Data Governance Manager

Job Description Roles & Responsibilities Establish and implement a comprehensive data governance and privacy framework, ensuring 100% alignment with CBUAE Consumer Protection Regulations, UAE Federal Decree-Law No. 45 (Data Protection), NESA standards, and BCBS 239 principles. Develop and maintain a robust library of data policies, standards, and procedures that enforce ethical data usage and compliant banking operations. Monitor the regulatory landscape continuously to ensure the bank's internal controls adapt ahead of new mandates from the CBUAE or the UAE Data Office. Oversee the Enterprise Data Catalog, ensuring all data assets are discovered, documented, and assigned a clear business owner. Define and enforce Data Classification (e.g., Public, Internal, Confidential, Restricted) to ensure appropriate security controls are applied based on data value and risk. Identify and manage Critical Data Elements (CDEs) to ensure high-priority banking data (customer IDs, transaction records) is handled with the highest integrity. Set the data security architecture (encryption, key management, access control, PII tokenisation) and embed governance and privacy controls directly into pipelines, the data platform, and DevOps gates rather than standalone documents. Drive a unified enterprise data architecture aligned to the data strategy and CBUAE localisation requirements, enabling CISO best practice on behalf of the CISO (vulnerability posture, control maturity, secure-by-design reviews). Maintain a forward security roadmap toward ISO 27001 / NESA alignment as the bank scales. Conduct Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) for all new projects, products, or third-party integrations to identify and mitigate privacy risks at the design stage. Enforce Data Residency and Sovereignty rules, ensuring that "Critical Data" remains within UAE borders in compliance with local localization laws. Serve as the bank's registered Data Protection Officer, maintaining the Records of Processing Activities (ROPA) and lawful-basis register, and acting as primary contact for the CBUAE, the UAE Data Office, external auditors and data subjects. Manage the Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) process, ensuring customers can exercise their rights to access, correct, or delete their data within legal timelines. Lead Data Quality improvement initiatives, defining Key Quality Indicators (KQIs) for accuracy, completeness, and timeliness to reduce operational rework and financial errors. Establish a Data Stewardship Network, collaborating with cross-functional leads (Retail, Risk, IT, Legal) and using an engineer-as-steward model coached by AI agents to ensure accountability for data quality at the source. Govern the ethical use of AI and Analytics, ensuring that data sets used for automated decision-making (e.g., credit scoring) are transparent, explainable, unbiased, and compliant with UAE AI guidelines. Manage Third-Party and Cloud Data Risk, evaluating the privacy and security posture of FinTech partners and providers through due diligence, "Right to Audit" clauses, and CBUAE outsourcing requirements. Drive Data Culture by providing enterprise-wide training and guidance, turning data governance from a "compliance hurdle" into a competitive advantage. Lead the Data Breach Response in coordination with the CISO, managing the notification protocols required by the CBUAE in the event of a data incident. Provide independent advice to the Board and executive on data-protection obligations, risk appetite, and emerging regulatory requirements. Complete an assessment across all three pillars (governance and privacy, data protection and cyber architecture, statutory DPO obligations), identifying key gaps and risks. Develop and socialize an actionable governance, privacy and data-protection roadmap prioritizing compliance and operational needs Draft key data governance, privacy and classification policies and procedures aligned to CBUAE, PDPL and ethical standards, with first controls embedded into the data platform and DevOps gates Complete the first DPIA on a live product and initiate the Records of Processing Activities (ROPA) Lead at least one training or awareness session for staff on data governance and privacy fundamentals Establish regular reporting mechanisms for monitoring data quality, privacy and compliance Success measures: zero unaddressed CBUAE/PDPL gaps and on-time DSAR/breach-notification performance; rising share of controls enforced in-stack vs. on paper; improving KQIs on critical data elements; governance experienced as an enabler (DPIAs unblock products rather than delay them) Desired Candidate Profile Proven experience leading data governance, privacy, or data-protection/risk within a regulated environment (preferably financial services or fintech) Hands-on, engineer-by-trade background, able to work top-down (policy and architecture) and bottom-up (building controls into the stack), not a documents-only operator Deep knowledge of CBUAE and UAE Federal Data Protection Laws, with strong regulatory compliance acumen Strong understanding of data management principles, data lifecycle, privacy frameworks, and security/enterprise architecture Demonstrated ability to create, implement, and enforce organizational policies and embed them into technology delivery Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to advocate for and challenge on data governance across technical and non-technical teams Analytical, risk-led mindset with the ability to identify and mitigate data-related risks, comfortable operating with independence and integrity Experience leading cross-functional projects or initiatives, ideally building from the ground up at startup/scale-up speed Experience standing up a data/governance function at a digital or challenger bank (greenfield) Familiarity with Sharia-compliant banking or Islamic finance principles Experience supporting AI or digital transformation initiatives, including AI governance Data governance, privacy or security certifications (e.g., CDMP, CIPP/E, CIPM, CISSP/CISM, ISO 27001 LA/LI) Knowledge of international standards (e.g., GDPR, ISO 27001, NIST, BCBS 239) Experience securing central-bank / regulator approval for a banking entity Arabic language proficiency Company Industry InternetE-commerceDotcom Department / Functional Area IT Software Keywords Data Governance Manager Get real-time job updates only on our App