Senior Associate - Data Governance & Stewardship Lead

Location Designation: Fully Remote
Job Title: New York Life Group Benefits Solutions (GBS) - Data Governance and Stewardship Leader
Location: Remote or Hybrid/Philadelphia, PA or New York Office
Reports To: GBS Business Data Strategy Lead
Employment Type: Full-Time
Business Overview:
The GBS Data Governance and Stewardship Leader will establish and scale a sustainable data governance framework as part of the Center of Excellence (COE). This role is responsible for driving data definitions and quality, delivering best-practice training, and ensuring adherence to governance policies across the organization. As a key member of the COE Data & Analytics team, the leader will partner with IT and business teams to ensure that data can be trusted, remains secure, and is effectively leveraged to support strategic and operational decision-making.
Role Overview:
We are seeking an experienced Data Governance and Stewardship professional to lead the development and execution of a data governance and management framework. This role ensures data consistency, compliance, and integrity across financial and operational domains, including Sales, Underwriting, Operations, Claims, Actuarial, and Finance.
Working closely with business leaders, technology teams, and data professionals, this role supports New York Life's Data Strategy by enhancing data discoverability, quality, and compliance.
The leader will develop governance policies, standards, and best practices; drive stewardship and ownership across departments; and manage critical initiatives related to data classification, cataloging, quality, access, and usage. Additionally, this role monitors and reports on the performance and compliance of the overall data governance program, ensuring data is well organized, accessible, secure, and valuable.
What You'll Will Do:

• Develop and lead the implementation of the data governance roadmap.
• Play a key role in establishing an division-wide data governance framework, with a focus on governing data as an enterprise asset, addressing regulatory requirements, and protection of sensitive data through organizational behavior, policies and standards, governance metrics, processes, and related tools.
• Support the mission and goals of the cross-functional Data Governance Council.
• Collaborate with data product managers, SMEs, and engineers to capture business context, align it with technical architecture and strengthen metadata documentation.
• Expand metadata repository to include source-to-target data lineage mapping and Business-friendly names for technical fields.
• Drive adoption of governance tools through training sessions, user enablement, and data owner/steward playbooks.
• Support Governance Technologies: Assist in the implementation and maintenance of platforms such as:
  • Data Catalog (e.g., Collibra, Atlan)
  • Master/Reference Data Management (MDM/RDM)
  • Data Quality tools

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the Data Governance Strategy: Develop and execute a data governance framework that aligns with corporate priorities, regulatory compliance, and business needs.
• Establish Data Stewardship: Build and manage a network of business and technical data stewards. Define roles, responsibilities, and operating procedures. Facilitate Data Stewardship meetings to drive adoption of standards and resolve issues.
• Operationalize Data Governance: Help bring our Data Governance and Data Management framework to life by embedding best practices into project workflows and everyday work.
• Organizational Alignment: Partner with New York Life's Corporate Data Governance and Data Management teams to ensure alignment.
• Ensure Data Quality & Integrity: Oversee data quality initiatives including management of consolidated data sets.
• Enable Data Standardization: Provide data and business analysis support to harmonize data across the applications.
• Data Ownership & Accountability: Promote accountability and best practices for data stewardship across the organization.
• Policy and Standards Development: Establish data definitions, naming conventions, classification schemas, and metadata standards.
• Regulatory and Risk Compliance: Ensure compliance with privacy, security, and regulatory requirements (e.g., HIPAA, FINRA, SOC 2, ERISA, GDPR, CCPA, NY DFS etc.).

• Collaboration Across Functions: Serve as a liaison between Business and Technology to ensure that data related business requirements for governing data are clearly defined, communicated, and well understood and considered as part of operational prioritization and planning.

• Tooling and Enablement: Assess and implement data governance technologies as needed and establish usage protocols.
• Change Management: Lead communication, training, and engagement to cultivate a data ownership mindset across the organization.

• Continuous Improvement: Monitor and measure the effectiveness and maturity of the data governance program, and report on key performance indicators and metrics.

What You'll Bring:
Required

• 5+ years of experience in data governance, stewardship, or data management.
• Proven experience leading data governance and management initiatives in complex environments.
• Strong Insurance Industry Experience (Group Benefits Industry strongly preferred).
• Strong understanding of data lifecycle management, data quality frameworks, metadata management, and data classification.
• Skilled in data lineage, master data management (MDM), and data cataloging tools.
• Experience implementing and operating a data governance framework across business and technology.

• Experience building governance in federated data environments and across complex/hybrid data ownership structures.
• Strong experience in people and relationship management. Ability to effectively challenge all levels of an organization and offer value-add solutions to meet data governance objectives.
• Familiarity with SQL, Python and data modeling concepts. Working in Agile environments using Jira, Confluence, and SharePoint are a plus.
• Strong understanding of regulatory and compliance requirements.
• Hands-on experience with Atlan or similar metadata management tools. Familiarity with data quality and observability tools (e.g., Anomalo).#LI-VL1
  #LI-HYBRID

Pay Transparency
Salary Range: $100,000-$143,000
Overtime eligible: Exempt
Discretionary bonus eligible: Yes
Sales bonus eligible: No
Actual base salary will be determined based on several factors but not limited to individual's experience, skills, qualifications, and job location. Additionally, employees are eligible for an annual discretionary bonus. In addition to base salary, employees may also be eligible to participate in an incentive program.
Company Overview
At New York Life, our 180-year legacy of purpose and integrity fuels our future. As we evolve into a more technology-, data-, and AI-enabled organization, we remain grounded in the values that drive lasting impact.
Our diverse business portfolio creates opportunities to make a difference across industries and communities-inviting bold thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and purpose-driven innovation. Here, you'll find the rare balance of long-standing stability and forward momentum, supported by an inclusive team that honors tradition while embracing progress.
As a Fortune 100 mutual company, we offer a place to grow your skills, contribute to meaningful work, and deliver solutions that matter. Your ideas drive what's next, and your growth powers it.
Our Benefits
We provide a full package of benefits for employees - and have unique offerings for a modern workforce, including leave programs, adoption assistance, and student loan repayment programs. Based on feedback from our employees, we continue to refine and add benefits to our offering, so that you can flourish both inside and outside of work.Click hereto discover more about our comprehensive benefit options or visit our NYL Benefits Site.
Our Commitment to Inclusion
At New York Life, fostering an inclusive workplace is fundamental to who we are and how we serve our communities. We have a longstanding commitment to creating an environment where individuals can contribute their best and succeed together. This foundation is rooted in our core values of humanity and integrity, ensuring that every employee feels valued and supported. By embracing a broad range of perspectives and experiences, we achieve greater success and fulfill our promise of providing financial security and peace of mind to families across all communities. Click here to learn more about New York Life's leadership in this space.
Recognized as one of Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies, New York Life is committed to improving local communities through a culture of employee giving and volunteerism, supported by the Foundation. We're proud that due to our mutuality, we operate in the best interests of our policy owners. To learn more about career opportunities at New York Life, please visit the Careers page of www.NewYorkLife.com.
Visit our LinkedIn to see how our employees and agents are leading the industry and impacting communities.
Visit our Newsroom to learn more about how our company is constantly evolving to meet our clients' and employees' needs.
Job Requisition ID: 93386