Senior Data Governance Officer

Job Purpose

The incumbent reports into the AI and Data management unit (“AI & Data unit”), that is accountable to the Director of the DTD. The other units and teams reporting to the DT Director include the Enterprise Architecture, Strategy & Planning unit, the Digital development and management unit, the Infrastructure & Security Team and the Global Service Desk and Endpoint Management team. Under the leadership of the Director, these units and teams serve as members of the global DTD management team, along with the CISO and Regional DT managers.

Data Governance Framework & Strategy

• Develop comprehensive organizational data governance framework, including policies, standards and compliance requirements, aligned with organizational strategy, humanitarian principles, and relevant requirements.
• Develop governance roadmaps outlining phased implementation of policies, standards, and controls with clear milestones and success metrics.
• Create and maintain governance policies covering data classification, ownership, stewardship, quality, security, access, and lifecycle management.
• Develop governance principles reflecting IFRC's humanitarian values, including principles of data protection, dignity, transparency, and accountability.

Data Classification and Sensitivity Management

• Develop classification standards and guidance for categorizing data based on sensitivity, criticality, and relevant requirements.
• Design and implement sensitivity labeling strategies using Microsoft Information Protection and related tools integrated within Microsoft Fabric and Purview.
• Create clear labeling guidelines that are easily understood across the organization.

Data Privacy and Compliance

• Support the Data Protection Office with implementation of IFRC’s Policy on the Protection of Personal Data.
• Support Data Protection Officer (DPO) with governance policy input, and compliance documentation.
• Support Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) processes for new data initiatives, ensuring privacy by design principles.
• Draft incident response and data breach protocols in coordination with the DPO and CISO, ensuring timely notification and mitigation in accordance with relevant requirements.

Roles, Responsibilities And Accountability

• Establish, assign and document organizational data governance structure with clear role definitions (Data Owners, Data Stewards, Data Custodians, Data Users) and create related RACI matrices.
• Support in the development of organizational approach to distribute Data, Analytics and AI capabilities and roles, across dimensions back-end, supporting and front-end as well as centralized, decentralized and emerging roles.
• Provide steward training and onboarding covering governance policies, data quality management, compliance, and communication expectations.
• Establish governance committees and forums (e.g., Data Governance Council, domain steward groups) to facilitate coordination and decision-making.
• Monitor role performance and accountability, providing coaching and support to ensure effective governance execution.

Data Quality Standards and Monitoring

• Define organizational data quality standards and dimensions (accuracy, completeness, consistency, timeliness, validity, uniqueness).
• Establish and automate data quality metrics, rules and validation checks aligned with business use cases and decision-making requirements.
• Develop data quality assessment and monitoring protocols identifying critical data assets and quality requirements.
• Establish data quality governance processes including issue identification, escalation, resolution, and continuous improvement.
• Monitor data quality metrics, reporting on trends and issues to governance committees and data stewards.

Asset Inventory and Cataloging

• Oversee the development and maintenance of enterprise data asset inventory.
• Establish standards for data asset documentation including business definitions, data lineage, and usage guidance.
• Implement and maintain Microsoft Purview data catalog systems for centralized data asset discovery, classification, and governance.
• Cataloging activities across the organization, ensuring data assets are properly documented and discoverable.
• Monitor catalog usage and provide training to support effective data discovery and asset management.

Access Management and Information Security

• Develop guidelines for secure information sharing with internal teams, partners, vendors, and external stakeholders, including third-party information sharing agreements.
• Build and maintain tools and automation to monitor and audit access patterns, investigating and addressing potential violations of access governance policies.
• Support implementation of technical security and privacy controls including access controls (including row and column access controls), encryption, pseudonymization, anonymization, and masking where appropriate.
• Coordinate with cybersecurity teams on access controls in Microsoft Fabric and related platforms.

Governance Policy Development and Maintenance

• Create and implement data governance policies addressing data collection, processing, storage, access, sharing, retention, and deletion.
• Develop policies specific to sensitive data categories (examples: beneficiary data, health information, location data) with appropriate safeguards.
• Monitor policy compliance, investigating deviations and implementing corrective actions.
• Maintain policy library and version control, ensuring staff access current guidance.

Stakeholder Communication and Training

• Develop stakeholder communication strategy for data governance initiatives targeting different audiences (leadership, business units, technical teams).
• Deliver data governance training to staff, data stewards, and leadership covering policies, roles, responsibilities, and compliance expectations.
• Provide guidance to business units and technical teams on governance policy interpretation and application.

Microsoft Fabric Governance Administration

• Configure governance settings in Microsoft Purview, including domains, roles, and permissions.
• Establish data catalog taxonomies and governance domain structures aligned with organizational data strategy.
• Define and enforce data quality policies within Microsoft Fabric and other data systems (such as Azure SQL, Dataverse, etc.).
• Develop automated collection of data lineage and utilize data lineage for impact analysis.