Privacy Strategy Lead | Risk & Compliance

BDO in Australia; Sydney; On-site; AUD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health and wellbeing benefits

Corporate discounts and travel perks

Professional development support

Flexible leave options and BCaring/CSR

Job summary

BDO is seeking a senior privacy leader to oversee the firm’s privacy function across risk, legal, data, IT and business. You will guide privacy initiatives, advise on risk and compliance, and lead a privacy team to embed a strong, sustainable privacy culture.

The role requires translating complex obligations into practical, commercially balanced advice and partnering across IT, data and governance to strengthen controls.

Qualifications

• Tertiary qualification in Law, Business, Information Systems or a related discipline.
• Professional certification in privacy or risk management is desirable, such as CIPP/A, CIPM or equivalent.
• Strong experience in privacy, data governance or compliance within a medium to large organisation.
• Demonstrated experience embedding privacy-by-design into business processes, systems and technology delivery.
• Experience conducting privacy impact assessments and managing privacy risk, incidents and compliance registers.
• Familiarity with data governance and information security frameworks, such as ISO 27001 or NIST, and experience supporting audits, client questionnaires or accreditation submissions.

Responsibilities

• Lead the privacy roadmap and strategic privacy initiatives.
• Lead and develop the privacy team, including setting priorities, allocating work and supporting capability development.
• Interpret privacy obligations and provide practical advice on privacy risk across Australian and international frameworks.
• Embed privacy-by-design requirements into policies, processes, systems, projects and technology delivery, including AI and data initiatives.
• Partner with IT, security, architecture, data, legal, risk and business teams to design and operate effective privacy controls.
• Oversee privacy impact assessments, third-party privacy risk and cross-border data considerations.
• Manage privacy operations, including incident and breach response, data subject requests, compliance registers and assurance activities.
• Report on privacy risk, controls, incidents and metrics to senior stakeholders and governance forums.
• Deliver privacy training and awareness, monitor regulatory developments and drive continuous improvement of the privacy framework.

Skills

Privacy governance

Policy drafting

Leadership

Stakeholder engagement

Risk assessment

Regulatory compliance

Analytical thinking

Education

Tertiary qualification in Law/Information Systems

Privacy or risk certification desirable

Job description

BDO is seeking a senior privacy leader to oversee the firm’s privacy function across risk, legal, data, IT and business. You will guide privacy initiatives, advise on risk and compliance, and lead a privacy team to embed a strong, sustainable privacy culture.

The role requires translating complex obligations into practical, commercially balanced advice and partnering across IT, data and governance to strengthen controls.