Associate Director - Privacy

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

Benefits offered by this job

Generous benefits package

Job summary

Grant Thornton Ireland is seeking an Assistant Director to embed privacy principles in technologies and initiatives. The role requires 8-12+ years of experience in privacy, data governance, or technology roles, focusing on managing global privacy programs and directing the implementation of privacy controls.

The successful candidate will develop reporting dashboards while addressing privacy risks and ensuring compliance with privacy laws. The position offers a comprehensive benefits package.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in privacy program management in global settings.
• Familiarity with privacy-enhancing technologies, including anonymization.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills to drive initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Manage global privacy program and identify privacy risks.
• Direct implementation of privacy controls across technologies.
• Develop reporting dashboards for leadership.

Skills

Privacy program management

Stakeholder management

Communication skills

Analytical abilities

Compliance knowledge

Education

8–12+ years in privacy, data governance, or technology roles

Tools

Azure Foundry

GDPR compliance tools

Data lineage tools

Job description

Role Overview

The Assistant Director will embed privacy principles into the design, development, and deployment of Grant Thornton Advisors LLC technologies and initiatives. Responsibilities include global privacy program management, identifying and mitigating privacy risks in built or bought technologies, directing the implementation of privacy controls across all technologies, and recommending and leading the development of technical safeguards, policy changes, and relevant training.

Key Responsibilities

• Experienced privacy program generalist in global (EMEA) privacy operations.
• Develop, implement, and maintain privacy policies, procedures, and governance frameworks aligned to legal requirements.
• Create or modify required policy‑based controls and assist in providing training content for the Privacy team.
• Identify privacy risks in GT technologies and articulate and direct configuration of data platforms and tools to mitigate those risks, supporting compliance with applicable privacy laws and other obligations.
• Audit implementation and performance of privacy risk‑mitigation technologies.
• 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.
• Interface with developers and architects to implement data solutions that enable data‑driven business while protecting data assets.
• Identify and minimise privacy risks involved when using artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning, directing the 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 And Experience

• 8–12+ years in privacy, data governance, data science, or technology roles within a professional services or regulated environment.
• Experience with Azure Foundry (or similar), RAG models, and agent workflows.
• Familiarity with ML/GENAI models and large language models (LLM).
• Experience implementing privacy‑enhancing technologies such as anonymization, differential privacy, and 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.
• Experience or understanding of software application design tools and languages.
• Understanding of designing software applications for multiple platforms.
• Data literacy: finding, managing, cleansing, and manipulating data.

Regulatory & Risk Knowledge

• Deep understanding of the technical and policy controls needed to meet federal, state, and global privacy laws (e.g., HIPAA, CCPA/CPRA, GDPR).
• Experience with ISO 27001, ISO 27701, ISO 42001, and ISO 27559 implementation and audit.
• Awareness of emerging AI governance and regulatory expectations.

Leadership & Professional Skills

• Ability to translate legal and regulatory requirements into practical, scalable technical solutions.
• Strong stakeholder management across a matrixed, global organization.
• Experience influencing leadership and driving cross‑functional initiatives.
• Strong communication skills, both verbal and written.
• Excellent analytical and problem‑solving abilities.
• Strong teamwork and collaboration skills, particularly in leading or contributing to global and multi‑functional teams.

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).

Benefits

We offer a generous benefits package. Please follow this link for more details.