VP - Data Governance & Strategy

Ookla • Dallas, TX

1d • $170,000 - $280,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

The VP of Data Governance & Strategy is a senior leadership role within Ookla’s Chief Data & Analytics Office responsible for defining and operationalizing the enterprise data governance strategy, policies, standards, and data ownership frameworks that enable trusted, high-quality, secure, and compliant data across Ookla. This role reports directly to the CDAO. This leader will establish the governance vision, operating model, and cross-functional practices that ensure Ookla’s data is discoverable, well-defined, properly owned, and fit for purpose. Working across product, engineering, analytics, legal, compliance, and business teams, the role will drive a culture of data accountability, data literacy, and responsible data use aligned to enterprise strategy and regulatory expectations. This position operates in a hybrid work environment and includes approximately 25% travel to support stakeholder engagement, governance program delivery, data quality initiatives, and team collaboration.

Requirements

• Deep expertise in enterprise data governance, data quality, metadata management, data stewardship, and data catalog platforms.
• Strong understanding of data privacy regulations (GDPR, CCPA), data security frameworks, and regulatory compliance requirements.
• Experience defining and operationalizing governance operating models, data ownership frameworks, and enterprise data policies at scale.
• Proven ability to build and sustain data quality programs, observability practices, and data lineage frameworks in complex organizations.
• Familiarity with modern data governance tooling, data catalogs, metadata management, and cloud-native data platforms.
• Strong executive communication, stakeholder management, and organizational leadership skills.
• Strategic mindset with the ability to balance governance rigor, data enablement, change management, and business value delivery.
• Bachelor’s degree in Information Management, Computer Science, Data Management, Business Administration, or a related field.
• 15+ years of experience in data governance, data quality, data management, compliance, or related technology disciplines.
• 7+ years of leadership experience managing data governance, data quality, data stewardship, or data enablement teams and programs.
• Experience building and scaling enterprise data governance programs, including policy frameworks, stewardship networks, and data catalogs.

Nice To Haves

• Advanced degree preferred.
• Relevant certifications in data governance, data management (e.g., CDMP), privacy, or related disciplines are preferred.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead Ookla’s enterprise data governance strategy, operating model, policies, standards, and multi-year roadmap.
• Establish and operationalize data ownership, data stewardship, and accountability frameworks across all data domains.
• Oversee enterprise data quality programs, including data quality rules, monitoring, observability, lineage, and remediation.
• Lead data security and privacy governance, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and enterprise data protection standards.
• Build and run the enterprise data catalog, metadata management practices, and data discovery capabilities.
• Drive data literacy, data enablement, and change management programs to build a data-fluent, governance-aware organization.
• Partner with legal, compliance, engineering, product, analytics, and CDAO leadership to embed governance into data platforms, pipelines, and workflows.
• Build, mentor, and develop a high-performing data governance, quality, security, and enablement organization.

What This Job Offers

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