IAM Governance Lead

Harrington Starr; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Harrington Starr is seeking an experienced IAM Governance Lead to shape and own the IAM governance program within a regulated financial services environment.

You will onboard applications, databases, and operating systems into our in-house IAM governance platform, strengthen access controls, and drive data quality and automation. You will collaborate across technology, security, risk and compliance to ensure audit-ready processes and continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• Hands-on IAM governance and security controls experience.
• Experience onboarding databases and servers into IAM tooling.
• Experience onboarding applications into IAM platforms.
• Knowledge of Entra ID, AD, Windows/Linux, and databases.
• Experience with SOX/audit/compliance within regulated environments.
• Strong analytical and stakeholder-management skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead onboarding of applications into IAM governance platform.
• Onboard databases and servers with access controls and RBAC.
• Manage User Access Reviews and Access Certification campaigns.
• Develop and enhance IAM governance tooling and automation.
• Ensure audit-ready documentation for SOX and audits.
• Collaborate with technology, security, risk, and compliance teams.
• Monitor data feeds and resolve data-quality issues.
• Define and implement SoD and JML controls.

Skills

IAM governance

Access management

IT security controls

SOX/compliance

UAR/Access Certification

JML

Stakeholder management

Automation/AI in IAM

Tools

Microsoft Entra ID

Active Directory

SQL/Oracle databases

Job description

We are seeking an experienced IAM Governance Lead to join a leading financial services organisation, taking a hands-on role in enhancing and developing its Identity and Access Management (IAM) governance capabilities.

This is an opportunity to take ownership of key IAM governance activities, with a particular focus on onboarding applications, databases and operating systems into an in-house IAM governance platform. You will play a key role in improving access controls, data quality, user access reviews and automation, helping to strengthen the organisation's overall security and control environment.

Working closely with technology, security, risk and compliance teams, you will ensure access governance processes are effective, reliable and audit-ready.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the onboarding of applications into the IAM governance platform, including data-source identification, mapping, validation and production readiness.
• Drive database onboarding, covering access-source identification, account and role mapping, privilege validation and monitoring readiness.
• Lead Windows and Linux server onboarding, including local and privileged access, group mappings and ongoing monitoring.
• Collaborate with technology teams to establish reliable access data feeds and resolve integration and data-quality issues.
• Enhance IAM governance tooling, improving workflows, monitoring, usability and control effectiveness.
• Plan and manage User Access Review (UAR) and Access Certification campaigns, ensuring appropriate validation, reviewer engagement, remediation and audit evidence.
• Govern privileged access, role-based access control (RBAC), segregation of duties (SoD) and Joiner/Mover/Leaver (JML) controls.
• Maintain audit-ready documentation and support SOX, internal and external audit requirements.
• Identify opportunities to use AI and automation to reduce manual effort and improve the effectiveness of IAM governance controls.
• Ensure compliance with relevant regulatory requirements, internal policies and operational risk frameworks.

Skills and Experience:

We are keen to speak with candidates who have a strong background in IAM governance, access management or IT security controls, ideally within a regulated financial services environment.

Essential experience includes:

• Practical experience in IAM, IAM Governance, IT Risk or Security Controls.
• Hands-on experience onboarding databases and operating systems/servers into IAM, governance or security tooling.
• Experience onboarding applications into IAM or governance platforms.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Entra ID, Active Directory, Windows/Linux servers and SQL/Oracle databases or similar technologies.
• Experience managing or supporting User Access Reviews (UARs), Access Certification campaigns and remediation activities.
• A strong understanding of accounts, roles, groups, entitlements, privileged access and JML processes.
• Experience supporting SOX, audit or compliance requirements within a regulated environment.
• Strong analytical, Excel and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to manage multiple activities and drive issues through to resolution.
• Experience working with in-house or configurable IAM governance platforms.
• Experience defining and implementing tooling enhancements.
• Exposure to AI and automation initiatives within IAM or security controls.

The Opportunity:

This role offers the opportunity to make a tangible impact on IAM governance, combining hands‑on technical onboarding with access control oversight, process improvement and automation.

If you have experience strengthening IAM governance and enjoy working across applications, databases, infrastructure and access controls, I would be keen to hear from you.

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