Senior Program Manager, People Data Access & Governance

Zillow

3d•$120,700 - $203,000•Remote

About The Position

As a Senior Program Manager, People Data Access & Governance within the Business Operations & People Analytics organization, you’ll be part of a team at the center of one of Zillow’s most consequential investments: making people data more accessible, more intelligent, and more trustworthy, all at the same time. This team sits at the intersection of HR systems, cloud data infrastructure, and the rapidly evolving world of AI-powered workforce tools, and plays a critical role in shaping how leaders and partners across the company can engage with people data responsibly. The Senior Program Manager, People Data Access & Governance will own the program that holds all of that together. The way organizations interact with people data is changing fundamentally. When AI can be pointed at a dataset and asked anything: from “what’s driving attrition in this org?” to “show me comp distribution by level”, traditional access models built around fixed reports and credentialed BI users are no longer sufficient. This role exists because Zillow is leaning into that future, and doing it thoughtfully requires someone who can hold the full picture: who should have access to what, through which interfaces, with what controls, and accountable to whom. As Senior Program Manager, People Data Access & Governance, you’ll design and own the framework that governs access in how people data flows from source systems like Workday through cloud analytical environments like Databricks, and ultimately into the hands of HRBPs, people leaders, and AI-powered tools. You’ll navigate the spectrum from governed metric layers and curated data products all the way to back-end power user access, making principled decisions about what’s appropriate at each level. This is a program ownership role with real technical depth requirements, broad cross-functional scope, and a mandate to build something durable in a space that is still actively evolving.

Requirements

8+ years of experience in data governance, HR technology, people analytics, or technical program management, with demonstrated ownership of a program or domain, not just project delivery
Hands-on familiarity with cloud-based analytical environments, specifically Databricks, including how row-level security, column masking, Unity Catalog, and role-based access control work in practice
A clear mental model for how AI and LLM-based tools change the data governance equation; you understand that natural language interfaces to structured data require a fundamentally different access control philosophy than traditional BI, and you have a point of view on how to approach it
Experience governing sensitive data across its full lifecycle: classification, permissioning, access review cadences, audit trails, and exception handling, ideally with people or HR data specifically
Comfort operating in genuine ambiguity at scale; this role is building something that doesn’t fully exist yet, and you approach that with structured thinking, iterative momentum, and with ownership and autonomy rather than waiting for perfect clarity
Strong cross-functional partnership instincts: you know how to align InfoSec, Legal, HR, Data Engineering, and Product around a shared governance problem without letting any single stakeholder’s agenda define the outcome
A grounded, principled perspective on why people data governance matters; you treat this as work with real ethical and organizational stakes, and you can articulate that credibly to both technical and non-technical audiences
Enough HR domain fluency to understand the sensitivity of what you’re governing, but your credibility comes from your technical depth and program ownership track record, not your HR background

Nice To Haves

Experience with data privacy and compliance frameworks (GDPR, CCPA, or similar) and how they apply to workforce data specifically
Familiarity with AI/ML governance considerations, including how model training data, inference inputs, and agentic workflows create distinct access and accountability questions that traditional governance frameworks weren’t designed to address
Background working with or alongside People Analytics or HRBP teams with an understanding of how workforce data is consumed for decision-making

Responsibilities

Design and own Zillow’s People Data Access & Governance program, including policies, access frameworks, data classification standards, and the principles that determine who can access what, through which interfaces, and under what conditions
Partner with HRBPs, People Analytics, Legal and Privacy, Security, and Product and Tech leaders to understand how people data is used in practice, and design governance that protects that data without creating friction that pushes teams toward ungoverned workarounds
Govern the full spectrum of people data access: from curated, governed metric layers and self-service analytics surfaces, to back-end power user access in Databricks; understanding the risk and accountability considerations that differ across each tier
Define how AI-powered tools, including large language model interfaces that allow natural language querying of workforce data, into the access governance model, and build the guardrails that make those tools safe to deploy at scale
Own the design of role-based access controls for people data across People data domains in Databricks, partnering with Security, HR Tech, and Data Engineering to implement, audit, and maintain those controls over time
Serve as the primary decision-maker for people data access questions across the organization: fielding requests, making principled calls, and building scalable intake and escalation processes so governance doesn’t become a bottleneck
Identify and close gaps in how people data moves through Zillow’s data ecosystem, ensuring appropriate masking, permissioning, and audit mechanisms exist at every layer from source record to AI interface
Lead cross-functional working groups and drive alignment on data access standards, sensitivity classifications, and escalation paths across a complex, multi-stakeholder environment
Build the operational infrastructure of the program: intake workflows, periodic access reviews, exception handling, and reporting that gives leadership real visibility into the state of people data governance