Director Research Data Governance

Vision and Impact

The Director of Research Data Governance will champion a culture in which data is recognized as a trusted institutional asset, driving innovation, compliance, and translational impact.

• Unify foundational and translational research data governance under a single vision.
• Articulate and champion the institutional business case for research data governance.
• Empower scientists, analysts, and administrators to become active stewards of data.
• Enable AI- and ML-ready datasets with transparent provenance and governance.
• Build trust and interoperability across institutional data ecosystems.

Responsibilities

• Establish a culture of data stewardship for research by working closely with data generators and data custodians.
• Build a core team of 2-3 people within the Office of Data Science acting as the central hub of a federated model.
• Build and operationalize policies, processes, and technologies to ensure data is FAIR, secure, and compliant.
• Foster the medallion system for data maturity (bronze, silver, gold).
• Lead institutional efforts to standardize governance across research domains.
• Align governance practices with institutional IS, privacy, security, and compliance standards.
• Collaborate with institutional leaders to embed governance practices into scientific workflows and analytics programs.

Governance

• Define the research data governance strategy rooted in institutional scientific priorities.
• Drive business case development, value-realization tracking, and executive advocacy.
• Develop and implement a Research Data Governance Charter aligned with FAIR, HIPAA, GDPR, DAMA-DMBOK, NIST.
• Constitute a cross-functional Research Data Governance Working Group.
• Publish a cross-domain operating model for decision rights, escalation, and reporting.
• Maintain a multi-year governance roadmap.

Data Catalog

• Create and maintain the Research Data Catalog to ensure consistent data definitions, quality, and stewardship practices.
• Establish a standard RACI for owner, steward, and custodian responsibilities for priority datasets.
• Generalize proven governance and operational practices from existing institutional projects.

Engagement

• Advise on research data governance, privacy, and ethics.
• Facilitate stakeholder workshops and deliver data education and governance training.
• Represent St. Jude in external standards organizations.

Technology Enablement

• Lead adoption of governance technologies (e.g., Microsoft Purview, ServiceNow).
• Make the catalog the default front door for research data discovery.
• Integrate access request workflows with catalog asset identifiers.
• Define metadata and automation standards across research systems.
• Drive convergence on consistent patient, specimen, study, and project identifiers.
• Monitor and report key governance metrics.
• Partner with architects to embed governance in solution development.

Data Ethics & Compliance

• Create and enforce policies for compliant data use.
• Enable compliant data sharing and collaboration by implementing risk tiering for access requests.
• Publish and track a Data Access Service Level Agreement with target cycle times by risk tier.

Team Leadership & Talent Development

• Build and mentor a high-performing data governance team.
• Provide professional growth opportunities and conduct performance reviews.
• Foster a culture of inclusion, transparency, and service excellence.

Training & Change Management

• Develop tailored governance training materials and programs.
• Lead change management efforts to drive research data governance adoption.

Minimum Education and/or Training

Bachelor's degree in business administration, computer science, data science, information science, or related field required. Master's degree preferred.

Minimum Experience

Minimum requirement: 10+ significant years experience in an IT functional area with experience managing mid-large teams with focus on both achievement of objectives as well as critical skill-building. Experience having led large-scale projects/processes through to implementation. Experience with operational mgmt., budget planning & vendors and resource mgmt. Prior experience in building external connections with peers, emerging technology communities, and vendor networks. Proven performance in earlier role/comparable role.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree in Information Science, Biomedical Informatics, Computer Science, or a related quantitative field.
• 10+ years of experience in data governance, data management, or research informatics.
• 5+ years in leadership roles overseeing cross-functional governance or stewardship programs.
• Demonstrated experience in research data cataloging.
• Demonstrated success with metadata management, cataloging, and stewardship using tools such as Microsoft Purview, or comparable platforms.
• Strong knowledge of data governance frameworks, data quality principles, and compliance standards (such as HIPAA, FAIR, or similar).
• Experience with healthcare or biomedical research environments preferred.
• Proven ability to translate technical concepts for senior faculty and executives, manage conflict, and negotiate consensus.
• Proven track record of building compelling business cases for data governance and communicating value propositions to executive leadership, department chairs, and principal investigators.
• Experience recruiting, mentoring, and inspiring data talent pools.
• Experience with AI/ML model governance, research reproducibility, or metadata registries (ISO 11179).
• Familiarity with ontologies and data standards (e.g., FHIR, SNOMED, UMLS, LOINC, Gene Ontology, NIH Common Data Elements, or others).
• Experience with research data management plans.
• Knowledge of Agile project management and experience leading enterprise governance initiatives.
• Certified Data Management Professional (CDMP) or equivalent credential.