Associate Director - Privacy

Grant Thornton International Ltd; Dublin; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Grant Thornton International Ltd is seeking an Associate Director - Privacy Technologies in Dublin, Ireland. This role will embed privacy principles into technology design, development, and deployment, ensuring compliance with privacy laws and mitigating risks related to data and AI.

Candidates should have 8–12 years of experience in privacy, data governance or technology roles and a Bachelor's degree in a relevant field, with a Master's preferred. The role offers a chance to lead a team in the Global Risk and Compliance group.

Qualifications

• 8–12+ years in privacy, data governance, data science or technology roles within a regulated environment.
• Deep understanding of federal, state and global privacy laws (e.g., HIPAA, CCPA/CPRA, GDPR).
• Experience leading cross-functional initiatives and influencing leadership.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute standard global framework for technology controls to mitigate privacy risks.
• Direct appropriate teams to enable controls that embed privacy-by-design.
• Identify and minimize privacy risks involved in AI, directing implementation of safe deployment controls.

Skills

Privacy enhancing technologies implementation

Data governance

Data science

Strong stakeholder management

Leadership skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree in computer science or data science

Master’s degree preferred

Tools

Azure Foundry

One Trust

Microsoft Priva

Job description

Associate Director - Privacy Technologies

Dublin, Ireland

Job Description

Role Overview

The Associate Director will embed privacy principles into the design, development and deployment of Grant Thornton technologies and initiatives. Activities include identifying and mitigating privacy risks in built or bought technologies, directing the implementation of privacy controls into all technologies, as well as identifying, recommending and directing the development and implementation of technical safeguards, policy changes and relevant training.

This Privacy Team role sits in Global Risk and Compliance group in the Legal vertical and is led by the Chief Risk and Compliance Officer. The Associate Director reports to the Sr. Director of Privacy and partners closely with global business units, technology and data governance teams to identify and mitigate privacy and data risks generally and specifically associated with regulatory compliance, certifications held by the business (e.g. ISO) client obligations, and strategic initiatives (including AI, data migration, and advanced analytics). This role will also audit the implementation and performance of risk mitigation technologies for effectiveness.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and execute standardised, global framework for required technology controls (configurations, governance) designed to mitigate privacy risks in built or bought technologies or contemplated by novel data use cases, including AI uses.
• Create or modify required policy-based controls and assist in providing training content for the Privacy team.
• Identifying privacy risks in GT technologies and articulating and directing configuration of data platforms and tools to mitigate identified risks, support compliance with applicable privacy laws and other obligations.
• Optimizsation of One Trust, Microsoft Priva and other tools.
• Audit implementation and performance of privacy risk mitigation technologies for effectiveness.
• Direct appropriate teams to enable controls that embed privacy-by-design controls (data minimisation, purpose controls, access limitations, audit and logging capabilities) into enterprise platforms (e.g., data lakes, data warehouses, analytics environments, AI/GenAI tools) and projects.
• Identify and minimise privacy risks involved when using artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning. Direct implementation of controls for safe deployment of AI.
• Develop reporting dashboards and metrics for leadership.
• Identify and implement efficiency improvements across workflows and systems.

Qualifications

Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, data science or equivalent experience required. Master’s degree preferred.
• 8–12+ years in privacy, data governance, data science or technology roles within a professional services or regulated environment.
• Azure Foundry (and similar), RAG model, agent workflows.
• ML/GENAI models and LLM.
• Privacy enhancing technologies implementation (anonymisation, differential privacy, IAM).

Technical & Functional Expertise

• Strong understanding of:
  • Data ecosystems (data lakes, warehouses, analytics platforms)
  • Data discovery, classification, and lineage tools
  • Privacy engineering and control implementation
  • Information security frameworks
• Familiarity with responsible AI controls and emerging technologies.

Regulatory & Risk Knowledge

• Deep understanding of the technical and policy controls needed to meet the requirements of federal, state and global privacy laws (e.g., HIPAA, CCPA/CPRA, GDPR).
• Experience with ISO 27001, 27701, 42001 implementation and audit.
• Awareness of emerging AI governance and regulatory expectations.

Leadership & Professional Skills

• Ability to translate legal/regulatory requirements into practical, scalable technical solutions.
• Strong stakeholder management across a matrixed, global organisation.
• Experience influencing leadership and driving cross-functional initiatives.

Preferred Qualifications

• Certifications: CIPP/E, CIPM, CIPT or equivalent
• Experience within a global professional services network (e.g., Big Four or similar)
• Familiarity with enterprise tools and platforms commonly used in GT environments (e.g., data exchange platforms, analytics environments, compliance tools)