Director of Data Strategy & Governance @ Harvard University
The Director of Data Strategy & Governance will lead the development and execution of the University’s data strategy in partnership with executive leadership, data stewards, and other stakeholders. This position is responsible for nurturing and continuously developing a data-driven culture and activating a community of practice of data stakeholders. The Director of Data Strategy & Governance is an expert in the principles of data governance, with a proven ability to communicate the concepts of metadata management, data security and privacy, and data quality management that translate to a measurable increase in the University’s overall data maturity.
This position reports directly to the Associate Provost for Institutional Research and Analytics and is an integral part of the Office of Institutional Research and Analytics (OIRA). The position also has a dotted line reporting to the Associate Vice President, Administrative Technology Services for Harvard University Information Technology (HUIT).
OIRA, part of the Office of the Provost, supports Harvard’s leadership by providing institutional data analysis and reporting. OIRA serves as a trusted resource for implementing best practices in data synthesis and translation and supports a broad set of university functions.
HUIT is the central IT organization for the University. Within HUIT, this position will work most closely with the Administrative Technology Services team within the overall HUIT organization. HUIT's mission is to make it easier for faculty, students, researchers, and staff to teach, learn, research, and work through the effective use of IT.
Position Description
The Director of Data Strategy & Governance will play a pivotal role in bringing together stakeholders from across the University to tackle our most pressing data challenges, while also creating a mechanism to protect our data and leverage our data for strategic initiatives. Outlined below are the primary focus areas for this position. However, the expectation is that as the University’s data maturity grows, the responsibilities of the Director of Data Strategy & Governance may evolve.
Organizational Development & Communications
- Convene, lead, and recruit members of the University’s Executive Data Committee (EDC), University Data Advisory Group (UDAG), and Data Stewardship Council (DSC).
- Foster communication channels on data initiatives across schools and functional areas and develop an active community of practice amongst data stewards.
- Create and maintain data governance learning and development curriculum for data stewards and other key data stakeholders.
- Maintain and elevate executive buy-in on data governance efforts across all aspects of the University.
- Provide executive updates on strategic data initiatives to stakeholders across the University.
- Participate in thought leadership and higher education leadership forums on data strategy and governance.
Data Strategy Development
- Lead the development of an enterprise data strategy for the University, and upon establishment of an enterprise data strategy, serve as the primary leader tracking progress towards its objectives.
- Drive the identification, business case development, and socialization of strategic data initiatives.
Data Governance Execution
- Create data governance standards, policies, procedures, and best practices, and establish a mechanism to diffuse these practices across stakeholder groups.
- Enhance the University’s ability to manage metadata (i.e., data definitions, data lineage, etc.) across data sources.
- Actively partner with the Information Security and Data Privacy (ISDP) team on data security and privacy efforts, including compliance with data privacy regulations (e.g., GDPR, FERPA, etc.).
- Enable data stewards and other data stakeholders to implement tactical data quality improvement solutions.
- Collaborate with OIRA staff to conduct research and analysis to inform data governance proposals and challenges.
Performance & Maturity Measurement
- Establish metrics to measure the effectiveness of data governance and other strategic data initiatives relative to the institution’s priorities and data strategy.
- Create a mechanism to monitor and report data governance effectiveness regularly to university leadership.