Head of Data Governance

Howden is a global insurance group with employee ownership at its heart, seeking a Head of Data Governance to lead the design, implementation, and continuous improvement of the Group's data governance.

Requirements

• 10+ years’ experience with at least several years in a senior, cross-functional data governance role (or equivalent) building and running governance programmes at scale.
• Insurance / financial services experience - demonstrable experience of data governance in the insurance or heavily regulated financial sector (understanding of regulatory requirements and sector data flows).
• AI & model governance experience - practical experience establishing Responsible AI, model risk management or ML governance frameworks; familiarity with model registries, explainability, drift detection and synthetic data controls.
• Strong technical understanding - hands-on knowledge of metadata/catalog tooling and MDM plus exposure to modern data platforms (Snowflake/Databricks/S3, lakehouse, data mesh concepts).
• Privacy & security competence - thorough understanding of GDPR, data protection principles, DLP, and IT security standards such as ISO 27001; comfortable working with DPOs and CISOs.
• Stakeholder & people leadership - excellent communication and influencing skills with C-level stakeholders; experience building and developing Data Owners/Stewards communities and leading small specialist teams.
• Regulatory & audit readiness - experience preparing for and responding to audits / regulatory enquiries and evidence-based assurance reporting.
• Education - degree in Computer Science, Information Management, Data Science, Business Information Systems or equivalent experience. Advanced degree desirable.

Benefits

• Generous Paid Time Off
• 401k Matching
• Retirement Plan
• Visa Sponsorship
• Four Day Work Week
• Generous Parental Leave
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Relocation Assistance