Executive Director, Data Strategy

Role Summary

The Executive Director of Data Strategy serves as the enterprise's senior authority on data vision, strategy, and value realization. This executive defines and drives the long-term data direction for the organization, leads cross-functional alignment at the C-suite level, and is accountable for enterprise-wide data outcomes, including revenue growth, operational efficiency, regulatory compliance, and superior customer experiences. The Executive Director shapes enterprise investment decisions, champions data as a strategic asset, and builds the organizational capability needed to compete in a data-driven marketplace.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and own a multi-year enterprise data strategy aligned to long-term business objectives; lead the investment thesis, portfolio prioritization, and enterprise funding model for the organization's data agenda.
• Architect and govern the enterprise data operating model (centralized/Hub-and-Spoke/Federated) with clear executive ownership (RACI), enterprise-wide standards, and sustained investment mechanisms; present strategy and measured outcomes to senior leadership.
• Establish and govern enterprise-wide data governance frameworks, policies, standards, and controls spanning privacy, security, data lineage, quality, retention, and AI risk; own executive accountability for regulatory compliance and audit readiness.
• Lead enterprise data stewardship, issue management, and risk remediation programs with measurable SLAs, executive-level reporting, and sustained defect reduction across the organization.
• Set the vision and executive accountability for the enterprise data product portfolio; ensure alignment between data product roadmaps and enterprise business strategy.
• Partner at the VP/C-suite level to define enterprise data product requirements, success metrics, and adoption frameworks that drive measurable business value at scale.
• Champion enterprise data literacy and self-service analytics programs, driving cultural transformation and capability development across all business units and functions.
• Build and own the enterprise business case framework for data investments; set and report ROI targets, including revenue uplift, cost avoidance, risk reduction, and cycle-time improvement, with direct C-suite accountability.
• Lead executive portfolio reviews with Finance, BU presidents, and the C-suite; make strategic rebalancing and investment decisions based on enterprise outcomes and shifting priorities.
• Set strategic direction for enterprise data architecture in partnership with the CTO/CIO; govern platform roadmaps across data lakehouse/warehouse, MDM, catalog, governance tools, semantic layers, and AI/ML platforms.
• Establish enterprise data standards, canonical data models, and interoperability requirements across all business domains, including finance, customer, product, operations, and HR.
• Own the enterprise framework for responsible AI and data readiness, including governance controls, PII handling, data provenance, and model monitoring standards, ensuring compliance across all ML/GenAI initiatives.
• Drive the executive prioritization and incubation of high-value analytics/AI use cases, ensuring strategic alignment, organizational readiness, and clear accountability for delivery and outcomes.
• Serve as the primary executive voice for data strategy in board presentations, C-suite alignment sessions, and external stakeholder engagements; align incentives and investment commitments with enterprise business unit leaders.
• Drive enterprise change management for data transformation initiatives; develop executive communication strategies for governance changes, new platform capabilities, and cultural enablement milestones; represent the organization in external data forums and strategic vendor partnerships.