Job Description

Title – Data Governance Program Specialist

Duration: Contract to Hire

Location: Jersey City, NJ - Hybrid

Job Description

The Program Specialist is responsible for the end‑to‑end execution of Data Governance initiatives once priorities, scope, and intent have been established by Data Governance leadership.

This role reports to the SVP, Data Governance, and partners closely with AVPs to execute approved governance priorities and ensuring delivery and adoption are coordinated, visible, and tracked.

This role ensures that governance work moves from decision to delivery—on time, with the right stakeholders, and with adoption and outcomes clearly tracked—while respecting established governance ownership and decision rights.

The Program Specialist is a self‑starter who operates independently while applying a trust‑but‑verify approach—aligning early with Data Governance leadership on scope and intent before driving execution at speed.

This role operates in a highly dynamic environment where Data Governance capabilities, processes, and operating models are actively being built and refined, requiring comfort with ambiguity, iteration, and continuous improvement. Responsibilities may evolve over time to reflect changes in Data Governance priorities, operating models, or initiative needs, while remaining aligned to this role’s core mandate.

Core Responsibilities

1. Initiative Execution & Delivery (Primary Accountability)

• Own day‑to‑day execution of assigned Data Governance initiatives (e.g., stewardship cohorts, data quality remediation waves, catalog/lineage enhancements, data masking rollouts, MDM use cases).
• Translate approved governance priorities into clear delivery plans, including milestones, dependencies, risks, and success criteria.
• Drive initiative cadence (check‑ins, stand‑ups, working sessions) and ensure follow‑through across business, data, and technology partners.
• Proactively surface risks, blockers, and trade‑offs, and recommend options for resolution.
• Validate scope, assumptions, and decision boundaries with AVPs or the SVP before advancing work that may impact governance standards, priorities, or stakeholder expectations.
• Executes against SVP‑approved scope, priorities, and decision boundaries; escalates when changes may impact governance intent.

2. Communications & Coordination

• Coordinate when communications are sent, ensuring sequencing aligns with initiative, timing and readiness.
• Work with SVP and AVPs to ensure what is communicated is accurate, approved, and aligned to governance intent.
• Manage communication logistics (distribution, reminders, follow‑ups), partnering with AVPs and SVP on content and timing.
• Maintain clear status reporting for Data Governance leadership, highlighting progress, risks, decisions needed, and next steps, in close partnership with AVP’s.
• Provide coordination support, as needed, for logistics, materials, and follow‑ups related to forums, working groups and sub‑groups.
• Partner with SVP and AVPs, as needed, to prepare standing materials, and supports action tracking and follow‑through to ensure commitments are closed
• Support SVP and AVPs in preparing materials for senior leadership and governance forums (e.g., DGC), including synthesizing inputs, highlighting trade‑offs, and documenting outcomes.

3. Enablement, Training, Surveys and Feedback

• Coordinate training delivery logistics across governance initiatives (sessions, materials, attendance, follow‑ups).
• Enable AVP‑owned training development by providing coordination and execution support for the enhancement of training materials, including:
• Stewardship training
• Tool‑specific enablement
• Governance process education
• Support Data Team, as needed, in building reusable, self‑paced training modules (e.g., for the Data Fluency program).
• Ensure training readiness for initiatives (materials finalized, stakeholders informed, follow‑ups tracked).
• Coordinate the full lifecycle of governance‑related surveys (training, stewardship, adoption):
• Scheduling and distribution
• Tracking completion
• Consolidating results
• Support AVPs in survey analysis by preparing summaries, trends, and visuals.
• Execute approved follow‑up actions and changes resulting from survey outcomes.

4. Metrics, Tracking & Visibility

• Coordinate the mechanics of KPI tracking and reporting once metrics are defined by governance leadership.
• Work with consultants and SMEs to build and maintain KPI and tracking mechanisms.
• Supports SVP and AVPs, as needed, by preparing underlying inputs and summaries, informed by delivery and adoption signals across the Data Governance operating model, enabling SVP and AVPs to own and deliver stewardship‑level, leadership‑level, and executive‑level outputs.
• Support SVP by identifying and summarizing outcome‑oriented signals (e.g., adoption, risk reduction, efficiency) to inform leadership‑level discussions.
• Develop working knowledge of the Data Governance operating model and supports AVPs by highlighting where delivery signals, adoption signals, or metrics indicate strengths, gaps, or follow‑up needs.

5. Change Management & Flexible Support

• Provides coordination and execution support, as needed, to operationalize initiative‑level change activities; actively identifies adoption risks, challenges assumptions, and facilitates informed discussions with AVPs and the SVP to support timely decision‑making.
• Enable SVP and AVPs by coordinating timelines, drafting supporting materials, and orchestrating cross‑functional follow‑through so approved governance decisions are implemented as intended.
• Adapt to shifting priorities while maintaining clarity on ownership, decision rights, and delivery expectations.
• Willingly take on additional responsibilities as needed to support common Data Team goals.

Required Experience & Attributes

• Proven experience delivering complex, cross‑functional initiatives in data, technology, or governance‑adjacent domains.
• Strong execution discipline with comfort operating in ambiguity.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work independently while remaining aligned to leadership intent.
• Demonstrated openness to feedback and continuous improvement.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to follow‑through.
• Demonstrated ability to apply judgment in ambiguous situations, verify assumptions, and surface risks or misalignment early.
• Proficiency in Excel and PowerPoint to support project planning, tracking, and executive-ready summaries.

Preferred (but not required):

• P&C insurance industry experience preferred, with familiarity in data, analytics, underwriting, actuarial, operations, or regulatory contexts.
• Familiarity with Data Governance, Data Quality, Metadata, Stewardship, Privacy, or MDM concepts.
• Experience supporting training programs or change initiatives.
• Experience with Power BI (or similar) to support KPI tracking, dashboards, and visualization of progress metrics.

Education

• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Information technology, Computer Science or related field.

Work Environment

This job operates in a professional office environment. This role routinely uses standard office equipment, including but not limited to, computers, phones, and photocopiers.

Physical Demands

This position requires the frequent and repetitive use of a computer, keyboard, and mouse. Hand and finger dexterity is required.

Other Duties

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

EEO

Saama provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, colour, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

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