Director, IT Data Management and Governance

Overview:

Sammons Financial Group is seeking a Director, IT Data Management and Governance to lead our technical data management strategy, ensuring high-quality, secure, and well-governed data assets. This role will direct implementation of technical solutions supporting data governance frameworks, policies and best practices to maximize the value of data while ensuring compliance with regulatory and security standards.

The ideal candidate will bring deep expertise in data governance, data quality, metadata management, and regulatory compliance while collaborating with business and technology stakeholders to drive a data-centric culture.

Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with IT leaders to provide leadership for planning, developing, and implementing information technology initiatives across all areas of the organization.
• Partner with business decision makers to ensure scoping, requirements and design of technology solutions and ongoing support is in alignment with needs.
• Owns assigned software platforms/applications and collaborates with architect and business decision makers to incorporate necessary technical advancements into the application road maps.
• Exercise leadership influence and direction with her/his organization to develop, optimize and manage application and/or infrastructure to attain all IT service level agreements for the user community within the organization.
• Participate in the analysis and selection of 3rd party software solutions to support business objectives in line with architecture strategy.
• Ensure continued focus on building a strong IT capability through people, process, and technology.
• Contribute to future state technology road map definitions and makes recommendations to enable scale, quality, and maintenance and overall cost effectiveness; measure the effectiveness of the technology capability delivery and take prompt action to close gaps.
• Stays current on industry trends and the use of emerging technologies that can contribute business value to their area helping to instill an engineering culture within the organization.
• Effectively manage detailed resource plans, forecasts and expertise needs of internal and external resources; contribute to planning of strategic skill mix decisions.
• Direct teams and provide leadership guidance in the troubleshooting and analysis of operational problems to seek prompt resolutions.
• Manage vendor relationships on an operational/project/program level, while ensuring effective integration, as needed, into overall IT capability.
• Responsible for employee development, handling of Corrective Action situations and performance evaluations.
• Ensure effective technology support and maintenance strategies are in place and actions are taken to address gaps and measure outcomes.
• Drive and reinforce commitment to internal controls processes such as those under Model Audit Rule and Record Information Management.
• Lead by example, coaching, mentoring and infusing the technology team with the right leadership thinking and motivation to help them develop and grow to ensure overall organizational success.
• Budget and manage financial plans as directed, while maintaining an awareness of industry benchmarks to serve as a basis of comparison.
• Commitment to embrace Sammons Financial Group Companies shared values (Accountability, Connection, Openness, Respect and Integrity).
• As stated within the Company Attendance and Punctuality policy, regular attendance is required and expected in order to meet the business service levels and workflow demands.

Key Competencies

Data Management Strategy & Leadership

• Lead the implementation of data governance practices across data engineering teams, including standards and controls for data quality, security, privacy, and compliance.
• Promote the adoption of enterprise data product concepts, ensuring data is effectively managed to meet the needs of the business.
• Define and implement data cataloging, metadata management, and master data management (MDM) solutions.

Data Governance & Compliance

• Ensure adherence to regulatory requirements (e.g., GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, BCBS 239) and internal compliance policies.
• Establish data lineage tracking, metadata standards, and controls to enhance data transparency and auditability.
• Collaborate with legal, risk, and compliance teams to mitigate data risks and enforce security best practices.

Data Quality & Architecture

• Develop and monitor enterprise data quality standards, including data validation, cleansing, and reconciliation processes.
• Work closely with IT, Data Engineering, and Analytics teams to define data governance architecture principles and integration strategies.
• Partner with business unit data and IT teams to ensure delivery of trusted, high-quality data for business intelligence, system integrations, and other use cases.

Stakeholder Engagement & Change Management

• Educate and influence business leaders and IT teams on the value of data governance.
• Drive cultural change by embedding data governance best practices across enterprise data products.
• Participate in data governance committees and forums to prioritize data-related initiatives and resolve governance challenges.

Qualifications:

• 10 years of experience in data management, data governance, data architecture, or related fields.
• Strong expertise in data governance frameworks (e.g., DAMA DMBOK, DCAM) and industry standards.
• Familiarity with data management tools (e.g., Collibra, Informatica, Alation, Talend, Microsoft Purview, Snowflake).
• Deep understanding of regulatory requirements related to data privacy and security.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams, driving enterprise data governance initiatives, and influencing senior executives.
• Strong technical knowledge of data architectures, cloud data platforms (Azure, AWS, GCP), APIs, and data integration.
• Exceptional communication skills with the ability to translate technical concepts into business value.
• Preferred: CDMP (Certified Data Management Professional), DGSP (Data Governance & Stewardship Professional), or equivalent certifications.

Suitability Requirements: • Due to the financial nature and level of accountability of this position, a credit and criminal background check is required - The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires Sammons Financial Group Companies to notify you that, as a routine part of processing this application for employment, Sammons Financial Group may request a consumer report on you to verify all information contained in this application. Such report may include information about work-related behaviors, performance, character, general reputation, and personal characteristics, in addition to information about your previous employment, education, credit history and criminal records
Company Information: •Sammons Financial Group offers a competitive benefit package that includes: Health, Dental, Vision, Company Paid Retirement, PTO and Holiday Pay.

• Our Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) is a 100% company-funded retirement plan, so you can save for retirement without contributing a penny of your own paycheck.
• Healthy balance between work and personal lives. Friday afternoons off all year long, competitive PTO, and generous number of paid holidays.
• Our incentive program for defined goals subject to eligibility and performance. Monetary rewards are based on individual and/or overall company performance.
• Colleagues who support one another, model our core values, and drive our healthy, high-performing culture. Pay Range: USD $112,713.00 - USD $234,819.00 /Yr. Pay Transparency Verbiage: Range includes data points from multiple labor markets. Specific range is dependent on the labor market where the incumbent will be hired to perform the position. Starting salary is dependent on candidate qualifications and experience. For a narrower salary range specific to your labor market, please inquire. Work Authorization/Sponsorship: At this time, we’re not considering candidates that need any type of immigration sponsorship now or in the future or those needing work authorization for this role (This includes, but is not limited to students on F1-OPT, F1-CPT, J-1, etc.)