Lead Data Governance Analyst

Technology is at the heart of Disney’s past, present, and future. Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology is a global organization of engineers, product developers, designers, technologists, data scientists, and more – all working to build and advance the technological backbone for Disney’s media business globally.

The team marries technology with creativity to build world-class products, enhance storytelling, and drive velocity, innovation, and scalability for our businesses. We are Storytellers and Innovators. Creators and Builders. Entertainers and Engineers. We work with every part of The Walt Disney Company’s media portfolio to advance the technological foundation and consumer media touch points serving millions of people around the world.

Here are a few reasons why we think you’d love working here:

• Building the future of Disney’s media: Our Technologists are designing and building the products and platforms that will power our media, advertising, and distribution businesses for years to come.

• Reach, Scale & Impact: More than ever, Disney’s technology and products serve as a signature doorway for fans' connections with the company’s brands and stories. Disney+. Hulu. ESPN. ABC. ABC News…and many more. These products and brands – and the unmatched stories, storytellers, and events they carry – matter to millions of people globally. 

• Innovation: We develop and implement groundbreaking products and techniques that shape industry norms and solve complex and distinctive technical problems.

Ad Platforms is responsible for Disney’s industry-leading ad technology and products – driving advertising performance, innovation, and value in Disney’s sports, news, and entertainment content, across all media platforms.

Job Summary:

Disney’s Ad Platforms group is seeking a Lead Data Governance Analyst, Audit & Compliance, to drive Audit and Compliance initiatives across the Advertising Platforms (Ads) data visibility and controls across our data-driven advertising ecosystem.  In this role, you will apply domain expertise to identify and implement process and technology improvements to meet corporate data categorization and Ads data usage information requirements.  These responsibilities are critical to ensuring our advertising data is accessible for various use cases.  This position is ideal for a compliance professional with a strong background in data discovery, data completeness validation, and data reporting.

This position is ideal for a highly experienced compliance professional with a strong background in advertising technology, regulatory frameworks, and audit best practices, who thrives in complex, cross-functional environments.

Responsibilities:

• Oversee Ad Platforms Sarbanes-Oxley Audit preparation activities including data discovery, analysis, and coordination with internal Disney functions.

• Implement enhancements to Risk Management practices within Ads to track and manage technology and business risks associated with Disney’s ad-serving ecosystem.

• Design and implement monitoring and reporting capabilities relating to audit preparation activities.

• Review and enhance internal annual audit schedule and activities for Ad Platforms to enable efficient collection and execution of audit requirements.

• Drive centralized security and privacy audit functions across Ads ecosystem to ensure compliance with internal and external standards.

• Drive alignment across Ads product and engineering functions and corporate governance.

• Represent Ads within corporate information security and governance committees and boards.

• Collect, track, and oversee execution of program initiatives to support Audit and Compliance requirements.

• Promote Security and Privacy by design principles throughout Ads organization throughout program lifecycles.

• Advise and oversee appropriate changes based on technology capabilities, emergent policies, regulations, industry trends, and edge cases.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Law, Computer Science, Public Policy, International Business, Information Systems, Psychology, or comparable field of study, and/or equivalent work experience.

• 7+ years of hands-on experience leading Compliance, Audit, Data Governance, Privacy, Information Security, or Risk Management programs, preferably in Ad Tech, Regulated (US Government), Digital Streaming, or Digital Media settings.

• 7+ years hands-on experience collecting and organizing technical evidence supporting technical and business controls, and presenting actionable intelligence to technical and non-technical stakeholders

• Outstanding verbal, written, presentation, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to effectively interact with all levels of management. This includes active listening, understanding stakeholder needs, managing expectations, conflict resolution, and delivering high-quality service to foster trust and satisfaction.

• Excellent follow-up skills and the ability to take initiative, as well as a proactive problem-solving approach, leveraging critical thinking and analytical skills to develop innovative solutions.

• Proven experience onboarding, categorizing, standardizing, and driving data processing consistencies within a data-centric environment.

• Experience capturing and documenting data quality and service level expectations within a diverse enterprise.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Prior experience with data lifecycle management.

• Certifications such as CRISC, CGRC, CGEIT, or CISSP.

• Experience with industry standards and frameworks such as NIST 800.53, ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 27002, ISO/IEC 27018, NIST Risk Management Framework (RMF), The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF), or Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA).

• Experience in the Media & Entertainment field, and/or consulting.

• Familiarity with cloud-based data platforms (AWS, GCP), data pipelines (Airflow), and governance tools (Semarchy, Alation, Unity, etc.).

• Hands-on experience with Snowflake and Databricks environments.

• Knowledge of any of the following: Python, SQL, AWS, GitHub.

• Experience with a reporting tool such as Tableau or Looker.

• Expertise in first-party data strategies, identity resolution technologies (UID2, LiveRamp, PAIR, etc.), and privacy-conscious advertising.

• Experience with advertising measurement frameworks, attribution modeling, and ad fraud mitigation.

• Demonstrated ability to embed privacy-by-design in machine learning, personalization, or audience segmentation initiatives.

• IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL®) Intermediate or Advanced certifications.

• Certifications in agile software development methodologies (PMI-ACP, CSPO, SAFe PO/PM, ICP-ACC, etc.)

The hiring range for this position in CA is $138,900.00 to $186,200.00 per year. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate’s geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. A bonus and/or long-term incentive units may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to the full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the level and position offered.