AVP, Data Strategy and Knowledge Management

Job Description

The Head of Data Strategy, Governance and Knowledge Management is a pivotal leadership role that is accountable for the enterprise-wide data strategy, driving it’s execution in strong partnership with business units/division IT to align functional data needs.

The leader is accountable for master data, data quality, metadata, reference data, governance and knowledge management frameworks, ensuring enterprise-wide compliance and integrity. They work closely with senior leaders across the enterprise, particularly in BU-aligned IT divisions, to embed governance and quality practices into business-critical systems. They also oversee the governance of procured datasets and enterprise information architecture.

Position Responsibilities:

• Enterprise Data Strategy & Executive Leadership

  • Defines, socializes and drives the enterprise data strategy in close partnership with business and IT leadership, aligning data initiatives with core business objectives and scientific innovation

  • Acts as a senior liaison to business units and divisional IT function leadership, advocating for and securing buy in on data governance initiatives and master data principles.

  • Defines principles and policies for enterprise data governance by domain, ensuring accountability and ownership across the business

  • Partners with senior leaders from BU ITs, data stewards, and domain leads to embed data literacy and fluency into the culture

• Enterprise Data Domains, Metadata & Taxonomy Management

  • Establishes and leads the enterprise-wide data governance and master data management (MDM) functions, including the definition of roles, responsibilities, and a clear operating model.

  • Accountable for the quality, integrity, and lifecycle management of critical enterprise data domains (e.g., Customer, Product, Supplier, Patient, IT etc.) and their associated metadata, taxonomies, and hierarchies.

  • Builds and maintains metadata catalogs (e.g., lineage, ontologies, controlled vocabularies) to standardize classification and enable enterprise search/discovery

  • Directs the implementation of modern MDM platforms, tools and practice, defining authoritative data sources and golden record management to ensure a single source of truth.

• Data Quality Frameworks

  • Establishes and enforces frameworks for data quality, standards, monitoring, remediation, and compliance across the enterprise

  • Defines and implements enterprise-wide data quality rules, reference architectures, and observability (pipelines, DQ scores, trust indicators)

  • Embeds connectivity with AI governing body to ensure responsible and auditable data consumption

• Governance of External Datasets

  • Oversees governance of procured and external datasets, ensuring appropriate use, compliance, licensing, and retention policies

  • Embeds risk assessment, vendor evaluation, and audit readiness into dataset procurement and use

• Information Architecture & Governance

  • Owns and collaborated closely with Enterprise Architecture function on enterprise information architecture practices, ensuring scalability, interoperability, and fit-for-purpose design

  • Embeds access and security enablement policies (RBAC/ABAC, encryption, data residency, privacy-by-design) into enterprise data architecture

  • Partners with IT and Security to ensure compliance with global regulatory frameworks and organizational risk posture

• Knowledge Management & Reuse

  • Establishes enterprise KM strategy to capture, curate, and reuse institutional knowledge, best practices, and playbooks

  • Enables flow of both explicit (documented) and tacit (know-how) knowledge through standardized governance, platforms, and communities of practice

• Enterprise Collaboration across IT

  • Partners with senior leaders across BU-aligned IT divisions to embed governance, quality, and compliance practices into business-critical systems and platforms

• Managerial Responsibilities:

  • Manages team of 2 Executive Directors and 8 directors as direct reports plus the respective teams of approximately 90 employees.

Education Requirements:

Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, Business, or related field required; Master’s degree preferred (MBA, Information Management, or related)

Behavioral Competencies Required:

• Ability to set and drive enterprise adoption of governance standards in complex, global env