Associate Director, Data Governance

Takeda•Boston, MA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

As an Associate Director, Data Governance, you will be responsible for defining, implementing, and overseeing data governance policies, practices, and capabilities across R&D data domains, in collaboration with business and enterprise stakeholders. You will ensure data quality, integrity, security, and regulatory compliance throughout the R&D data lifecycle, enabling trusted data for analytics and prioritized AI use cases.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Data Science, Business Administration, or a related field.
7-10 years of experience in data governance, data management, compliance, and policy management within pharmaceutical, healthcare, or life sciences organizations.
Demonstrated experience designing and managing systems that support automated, self-service data access.
Proven ability to align data governance policies with business objectives and regulatory requirements.
Deep expertise in data governance frameworks, regulatory compliance, and data privacy.
Proven knowledge across R&D data domains, including Research, Clinical, Regulatory, Safety, and Portfolio, in a regulated biopharmaceutical environment.
Strong communication and presentation skills, with the ability to engage and influence stakeholders at all levels.
Ability to lead and influence cross-functional teams in a matrixed organization.
Experience developing and implementing data governance policies aligned to business and compliance needs.
Strong strategic thinking, risk management, and problem-solving skills.

Nice To Haves

Master’s or Ph.D. in Data Science, Information Management, Business Administration, or related field.
Additional experience in pharmaceutical or healthcare regulatory and data privacy environments.
Practical working knowledge of AI use cases and data pipelines to enable.
Familiarity with data governance platforms, data lakes, and data warehousing solutions.
Demonstrated ability to drive organizational change through data-driven decision-making and strategic initiatives.

Responsibilities

Support and facilitate governance councils and committees to enable end-to-end R&D Data Governance program across all data domains.
Establish and maintain data governance capabilities and practices in collaboration with SME’s that ensure appropriate access to complete, trustworthy data in compliance with regulatory requirements.
Plan, implement, and continuously improve data governance capabilities, including identifying and mitigating risks and prioritizing and executing improvement initiatives.
Design and embed governance frameworks directly into platforms and workflows to enable scalable, automated governance rather than manual oversight.
Define, align, and operationalize data use and data access policies across R&D.
Ensure responsible data usage by monitoring and reporting on data access and usage, identifying, correcting, and preventing risky or non-compliant behaviors.
Develop, maintain, and implement data governance policies and procedures.
Align R&D data governance policies with enterprise-wide standards.
Ensure data is Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable within the organization.
Facilitate the design and deployment of FAIR data practices.
Create and maintain a taxonomy for data restrictions and qualifications.
Implement and manage systems to enable automated self-service data access.
Uphold high standards of data quality, integrity, and privacy.
Collaborate with Enterprise, Legal, Ethics & Compliance, Privacy, and Global Data Council on data policy development and deployment.
Monitor short, medium, and long-term governance needs.
Report on data access and usage, addressing and preventing risky behavior.