Director, Data Governance & AI Data Enablement

Athene • West Des Moines, IA

2d

About The Position

We are driven to do more. More for our customers and the financial professionals who offer our products. If you are driven to do more and love the challenge of pursuing more, Athene is your kind of company. You will find we offer more than the basics to create an inclusive and dynamic work environment at our various locations. Purpose: Athene is seeking a senior leader to transform data governance into a business-led, AI-enabled capability. This role will ensure data is trusted, discoverable, and fit for advanced analytics, AI, and emerging agentic use cases, while embedding clear ownership within business domains and scaling governance through modern platforms and operating models. Reporting to the Chief Data Officer (CDO), this individual will serve as a key member of the CDO leadership team, shaping enterprise data and AI strategy while leading a high-performing team to execute on governance priorities.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree plus 8+ years of experience in data governance, data management, or related fields
• Experience supporting analytics, AI, or data-driven use cases
• Strong knowledge of data quality, metadata, lineage, and governance practices
• Experience with enterprise data governance or metadata platforms (e.g., Collibra, Alation, Informatica, Atlan)
• Proven ability to lead teams and drive cross-functional adoption

Nice To Haves

• Experience in financial services or other regulated industries
• Familiarity with AI/ML, GenAI, or agentic AI data requirements
• Exposure to cloud data platforms (e.g., AWS, Snowflake)
• Strategic mindset with strong execution focus and ability to translate governance into business value
• Influential leadership and stakeholder management
• Ability to balance governance rigor with innovation enablement
• Drive. Discipline. Confidence. Focus. Commitment.

Responsibilities

• Evolve data governance into a business-aligned model with clear domain ownership, treating data as a product with defined SLAs, quality standards, and measurable outcomes.
• Define and operationalize AI-ready data standards (quality, lineage, metadata, labeling) and partner with data, AI, and engineering teams to ensure datasets are fit-for-purpose for analytics, AI, and agentic use cases.
• Scale metadata, catalog, and lineage capabilities; establish consistent business definitions; and improve data discoverability and reuse across domains.
• Establish and monitor data quality standards and scorecards, partnering with engineering to implement observability and enable continuous improvement.
• Extend governance to structured and unstructured data, including classification, labeling, and secure usage, in alignment with responsible AI and traceability standards.
• Lead adoption of modern governance and metadata platforms, enabling self-service access and embedding governance into data, analytics, and AI workflows.
• Partner across business, technology, risk, and compliance; deliver executive reporting; and promote data literacy and a data-driven culture.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director