Overview:
Based in New York City with regular travel to our corporate Head office in Kennett Square and reporting into Chief Product and Technology Officer, the Head of Data & Governance will take overall ownership for the company’s data assets and enterprise data science capabilities. As the Head of Data & Governance, you will be empowered to organize, engage and lead a team of data and technology professionals with a shared vision, roadmap and accountability around the data lake, engineering, data architecture, standardization, governance, enablement, science, and ultimately productization. You will be a technically-capable executive with an ability to lead functions such as data engineering and data science. You will need to be able to engage credibly with the broader Technology function at Chatham.
As the Head of Data & Governance, you will be responsible for the definition and implementation of the data strategy and the leadership of an enterprise-wide data organization to continue to shift the culture of Chatham to embrace data as a strategic advantage for the organization. You will define and implement enterprise-wide data policies, establish improved data processes to make data more accessible internally and externally, and develop a data quality framework. You will take an operational approach towards structuring, optimizing, and professionalizing the firm’s data and unlock the value of the firm’s data. In so doing, you will improve employee and customer experience, increase revenue generation, and reduce costs. Key to success, this executive will reach across siloed organizations in order to build capabilities and align delivery. As a successful candidate, you will leverage data assets and develop solutions with an eye to achieving financial outcomes as well as optimizing actuarial and regulatory functions. The Head of Data & Governance will additionally drive enhanced information security and data protection, and enable the establishment of an Agile, data-driven environment.
In this role you will:
- Create a federated data management function:
- Ensure a firm wide partnership and commitment across the functions for data architecture, data engineering, data governance and data quality. Work with leaders to define the data vision and implement a long-term data management roadmap, domains, standards, and polices across the firm to utilize data assets effectively and efficiently.
- Be credible on technical issues such as data engineering and data science. With an ability to interact credibly with stakeholders within the Technology function at Chatham.
- Establish and act as ultimate owner of enterprise data quality standards and data dictionary and be accountable, in liaison with the data owners, for data integrity at each step of the life cycle of the data production, aggregation / transformation, controls and reporting.
- Monitor and report on adherence to data management standards across the organization and compliance with data-related regulation/regulator mandates, and proactively recommend adjustments or course corrections as appropriate
- Build a centre of excellence, environs and toolsets to support a common data management approach and architecture by the application teams and other teams/constituents touching data
- Enable business unit and functional leaders as they leverage data
- Coordinate the collection and aggregation of data with relevant stakeholders to allow strategic data- driven decisions at the senior management level.
- In liaison with the Technology organization, identify the need for new infrastructure/tools to support changes in the data flow.
- Accelerate the pace of analytics utilization across the entire company by optimizing our data science and analytics organization.
- Partner closely with relevant business leaders to objectively define and assess performance, drive actionable insights and proactively enable decision making through analytics.
- Define, develop and implement advanced analytic processes within business units and functional groups, creating methods and tools for consistency and standardization throughout the entire organization.
- Facilitate and recommend where businesses/functions have decision rights
- Facilitate the setting of data management standards (“shall do, shall not do”) to achieve effective and consistent data management, and monitor any remediation and implementation activities
- Shape consistency in data strategy setting and investment management, applying ‘best practices’ across businesses and functions; point out potential gaps in the data investment portfolios of the businesses and functions (e.g. vis-à-vis competitors) and support/drive consideration of ways to address gaps
- Provide the platform to align on and foster cross-enterprise investment such as common data capabilities and data platforms for re-use and enterprise scale and data/AI R&D
- Drive alignment on target states for priority data domains and business/function data platforms and ensure effective execution towards target states
Your impact:
will be a transformative data executive with significant experience building successful teams and technical solutions in a sophisticated company. S/he will bring an operational approach, deep technical skills, and a strategic mindset towards driving an organization’s data journey. The ideal candidate will need credibility, gravitas, a strong leadership presence and influencing skills to communicate the opportunities for data and governance across the business and the technical depth to ensure that those opportunities are realized.
The Head of Data & Governance will need to have an appropriate level of strategic and technical acumen and a proven ability to deconstruct complex problems with data analysis. S/he will have experience working with large, complex datasets to extract insights, including the use of world-class advanced analytical tools to drive more effective strategies. A demonstrated interest in, knowledge of, and enthusiasm for a full spectrum of technical solutions covering both open source and commercial vendors will be highly relevant as well. Financial services experience is beneficial but not required and a demonstrated ability to be successful in a complicated, highly collaborative enterprise is highly desired, especially in those with large data volumes, operational complexity, or diverse customer needs.
Contributors to your success:
- Minimum 10 years of experience in data governance, data engineering, and data strategy, with a focus on leadership roles.
- Experience building new Data Practices or leading significant transformations of existing practices, proven experience in building, managing, and scaling data teams across multiple geographies and products.
- Advanced degree such as a Master's or Ph.D. in a relevant field, including information management, data science, computer science, or business administration.
- Expertise in data governance frameworks and compliance requirements (GDPR, CCPA, etc.)
- Hands-on experience with ETL tools, data lakes, and data warehousing solutions (Snowflake, Redshift, BigQuery, etc.).
- Strong familiarity with cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services, Azure, or Google Cloud.
- Comprehensive knowledge of data visualization tools such as Tableau or Power BI.
- Strong grasp of modern data architecture, data modeling techniques, and best practices for data governance.
- The ability to set clear and challenging goals while committing the organization to improved performance; tenacious and accountable in driving results.
- Comfortable with ambiguity and uncertainty; the ability to adapt nimbly and lead others through complex situations.
- A risk-taker who seeks data and input from others to foresee possible threats or unintended circumstances from decisions; someone who takes smart risks.
- A leader who is viewed by others as having a high degree of integrity and forethought in her/his approach to making decisions; the ability to act in a transparent and consistent manner while always taking into account what is best for the organization.
- The ability to attract and recruit top talent, motivate the team, delegate effectively, celebrate diversity within the team, and manage performance; widely viewed as a strong developer of others.
- The ability to persevere in the face of challenges, and exhibit a steadfast resolve and relentless commitment to higher standards, which commands respect from followers.
- A leader who is self-reflective and aware of his/her own limitations; leads by example and drives the organization's performance with an attitude of continuous improvement by being open to feedback and self-improvement.
About Chatham Financial:
Chatham Financial delivers financial risk management advisory and technology solutions to organizations across industries and around the world by helping companies maximize value in the capital markets. At Chatham, we help businesses improve their bottom lines. But that’s not the only place we’re committed to making an impact. We look beyond our clients, too — enhancing the markets where we work, supporting the clients we partner with, helping our employees thrive, and giving back to the world at large. And when you join Chatham, you’re an integral part of this equation, enabling us to live this purpose-driven philosophy every day.
