Senior Taxonomist – Legal and Compliance (Hybrid)

Morgan Stanley • Montreal, QC

2d • Hybrid

About The Position

We're seeking someone to join our team as a Senior Taxonomist in Enterprise NFR to lead the design, governance, and evolution of enterprise taxonomies and related semantic assets used across the Non-Financial Risk domain. In the Legal & Compliance division, we assist the Firm in achieving its business objectives by facilitating and overseeing the Firm’s management of legal, regulatory and franchise risk. This is a Vice President level position within NFR Data & Analytics. NFR Data & Analytics is a function in the Legal and Compliance Division responsible for designing and optimizing surveillance models, approaches and tools using advanced analytical techniques like supervised and unsupervised machine learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP) and evolving techniques like graph analytics. The surveillances and other tools help identify suspicious and/or illegal behaviors like money laundering, market manipulation, insider trading, unfair sales or trading practices and other financial crimes. The team also supports the structuring, standardization, and discoverability of NFR information assets through taxonomy, metadata, and semantic capabilities that enable analytics, governance, and AI-driven use cases. In this role, you will lead the development of enterprise taxonomies and information structures that enhance the discoverability, reuse, and intelligent application of NFR data, enabling advanced capabilities such as semantic search, knowledge graphs, and AI-driven insights.

Requirements

• At least 8 years of experience of taxonomy and metadata management, information architecture, ontology, or knowledge organization within a large enterprise or similarly complex environment with a Bachelor's degree in library science, information science, computer science or related discipline.
• Demonstrated ability to lead enterprise-scale taxonomy governance programmes and drive cross-functional adoption.
• Strong executive stakeholder engagement, communication, collaboration, and change management skills.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, including business/data analysis and concept or entity extraction to support taxonomy development.
• Experience in the categorization and use of business data in support of business processes such as risk management, vendor management or financial management.
• Experience using enterprise data, metadata, taxonomy management platforms, and related analytical tooling.
• Knowledge of semantic technologies, including SKOS modelling, SPARQL, and broader ontology management practices.
• Understanding of financial services terminology, operating models, data structures, regulatory requirements, and the application of taxonomy frameworks to business processes such as risk, vendor, financial, or procurement management.
• Knowledge of French and English is required.

Responsibilities

• Provide thought leadership and establish standards for taxonomy design, adoption, and governance across NFR and related stakeholder groups.
• Lead taxonomy implementation initiatives from requirements gathering through design, development, governance, and adoption.
• Partner with Technology and Data teams to operationalize taxonomy and semantic capabilities in enterprise platforms.
• Own and maintain enterprise taxonomy assets, including lifecycle management, change control, and quality oversight.
• Define and enhance taxonomy operating models, governance processes, tooling practices, and user support capabilities.
• Represent the taxonomy function in NFR and Firmwide working groups, driving alignment on standards, governance, and best practices.
• Mentor junior team members and guide best practices in taxonomy development.

Benefits

• Hybrid work environment, combining remote work and attendance in the office.
• Attractive and comprehensive employee benefits and perks in the industry.
• Ample opportunity to move about the business for those who show passion and grit in their work.

What This Job Offers

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