Senior Director, Data Engineering & Governance

The Director of Data Engineering & Governance leads the technical foundation and strategic governance of Fintechs enterprise data ecosystem. This role owns the full lifecycle of data infrastructure across cloud-native platforms while building and operationalizing the governance framework that ensures data quality security and compliance across 12 product lines processing $55B in annual regulated payments.

Reporting to the VP of Data & AI this Director manages a team of Data Engineers and Database Administrators chairs the cross-functional Data Governance Council and partners across Products Infrastructure Legal and Compliance to position data as a strategic enterprise asset. The role is critical to Fintechs continued platform evolution regulatory compliance posture and AI readiness.

Data Engineering Leadership & Team Management

• Lead mentor and develop a team of Data Engineers and Database Administrators responsible for Fintechs data infrastructure
• Drive technical excellence in data engineering practices establishing coding standards review processes and operational runbooks
• Manage capacity planning project prioritization and resource allocation across concurrent initiatives including platform evolution product delivery and operational maintenance
• Build a high-performing collaborative team culture aligned with Fintechs collective intelligence philosophy

Database Operations & Platform Management

• Oversee operations and optimization of the enterprise database portfolio:
• PostgreSQL: Primary transactional database supporting modernized applications
• Apache Druid: Real-time analytics and OLAP workloads
• MongoDB: Document store for flexible schema requirements
• OpenSearch: Search logging and observability
• Establish database performance monitoring capacity management and incident response procedures
• Drive continuous optimization of cloud-native database deployments for cost performance and reliability
• Partner with Infrastructure on Azure cloud optimization Kubernetes deployment patterns and Terraform infrastructure-as-code for data resources

Data Pipeline Architecture & Operations

• Own the design development and maintenance of enterprise data pipelines spanning:
• Ingestion: Apache NiFi for batch/file processing SFTP integrations with trading partners
• Streaming: Apache Kafka for real-time event pipelines
• Processing & Storage: Databricks lakehouse as the enterprise source of truth with Unity Catalog governance
• Distribution: Pipelines feeding fit-for-purpose downstream databases and third-party integrations (Salesforce HubSpot Chameleon Heap)
• Establish pipeline observability alerting and SLA management across the data stack
• Drive adoption of DataOps practices including CI/CD for data pipelines automated testing and deployment automation

Data Contracts & API Development

• Define and implement the enterprise data contract frameworkformalizing schemas quality expectations SLAs and ownership for data exchanged between producers and consumers
• Partner with API/MDM team to design and deliver data APIs via KrakenD gateway ensuring consistent access patterns and rate limiting
• Establish schema registry and versioning practices for Kafka topics and Databricks tables
• Integrate data contracts into the SDLC ensuring contract validation at pipeline deployment

Data Governance Program Leadership

• Establish and chair the enterprise Data Governance Council with representation from Data Products Infrastructure Legal and Compliance
• Design and operationalize the enterprise data governance framework grounded in DAMA DMBOK covering:
• Data quality standards and measurement
• Data classification and sensitivity labeling
• Access control policies and enforcement
• Retention and archival requirements
• Lineage and impact analysis
• Implement governance controls natively within Databricks Unity Catalogincluding catalog/schema/table permissions row/column-level security and attribute-based access via integration with CRAFT (zero-trust ABAC layer)
• Lead metadata management using Open Metadata integrated with Unity Catalog ensuring comprehensive lineage from source systems through consumption
• Maintain the enterprise business glossary with consistent definitions across all 12 product lines
• Recruit and coordinate federated Data Stewards and Data Owners across business units

Data Security & Protection

• Own the data security posture across the enterprise data platform partnering with Information Security to implement defense-in-depth controls
• Implement and monitor data-at-rest encryption (Azure Storage encryption Databricks workspace encryption) and data-in-transit encryption (TLS for all data movement)
• Establish data masking tokenization and anonymization standards for sensitive data elements (PII PCI financial data)
• Configure and maintain Unity Catalog audit logging and system tables for comprehensive data access monitoring
• Define and enforce least-privilege access models across all data platforms integrating with Auth0 identity and OPA policy enforcement
• Lead data security incident response procedures including breach investigation impact assessment and remediation
• Conduct periodic data security risk assessments and vulnerability remediation

Certification Audit & Regulatory Compliance

• Serve as the data engineering and governance lead for SOC 2 Type II certification ensuring data-related controls are documented implemented tested and auditable
• Align governance and security controls with NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF 2.0) particularly:
• Govern: Risk management strategy roles/responsibilities policy
• Identify: Asset management data inventory
• Protect: Data security access control platform security
• Detect: Continuous monitoring via Unity Catalog audit logs
• Prepare governance documentation and evidence collection for NYDFS Cybersecurity Regulation (23 NYCRR 500) requirementsaccess controls audit trails third-party data risk management and incident reporting
• Ensure CCPA compliance through governance processes supporting data subject rights (access deletion portability) with technical implementation in the data platform
• Partner with Legal on 50-state alcohol regulatory data requirements ensuring proper retention and auditability for licensing compliance
• Conduct annual data governance maturity assessments and develop continuous improvement roadmaps

AI & Advanced Analytics Enablement

• Establish data engineering and governance foundations for Fintechs AI platform including:
• Training data lineage and provenance documentation
• Feature store governance and access controls
• Model input/output data quality monitoring
• Partner with Data Architecture on vector and graph database integration patterns for AI workloads
• Monitor evolving AI governance requirements (NIST AI RMF SEC AI disclosure guidance NYDFS AI risk guidance) and advise council on data governance implications
• Ensure AI training data complies with data classification consent and regulatory constraints

Strategic Planning & Stakeholder Engagement

• Develop and execute the multi-year data engineering and governance roadmap aligned with Fintechs platform strategy and 3-year ecosystem vision
• Translate technical data initiatives into business value for executive stakeholders
• Manage vendor relationships for data platform tooling (Databricks Confluent/Kafka OpenMetadata)

Represent Data Engineering & Governance in cross-functional initiatives including M&A integration new product launches and enterprise architecture reviews

Qualifications:

Required Education:

Bachelors degree in Computer Science Information Systems Engineering or related field

Required Knowledge and Experience

• 10 years of progressive experience in data engineering data management or related technical disciplines
• 5 years of direct people management experience leading data engineering or database administration teams
• 3 years of hands-on experience building and operationalizing data governance programs
• Deep technical expertise with modern data platforms:
  • Lakehouse: Databricks (Unity Catalog Delta Lake Spark)
  • Streaming: Apache Kafka (or Confluent) event-driven architectures
  • Databases: PostgreSQL MongoDB and at least one analytical database (Druid ClickHouse or similar)
  • Orchestration/Ingestion: Apache NiFi Airflow or comparable tools
• Experience implementing data governance controls in cloud-native environments including role-based and attribute-based access control
• Working knowledge of compliance frameworks: SOC 2 PCI-DSS and data privacy regulations (CCPA GDPR)
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional governance bodies and drive outcomes through influence
• Strong communication skills with ability to translate technical concepts for business and executive audiences

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with data security practices: encryption tokenization masking DLP and security monitoring
• Familiarity with cybersecurity frameworks (NIST CSF NIST 800-53) and security audit processes
• Experience with metadata management and data lineage tools (OpenMetadata Atlan Alation or Collibra)
• Knowledge of API gateway patterns and data API design (REST GraphQL)
• DAMA CDMP CISM CISSP or equivalent certifications
• Experience in payments fintech or regulated industries (alcohol beverage compliance a plus)
• Experience supporting AI/ML data pipelines and governance
• Masters degree in relevant discipline

Excellent to Have

• Direct experience with NYDFS Cybersecurity Regulation (23 NYCRR 500) compliance
• Background in cybersecurity operations security architecture or security engineering
• Experience implementing zero-trust data access models
• Familiarity with data security tools: SIEM integration data loss prevention privileged access management

Required Experience:

Exec