Senior Data Platform Governance Specialist
Role Summary
The Senior Data Platform Governance Specialist drives governance excellence, operational discipline, and cost predictability across global data platforms. This role champions a āGovernance-as-Codeā approach, ensuring that platforms such as Snowflake, Databricks, and Cloudera are secure, audit-ready, and optimized by default. The position acts as a bridge between Platform Engineering, FinOps, Security, and Leadership, enabling engineering velocity without compromising enterprise risk standards.
Key Responsibilities
1. Strategic Governance and Policy-as-Code (āGolden Rulesā)
- Define, develop, and maintain āGolden Pathsā and global standards for data platform architecture, usage, and compliance.
- Translate written governance policies into automated, executable checks (Governance-as-Code) using GitLab CI/CD, Terraform, ServiceNow, and platform-native security controls.
- Maintain a version-controlled, audit-ready repository of governance policies ensuring traceability and seamless compliance for regulated workloads.
2. Analytics, Auditing, and Executive Reporting
- Design, build, and deliver monthly Best-Practice Scorecard Reports to track platform health, cost anomalies, and compliance drift.
- Present actionable compliance, security, and FinOps metrics to senior IT and business leadership, highlighting risks and optimization opportunities.
3. Engineering Enablement and Culture
- Conduct training sessions, architectural forums, and 1:1 coaching to upskill data engineers and architects on best practices.
- Partner with engineering teams to ensure compliance controls are embedded early in the deployment lifecycle (Shift-Left).
4. Cross-Functional Alignment
- Serve as the central governance liaison across Platform Engineering, FinOps, Cloud Security, and other teams.
- Ensure platform configurations align with corporate data privacy standards (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA) and industry regulations.
Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
- Platform Expertise: 7+ years of hands-on experience managing, architecting, or governing at least two major enterprise data platforms (e.g., Cloudera CDP, Snowflake, Databricks, Oracle, SQL Server).
- Cloud Infrastructure: Strong foundational knowledge of AWS and/or Azure infrastructure concepts (compute sizing, storage classes, data transfer/egress economics).
- Regulatory Acumen: Proven experience creating and enforcing technical standards in highly regulated, global enterprises (Pharma, Life Sciences, Healthcare, or Finance preferred).
- Modern Tooling: Hands-on familiarity with automation and ITSM tools (GitLab CI, Terraform, ServiceNow).
- Frameworks: Solid knowledge of ITIL service management and Policy-as-Code concepts.
- Leadership and Influence: Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills; able to drive change without direct authority and push back constructively when needed.
Minimum Education and Certifications
- Education: Bachelorās degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Systems Engineering, or related field.
- Highly Preferred Certifications:
- ITIL 4 Foundation or Managing Professional
- Platform-specific certifications (Snowflake, Databricks, AWS/Azure, Cloudera)
IQVIA Core Competencies
- Results Orientation
- Collaboration and Teamwork
- Strategic Problem Solving
- Adapting to Change
IQVIA is a leading global provider of clinical research services, commercial insights and healthcare intelligence to the life sciences and healthcare industries. We create intelligent connections to accelerate the development and commercialization of innovative medical treatments to help improve patient outcomes and population health worldwide. Learn more at https://jobs.iqvia.com
IQVIA is committed to integrity in our hiring process and maintains a zero tolerance policy for candidate fraud. All information and credentials submitted in your application must be truthful and complete. Any false statements, misrepresentations, or material omissions during the recruitment process will result in immediate disqualification of your application, or termination of employment if discovered later, in accordance with applicable law. We appreciate your honesty and professionalism.
The potential base pay range for this role, when annualized, is 155Ā 600,00Ā zÅ - 289Ā 200,00Ā zÅ. The actual base pay offered may vary based on a number of factors including job-related qualifications such as knowledge, skills, education, and experience; location; and/or schedule (full or part-time). Dependent on the position offered, incentive plans, bonuses, and/or other forms of compensation may be offered, in addition to a range of health and welfare and/or other benefits.