Director, R&D Data Governance
Listed on 2026-10-29
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IT/Tech
Data Engineering, Information Security & Data Protection, Data Science Manager, Information & Knowledge Management
Location:
Greater Boston (hybrid 3x week in office)
Salary: $210k + bonus + LTI (some wiggle room for a SUPERSTAR!)
Consultants:
Eda Zullo
Our client, a Mid-Size Pharma Manufacturer, is seeking a 'Director, R&D Data Governance' Professional! This is a unique opportunity to build something from the ground up. As the1st R&D-focused leader within a newly established Enterprise Data Management organization, you will help define how R&D data is governed, connected, accessed, and ultimately used to accelerate scientific innovation.
What You’ll Own- Build the R&D Data Governance strategy and multi-year roadmap across Discovery, Preclinical, Translational, Biomarker, and Clinical data.
- Establish the governance operating model, including stewardship, decision rights, standards, processes, metrics, and accountability.
- Drive data quality and standards across metadata, ontologies, controlled vocabularies, lineage, validation, and data management.
- Champion FAIR and AI-ready data principles, ensuring R&D data can support advanced analytics, AI/ML, and emerging technologies.
- Enable data self-service by developing practical policies, workflows, and access models that allow scientists and analysts to find and confidently use trusted data.
- Partner with R&D, IT, Data & AI, and Engineering to identify critical data needs and implement scalable governance and data-management capabilities.
- Influence without authority, serving as the key connector between scientific stakeholders and enterprise data/technology teams.
- Drive adoption and change through data literacy, training, communication, and embedding governance into everyday R&D workflows.
- Proven experience in R&D Data Governance, Data Management, Data Strategy, or a related data leadership role within Pharma, Biotech, or Life Sciences.
- Strong understanding of data governance, quality, metadata, stewardship, lineage, standards, and access management.
- Experience working with complex R&D data environments across areas such as Discovery, Translational, Preclinical, Clinical, Omics, Biomarkers, or Imaging.
- Ability to partner effectively with scientists, IT, data engineers, analytics teams, and senior business leaders.
- Experience with enterprise data-management technologies such as data catalogs, data lakes, data platforms, and access-control solutions.
- Understanding of FAIR data principles and the requirements for AI/ML-ready data.
- Strong executive presence, communication, influencing, and stakeholder-management skills.
- A builder's mindset—someone who enjoys creating structure, solving complex problems, and turning strategy into action.
You won’t be inheriting an established governance program—you’ll have the opportunity to help build it. This is a highly visible Director-level role where your work will directly influence how R&D discovers, manages, shares, and leverages data to drive better scientific decisions. If you’re passionate about data, energized by innovation, and excited by the opportunity to build an R&D data governance function from the ground up, this could be the role you’ve been waiting for.
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