Senior Counsel, Data Governance, Law & Compliance

About the role

The Senior Counsel, Data Governance, Law & Compliance provides legal and compliance leadership for enterprise data governance initiatives at Bristol Myers Squibb. This role sits within the AI, Data and Privacy Law and Compliance department and reports to the Head of AI & Data Governance, Law and Compliance.

Responsibilities

• Provide legal counsel on enterprise data governance initiatives across the data lifecycle, including classification, access, use, sharing, retention, and disposition.
• Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to advance the data governance operating model, accountability framework, and supporting governance forums.
• Draft foundational data governance policies and standards, including Data Classification, Acceptable Use & Handling, Records & Retention, Data Residency & Cross-Border Transfer, Third-Party Data Handling, Privilege Handling, Trade Secret Protection, and crown jewel data protection.
• Collaborate with AI Governance counsel colleagues on responsible AI standards, and secondary use and reuse frameworks so that data flowing into AI pipelines is lawful, and contractually permitted.
• Partner with Privacy Law & Compliance on personal data and privacy matters, ensuring data governance policies, classification taxonomy, and controls align with and support the enterprise privacy program rather than duplicate it; coordinate with Privacy on intersecting topics such as personal data classification and linkage, cross-border transfers, automated decision-making, and data subject rights.
• Track and interpret global data and AI laws and standards (e.g., EU AI Act, ISO/IEC 27001, 27701, 42001, SOC 2) and translate them into actionable policies, playbooks, and training materials, drawing on Privacy Law & Compliance for privacy-specific regulatory interpretation.
• Partner with external advisors as needed on policy design, taxonomy, and operating model rollout, and review deliverables for legal soundness and fit to BMS.
• Work with BI&T Information Security so that data controls, including classification tags, linkage rules, and AI access controls, are enforceable in enterprise systems and produce defensible evidence.
• Review and negotiate data-related contractual provisions with vendors, partners, and third-party data providers, including data use, residency, downstream restrictions, and audit rights, coordinating with Privacy Law & Compliance on personal data terms and working with technology contracting team on relevant contract templates.
• Help design and deliver data governance training for legal, compliance, and business audiences.
• Maintain clear documentation to support audit readiness, regulatory inquiries, and governance maturity assessments.

Qualifications

• JD (or equivalent legal degree) and active bar membership in at least one U.S. jurisdiction required.
• 7-10 years of combined legal experience at a top law firm or in-house. Minimum 2 years of substantive experience in data governance or information law, including direct experience building or implementing a data governance program.
• Working command of data governance frameworks, records management, cross-border transfer, export control, trade secret protection, and AI and data regulatory frameworks (EU AI Act and analogous regimes), with sufficient familiarity with global privacy law (HIPAA, GDPR, U.S. state regimes) to partner effectively with Privacy Law & Compliance.
• Practical experience translating legal requirements into technical or operational controls in partnership with information security, privacy, or data platform teams.
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex regulatory requirements into pragmatic, business-aligned guidance.
• Strong drafting, analytical, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to operate independently in a fast-moving, cross-functional environment.
• Sound judgment and discretion in handling novel, ambiguous, and high-visibility issues.