, and supports effective collaboration across organisational boundaries.
• Ability to apply recognised frameworks proportionately: DAMA-DMBOK for data-management disciplines and governance responsibilities; EDM Council DCAM for capability assessment, strategy and measurable maturity improvement; and CDMC for cloud data-management capabilities and controls. Working familiarity with relevant standards, such as ISO/IEC 38505 for governance of data, ISO 8000 for data quality, and applicable risk, security, privacy and records-management standards is valued. These inform capability design and assessment; framework alignment does not imply formal compliance or certification.

Supervision Responsibilities:

• Operates with a high degree of independence within approved strategy, policy, risk and governance parameters, with executive direction on major priorities and material investment or accountability decisions.
• Leads and develops a multidisciplinary team of governance specialists and may direct work delivered through matrixed teams.
• Sets objectives, reviews quality and outcomes, resolves dependencies and builds specialist capability across governance design and hands-on technology implementation. Establishes clear delegated delivery responsibilities and reviews configuration, integration, testing, release-readiness and control evidence without assuming designated platform or operational ownership.
• Formal reporting lines, team size and direct people-management accountabilities will be confirmed through organisation design and recruiting approval.

Other Requirements:

• Works globally across the Global Data Stewardship Office and partners with the Global Data Office, Client Technology, Enterprise Technology, Information Security, Global Data Protection, General Counsel’s Office, relevant Risk and Business Administration teams, Service Lines, Service Line Quality, Regions and EY member firms.
• Must be able to operate effectively across a global, federated organisation, balancing enterprise consistency with legal, regulatory, business and regional requirements.
• Works within established accountability boundaries. Data Owners and product teams retain accountability for data purpose, permitted use, quality and outcomes. Designated policy owners retain policy ownership and approval; enterprise architecture, security, platform and control owners retain their respective design authority, approvals, infrastructure engineering, production change authority, production operations and control accountabilities. This role leads governance requirements, capability design and implementation assurance and delivers assigned scoped configurations, integrations and validation within approved access, architecture, security and change controls. It coordinates operational handover and does not replace Data Stewards or legal, privacy, information security, records management or Internal Audit responsibilities.
• Location, employment terms, flexibility and travel requirements are subject to business and local policy requirements.

Job Requirements:

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in information management, information systems, computer science, software or data engineering, data science, engineering, business, risk or a related discipline, or equivalent relevant experience. Relevant data governance and information management knowledge is essential; candidates must demonstrate technical foundations and practical technology implementation capability appropriate to leading a hybrid governance and delivery team, whether gained through a technical qualification or substantial professional experience.

Experience:

• 12 or more years of relevant experience, including significant leadership in enterprise data governance, data management, risk, operating-model design or technology-enabled transformation.
• Demonstrated success defining capability strategies and target states, assessing maturity, translating business needs and approved policy and risk requirements into practical solutions, and developing roadmaps and business cases. Experience leading complex transformation portfolios through design, delivery, adoption and operational transition, applying product management practices from discovery and requirements definition through prioritised backlogs, user stories, measurable acceptance criteria, testing, approved release and handover.
• Hands-on implementation experience with at least one enterprise data governance platform is essential, including configuring metadata models, governance workflows or rules and implementing and validating supported integrations with cloud data platforms, APIs or automation tools. Candidates must demonstrate practical delivery as well as leadership of specialist implementation teams, supported by examples of working configurations, test results, implementation documentation and acceptance evidence, rather than advisory or requirements-only experience.
• Practical experience with Microsoft Purview, Databricks Unity Catalog or Microsoft Fabric/OneLake is advantageous. Comparable experience with platforms such as Collibra, Informatica IDMC, Alation or Atlan is also valued. Experience should demonstrate the translation of governance requirements into working metadata, ownership and stewardship workflows, lineage, quality measures or governed access and reuse; experience with every named platform is not required.
• Evidence of measurable improvements from technology-enabled governance, such as increased metadata coverage, improved data quality, faster onboarding or certification, automated control evidence or greater governed reuse, with experience sustaining outcomes through adoption, monitoring and transition to designated support owners
• Experience in change and stakeholder-readiness leadership, benefits realisation and performance measurement, management of strategic risks and dependencies, evaluation of platform or partner options, and interpretation of emerging regulatory and technology developments.
• Experience influencing senior business, Service Line Quality, data and technology stakeholders in a global, federated organisation; leading multidisciplinary teams; and partnering with architecture, product, sourcing and engineering functions. Demonstrated ability to facilitate decisions, negotiate competing priorities, resolve dependencies and build agreement on scalable governance delivery and adoption.

Certification Requirements:

• Relevant credentials such as DAMA CDMP, EDM Council DCAM or CDMC, or recognised qualifications in enterprise architecture, risk, privacy, cybersecurity, responsible AI, technology product management, cloud, data platforms or governance platforms are advantageous but not mandatory.

What we offer you
The compensation ranges below are provided in order to comply with United States pay transparency laws. Other geographies will follow their local salary guidelines, which may not be a direct conversion of published US salary ranges. At EY, we harness our collective strength to empower you to shape your future with confidence through professional growth, personal fulfillment and an inclusive culture. Learn more at ey.com/us/careers.

• We offer a comprehensive compensation and benefits package where you’ll be rewarded based on your performance and recognized for the value you bring to the business.  The base salary range for this job is: 
  • New York City, Boston, and Washington DC Metro Areas, Washington State, and Southern California offices – $240,000 to $432,000
  • Bay Area California offices – $250,000 to $450,000
  • All other offices locations in the US, including Sacramento – $200,000 to $396,000
• Individual salaries within these ranges are determined through a wide variety of factors including but not limited to education, experience, knowledge, skills and geography.  In addition, our Total Rewards package includes medical and dental coverage, pension and 401(k) plans, and a wide range of paid time off options.
• Under our flexible vacation policy, you’ll decide how much vacation time you need based on your own personal circumstances. You’ll also be granted time off for designated EY Paid Holidays, Winter/Summer breaks, Personal/Family Care, and other leaves of absence when needed to support your physical, financial, and emotional well-being.

Are you ready to shape your future with confidence? Apply today.                                              

• To make the most of your application experience, please limit yourself to two applications within a six-month period.
• EY accepts applications for this position on an on-going basis.
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