Senior Director of Data

City of New York•New York City, NY

About The Position

The NYC Campaign Finance Board is seeking an experienced and strategic Senior Director of Data to lead the agency’s data governance, privacy, information management, records and public disclosure, and artificial intelligence (AI) assurance functions. The role will establish and oversee frameworks, standards, policies, and controls to ensure agency data is trustworthy, secure, appropriately governed, legally compliant, and suitable for operational, analytical, research, and public-disclosure purposes. The Senior Director will lead data strategy across structured and unstructured data environments, oversee governance of the data lakehouse and cloud-migration initiatives, strengthen the agency’s privacy program, and ensure appropriate management of records and Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) production. The role will establish an independent AI assurance function to evaluate data readiness, privacy, fairness, transparency, and accountability before AI use cases are authorized for production and while they remain operational. The new Data department is part of the Strategy, Products, and Innovation division. Initially, the Senior Director will bring the Records, Data & Information unit into the department, establish a data governance program alongside the agency’s cloud migration, and build workflows across these disciplines. Over time, the department is expected to develop a data science capability that supports the agency’s mission and strategic goals. The position is a strategic governance and organizational leadership role, not a hands-on data engineering role. It partners with senior leadership, engineering, legal, records, product, and other stakeholders, and is responsible for building capabilities and teams while strengthening established functions.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field.
10 or more years of experience in data governance, privacy, records management, or related information-governance functions, including 5 or more years of team leadership.
Demonstrated experience developing and implementing enterprise data governance frameworks and holding technical teams accountable to established standards.
Experience building or improving privacy, information-governance, records-management, or compliance programs.
Knowledge of AI/ML governance, data readiness, bias and fairness assessment, and responsible AI assurance.
Familiarity with data lakehouses, cloud governance platforms, data loss prevention, and relevant FedRAMP/NIST-aligned requirements.
Strong understanding of records retention, public-records disclosure, and statutory or regulatory compliance.
Excellent leadership, communication, stakeholder-management, documentation, and strategic planning skills.
Ability to exercise independent judgment on data privacy, AI assurance, fairness, and compliance risks, including when delivery timelines create competing priorities.
Ability to build new governance capabilities while improving established programs, processes, and teams.
Technology Development Manager civil-service qualification: a relevant master’s degree and three years of satisfactory full-time experience in a large technology operation involving complex and highly confidential IT systems and emergency telecommunications, or a related field, including at least 18 months in an executive, managerial, administrative, or supervisory capacity; or a bachelor’s degree and four years of such experience, including at least 18 months in such a capacity; or equivalent education and/or experience. All candidates must have 18 months of the described executive, managerial, administrative, or supervisory experience.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree in data, information management, law, public policy, or a related discipline.
Public-sector, regulated-industry, or comparable governance experience.
Experience leading data governance, information governance, privacy, or records functions, ideally spanning multiple areas.
Experience strengthening and maturing functions with statutory or compliance responsibilities.
Experience building operational privacy and data-governance capabilities while integrating and developing established teams.
Experience with records management, retention scheduling, public-records production, and proactive disclosure workflows.
Familiarity with centralized governance platforms such as Microsoft Purview.
Experience evaluating strategic vendor deliverables and overseeing governance requirements for data platforms and cloud-migration initiatives.
Knowledge of data science and predictive modeling sufficient to scope, staff, and lead a future data science function.
Strong cross-divisional leadership, stakeholder-convening, and executive communication capabilities.
Demonstrated ability to build new functions, strengthen existing programs, and maintain high standards of documentation, defensibility, and audit readiness.

Responsibilities

Develop and oversee enterprise data governance frameworks, including data classification, quality, metadata, lineage, and retention standards.
Establish and lead the agency’s privacy and information-governance program, including sensitive-data protection, data loss prevention, and disclosure screening.
Oversee records management, FOIL and public-records production, retention schedules, and proactive open-data disclosure.
Lead independent AI assurance reviews covering data readiness, privacy, bias, fairness, transparency, and accountability.
Govern data platforms, cloud migration, and data lakehouse initiatives by establishing standards and reviewing technical and vendor deliverables.
Partner with engineering leadership to ensure data solutions meet governance requirements while maintaining appropriate separation between governance and technical implementation.
Build and strengthen governance, privacy, and records functions; lead team integration, workforce planning, staff development, and performance management.
Develop long-term data strategy and a roadmap for future in-house data science and predictive modeling capabilities.
Advise executive leadership on data risks, compliance, governance priorities, and organizational strategy.
Establish governance standards technical teams can operationalize and maintain, and hold engineering teams accountable to those standards without direct reporting authority.
Translate complex governance and regulatory requirements into practical, documented standards and actionable policies.
Build consensus across engineering, Legal, IT, records, and executive leadership while balancing operational needs with statutory obligations.
Maintain high standards of documentation, audit readiness, transparency, and defensible decision-making.