Data Governance Lead, DDMA

Job Summary:

The Data Governance Lead will be responsible for developing and implementing a comprehensive data governance framework across the Delta Dental of Massachusetts (DDMA) enterprise. This role will partner with cross functional teams, including IT, legal, compliance, analytics, data strategy, and data engineering to ensure data quality, integrity, security and compliance with healthcare regulations. You will serve as the strategic driver behind data governance capabilities, embedding governance practices into our operational, analytics, research and technology ecosystems. Data is a catalyst in creating a more accessible, equitable, and integrated health system for everyone. This is an opportunity to shape how data can drive actionable insights that lead to improved and equitable whole health outcomes and total cost of care through integrated and accessible oral, medical, and social data. This position will play a leading role in advancing the maturity of the organization�s data ecosystem, establishing trusted data assets, and enabling a culture of data literacy and stewardship.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Data Governance Strategy & Frameworks:
   1. Develop, implement and lead a comprehensive enterprise-wide data governance strategy aligned to healthcare standards, privacy regulations, research requirements and the organization's overall mission.
   2. Create and maintain a data governance framework that supports data stewardship, quality, classification, master data management and lifecycle management.
   3. Build the foundation for an enterprise data governance operating model, policies, and scalable processes.
2. Leadership & Stakeholder Engagement:
   1. Lead the Data Governance Council, driving strategic alignment across business owners, analytics, research, compliance and technology.
   2. Collaborate with stakeholders to define data ownership and stewardship roles, responsibilities, and accountability for data assets.
   3. Serve as a strategic advisor on governance best practices and industry trends.
3. Data Quality and Stewardship:
   1. Implement scalable data quality management processes across key data domains for oral, medical and social dat
   2. Empower and coach domain data stewards to uphold standards and champion governance practices.
   3. Monitor and report on data quality KPIs, compliance levels, and governance maturity.
   4. Lead initiatives to improve data quality, resolve data issues and promote consistent data definitions.
4. Tools and Technology:
   1. Manage enterprise data governance tools (e.g., Atlan, Unity Catalog, Microsoft Purview).
   2. Maintain and evolve metadata repositories, business glossaries, and data dictionaries to support data literacy and transparency.
   3. Implement tools and processes to document data lineage from raw intake to final research output and reporting.
   4. Ensure organization is maintaining versioning, metadata and transformation history to support transparency and audit-readiness.
5. Data Sharing and Retention
   • Partner with legal team to maintain and evolve documented processes for secure sharing of data with external partners and establish standard Data Use Agreements for data sharing and data partnerships.
   • Adherence to data retention policies: ensure team is educated on policies and ensure technical and operational adherence to our data retention policies.
   • Manage various efforts associated to internal and external audits pertaining to data.
6. Compliance and Risk Management:
   1. Partner with compliance teams to align data governance with enterprise risk and security frameworks.
   2. Partner with compliance and analytics and research teams to ensure organizational compliance with HIPAA and CMS protocols and other relevant healthcare regulations.
   3. Lead efforts to ensure readiness of our data platform and data exchange for compliance framework certifications, such as SOC 2 and HITRUST.
   4. Drive data classification, privacy tagging, and policy enforcement across platforms and workflows.
7. Data Governance Enterprise Maturity:
   1. Promote a culture of data stewardship, data literacy, and governance awareness across the organization.
   2. Drive awareness and enterprise data governance maturity by facilitating governance forums, working sessions, and training to educate staff, align teams, and drive adoption.
   3. Produce executive dashboards and communications to demonstrate governance impact.

Required Qualifications:

1. Bachelor�s or Master�s degree in health informatics, Data Management, Information Systems, Computer Science, or a related field.
2. 6-8 years of experience in data governance, data management, or information governance, including 4+ years in a healthcare environment.
3. Demonstrated success leading enterprise-scale data governance initiatives in complex healthcare or life sciences settings.
4. Deep understanding of data governance frameworks (e.g., DAMA-DMBOK), metadata management, MDM, and data lifecycle management.
5. Expertise in healthcare data standards, including HIPAA, HITECH, and handling of PHI/PII.
6. Working knowledge of SQL to support data quality, governance, and reporting activities.
7. Strong understanding of data ethics, consent management, and de-identification techniques
8. Familiarity with dental, clinical, operational, and financial data flows in healthcare IT systems
9. Proficiency with data governance tools and platforms (e.g., Atlan, Unity Catalog, Microsoft Purview).
10. Strong leadership, facilitation, and communication skills, with the ability to influence across technical and non-technical teams.

Preferred Qualifications:

1. Certifications such as CDMP (Certified Data Management Professional), CHDA, DAMA, or equivalent.
2. Knowledge of interoperability standards (FHIR, HL7) and healthcare research governance.
3. Experience launching or scaling data governance programs in greenfield or early maturity environments.

The target hiring range for this role is $121,550 - $143,000 (Annually). The starting base salary will be determined based on skills, experience, and other job-related factors. In addition, our total rewards package includes medical, dental, and vision plans; generous time off including PTO, short and long-term disability insurance and a competitive 401(k) savings match including financial planning workshops. See our Careers Page for more information.

The specific statements shown in each section of this description are not intended to be all-inclusive. They represent typical elements and criteria necessary to successfully perform this position.

In accordance with Delta Dental of Massachusetts� Compliance Plan, all employees must conduct Delta Dental of Massachusetts business and activities in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, professional standards, and ethical standards and report potential compliance or ethical issues to Delta Dental of Massachusetts� designated Compliance Officer.

Delta Dental of Massachusetts� Affirmative Action Program affirms our commitment to make reasonable accommodations for known physical or mental limitations of otherwise qualified individuals with disabilities or special disabled veterans unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of our business and activities. Please see Human Resources for additional information regarding this program.