Data Governance Technology Portfolio & Programme Associate Director

EY•Belfast, OH

1d•$150,000 - $337,500

About The Position

The Associate Director within EY’s Global Data Stewardship Office (DSO) turns DSO strategy into a prioritised, executable portfolio of technology initiatives. The role provides leaders with an integrated view of business and user needs, investment, roadmaps, dependencies, delivery health, resources and benefits to support decisions about priorities, sequencing and funding. It combines portfolio and program leadership, product management practices and practical understanding of data governance technology across cloud, data platforms, analytics and AI environments. The role owns the portfolio framework, planning and reporting, and coordinates discovery, requirements, delivery readiness, adoption and measurement of business value and control effectiveness. It works with business stakeholders and product and technology teams. Initiative, product and technology leads retain delivery accountability, while business sponsors retain accountability for outcomes and benefits. The position operates independently within approved strategy, investment and governance parameters, and provides portfolio leadership across teams without taking over their people-management accountability or other authorised decision rights.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent tertiary qualification in business, information systems, technology, data management, finance, program management or a related discipline, or equivalent relevant experience.
At least 10 years of relevant portfolio or program experience, including significant responsibility for data, governance, risk or technology transformation.
Demonstrated experience enabling data governance technology with data, governance, stewardship, risk, privacy, records or comparable business functions and technology teams.
Experience translating business needs into implementable governance requirements within funded initiatives across cloud, data platforms, analytics or AI environments.
Experience applying product management practices and Agile and traditional delivery approaches across a mixed portfolio, including discovery, requirements, roadmaps, backlog prioritisation, user stories, acceptance criteria, iterative planning, dependency management and approved release coordination.
Experience with investment prioritisation, integrated roadmaps, executive governance, program dependencies, financial and capacity planning, and benefits realisation.
Experience sequencing governance capabilities and platform changes against business value, risk, integration dependencies and organisational readiness.
Experience developing business cases, assessing options, balancing portfolios and supporting decisions to start, pause, stop or reshape work.
Experience overseeing delivery health, budgets, resources, vendors, risks, issues and decisions across multiple initiatives, including governance-platform implementation or integration.
Evidence of coordinating requirements traceability, design and testing checkpoints, risk-based stage gates, control evidence, release readiness and operational handover with accountable delivery and control owners.
Strong practical experience with enterprise portfolio and program management tools to manage demand, investment, roadmaps, capacity, dependencies, delivery health, risks, decisions and benefits.
Experience replacing fragmented spreadsheets and manual reporting with governed workflows, reliable portfolio data, automated dashboards and consistent management information.
Experience engaging business, Service Line Quality, data and technology stakeholders across a global, federated organisation, influencing without direct authority and negotiating delivery and adoption commitments.
Evidence of using business value, user feedback, adoption measures and control-owner evidence to assess outcomes and improve priorities.
Strong portfolio and program management expertise, including demand, investment, roadmap, financial, resource, dependency and benefits management.
Ability to apply product management practices and adapt Agile and traditional delivery approaches to EY investment, risk, finance and governance requirements without assuming formal Product Owner accountability.
Practical understanding of data governance capabilities, including catalogues, metadata and lineage, data quality, stewardship workflows, classification, access and lifecycle controls, and responsible data and AI use.
Ability to translate governance priorities and business needs into implementable requirements, investment cases and technology roadmaps with governance specialists, product teams, architects and engineers.
Understand how machine-readable controls express approved requirements as executable rules and maintain traceability to milestones, acceptance evidence and benefits.
Ability to establish proportionate portfolio quality checks, assess reporting reliability and use delivery evidence to support corrective action and continuous improvement.
Practical proficiency with enterprise portfolio and program management platforms, intake and workflow tools, dashboards, data analysis, scenario planning and reporting automation.
Working understanding of cloud and governance-platform delivery dependencies, including APIs, metadata models, lineage and data-quality integrations.
Ability to define and maintain portfolio data definitions, information models, intake workflows, reporting controls and dashboards, and coordinate configuration, automation and testing with tool administrators.
Strong commercial judgement, digital fluency, critical thinking, creative reasoning and problem-solving skills.
Strong executive communication, facilitation and negotiation skills; ability to explain technical concepts in practical business language, present evidence-based options and help stakeholders agree priorities and resolve dependencies.
Ability to influence stakeholders outside the reporting line and build agreement on delivery, adoption and outcomes across a global, federated organisation.
Applied familiarity with recognised data management frameworks such as DAMA-DMBOK and EDM Council DCAM; use CDMC where cloud data controls are relevant.
Working awareness of relevant standards and practices such as ISO/IEC 38505, ISO 8000, ISO/IEC 27001, NIST guidance and ISO 15489, sufficient to recognise portfolio implications and engage accountable specialists.
Operates independently within approved strategy, investment and governance parameters, with direction on major priorities and material accountability decisions.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Microsoft Purview or Fabric, Databricks Unity Catalog, Collibra, Informatica, Alation or comparable platforms; expertise in every platform or hands-on platform engineering is not required.
Relevant credentials such as MoP, MSP, PgMP, PMP, PRINCE2, SAFe, product or portfolio qualifications, or data management learning such as DAMA CDMP.
Complementary cloud, data-platform or governance-platform credentials and continuous professional learning demonstrating combined technology and data governance fluency.

Responsibilities

Own the integrated portfolio and program management framework for DSO technology enablement.
Set consistent standards for demand intake, triage, business cases and mobilisation; facilitate discovery of user needs, intended data use, governance requirements, technology dependencies and accountable decision makers.
Maintain the portfolio pipeline, integrated roadmap, investment view, resource plan and dependencies.
Partner with product and delivery teams to turn needs into requirements, prioritised backlogs, user stories and measurable acceptance criteria linked to releases, integration milestones and adoption plans.
Assess strategic alignment, value, urgency, risk, readiness, affordability, capacity and delivery constraints; facilitate prioritisation and sequencing decisions and negotiate trade-offs.
Recommend whether initiatives should start, pause, stop, consolidate or be reshaped, document rationale, and escalate unresolved priorities to accountable decision makers.
Establish proportionate portfolio governance, stage gates, reporting standards and delivery controls within approved decision rights.
Coordinate design and delivery checkpoints, testing and acceptance evidence, control evidence, operational readiness and confirmation of required approvals before authorised teams release work.
Oversee plans, milestones, budgets, resources, vendors, risks, issues, assumptions, dependencies, changes and decisions across initiatives.
Resolve delivery dependencies with DSO workstream owners, sponsors, Service Lines, Service Line Quality and data ecosystem stakeholders; engage Enterprise Architecture, Finance and Procurement as needed and provide portfolio insights and escalations.
Agree benefits, baselines, measures, accountable owners and realisation plans with business sponsors and control owners; monitor value, adoption and control effectiveness using their evidence.
Coordinate adoption and operational handover with business, product and platform owners, confirming support arrangements and outstanding actions.
Use user feedback, delivery lessons and outcome measures to improve portfolio practices and consistent tool use.
Build a fact base, test strategic fit and expected value, assess readiness and risk, model options and make recommendations when demand exceeds funding or capacity or information is incomplete.
Challenge weak business cases, assumptions, unclear benefits ownership and unreliable reporting; recommend reallocation, revised baselines, recovery action, pause or closure where warranted.
Work globally with the Global Data Stewardship Office and partner functions and stakeholders across EY.
Support the All In Data governance structure by providing portfolio planning, management information, decision recommendations, and coordination of requirements, delivery readiness and adoption.