Director, Data Governance & Compliance

• Director, Data Governance & Compliance
• Location: San Antonio, TX, United States
• Industry: Financial Services
• Work Setting: Hybrid

Are you passionate about building enterprise-wide data governance programs that ensure trusted, secure, and compliant data while driving business value and regulatory excellence? We are seeking a Data Governance & Compliance Director to provide strategic leadership for enterprise data governance, data quality, information management, and compliance initiatives. This role will establish governance frameworks, drive accountability for critical data assets, and partner with business and technology leaders to enhance data maturity, mitigate risk, and support organizational objectives in a highly regulated environment.

• Key Responsibilities
• Enterprise Data Governance Leadership
• Lead the strategic direction and execution of enterprise data governance, information management, and data compliance programs.
• Establish and mature governance frameworks, operating models, policies, standards, and controls across critical data domains.
• Drive accountability for data ownership, stewardship, quality, lineage, and lifecycle management.
• Develop enterprise roadmaps that align data governance initiatives with business strategy, regulatory requirements, and risk management objectives.
• Influence executive leadership and stakeholders to adopt and sustain governance best practices.
• Data Management & Information Architecture
• Lead initiatives supporting data management, metadata management, information architecture, and information asset management capabilities.
• Partner with business and technology teams to ensure data assets are properly defined, documented, governed, and managed.
• Drive enterprise-wide adoption of data standards, taxonomy, classification, and architecture principles.
• Establish scalable practices that improve accessibility, consistency, and reliability of critical business data.
• Data Quality & Data Lineage
• Develop and oversee enterprise data quality frameworks, standards, controls, metrics, and remediation processes.
• Ensure critical data assets meet quality expectations related to accuracy, completeness, consistency, timeliness, and integrity.
• Lead the establishment and maintenance of end-to-end data lineage and traceability across key business processes and systems.
• Drive data issue management programs, root cause analysis, and corrective action planning.
• Monitor data quality performance and governance effectiveness through KPIs and reporting.
• Compliance, Privacy & Risk Management
• Ensure data management practices support regulatory, compliance, privacy, and risk management requirements.
• Collaborate with Risk, Compliance, Audit, Legal, and Security teams to identify and mitigate data-related risks.
• Lead initiatives involving:
• Data Privacy
• Sensitive Data Management
• Data Classification
• Information Protection
• Privacy-by-Design
• Regulatory Reporting Support
• Develop governance controls that support regulatory obligations and enterprise risk management objectives.
• Ensure risks associated with information assets are effectively identified, measured, monitored, and controlled.
• Cross-Functional Leadership & Stakeholder Engagement
• Partner with Business, IT, Architecture, Compliance, Risk, Security, and Analytics teams to align governance initiatives with organizational priorities.
• Provide executive-level guidance on governance strategies, regulatory requirements, and data management improvements.
• Facilitate governance councils, working groups, and stakeholder forums.
• Translate complex regulatory, business, and technical requirements into actionable governance programs.
• Influence decision-making across multiple levels of leadership.
• Program Transformation & Continuous Improvement
• Lead enterprise data governance transformation initiatives and maturity improvement programs.
• Drive Agile delivery efforts across people, processes, data, and technology initiatives.
• Identify opportunities to improve governance effectiveness, operational efficiency, and business value realization.
• Develop reporting frameworks, governance scorecards, and performance metrics.
• Promote continuous improvement and innovation across information management capabilities.
• Team Leadership & Talent Development
• Lead, coach, and develop high-performing governance and data management teams.
• Create a culture focused on accountability, collaboration, compliance, and continuous learning.
• Mentor future data governance leaders and strengthen organizational data management capabilities.
• Direct work assignments, issue resolution, risk mitigation activities, and strategic initiatives.

• Required Qualifications
• Bachelor's degree in Data Analytics, Information Technology, Business, Finance, Risk Management, Audit, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• 8+ years of experience in Data Governance, Information Management, Data Management, Information Architecture, Risk, Compliance, Audit, or related disciplines.
• 3+ years of leadership or people management experience.
• Extensive experience developing and implementing enterprise data governance strategies and operating models.
• Proven experience establishing governance policies, standards, controls, and data management frameworks.
• Strong understanding of data quality management, metadata management, data lineage, and information asset management.
• Experience supporting regulatory compliance programs within highly regulated organizations.
• Strong knowledge of industry governance principles and best practices.
• Experience leading Agile delivery initiatives and enterprise transformation programs.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and executive influencing capabilities.

• Preferred Qualifications
• Experience within Financial Services, Banking, Insurance, Healthcare, or other highly regulated industries.
• Strong understanding of data privacy regulations, compliance requirements, and information risk management.
• Experience supporting regulatory reporting and regulatory data governance initiatives.
• Knowledge of enterprise architecture principles and modern data ecosystems.
• Experience implementing governance technologies such as data catalogs, metadata repositories, lineage tools, and governance platforms.

• Preferred Certifications
• CDMP (Certified Data Management Professional) – Strongly Preferred
• CIMP (Certified Information Management Professional)
• IGP (Information Governance Professional)
• DCAM (Data Management Capability Assessment Model)
• Other relevant Information Governance, Data Management, Risk, or Compliance certifications

• Preferred Skills
• Data Governance
• Information Governance
• Data Management
• Data Quality Management
• Data Lineage
• Metadata Management
• Master Data Management (MDM)
• Information Architecture
• Data Stewardship
• Data Privacy
• Data Classification
• Regulatory Compliance
• Regulatory Reporting
• Data Risk Management
• Information Asset Management
• DAMA-DMBOK
• Agile Delivery
• Enterprise Data Strategy
• Stakeholder Management
• Team Leadership