Senior Data Governance & Compliance Specialist

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center (Fred Hutch); Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 115,170 - 182,021; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Sign-on bonus

Tuition reimbursement

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center is seeking a Data Governance Specialist III to design, implement, and operate the enterprise data governance program within the Information Security function. The role focuses on protecting sensitive clinical, research, and operational data in compliance with regulations and institutional policy.

This role collaborates with OCDO, Privacy, and Legal to apply governance across systems, cloud services, and research platforms, bringing technical depth and policy fluency

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in information technology, computer science, business analytics, statistics, data science, public health, or other scientific or health-related field.
• Minimum 9 years of experience in data analytics, data management, governance, privacy, security or related disciplines (a Master's degree can substitute for two years of professional experience).
• Strong evidence of excellent cross-discipline communication via written and verbal communication with ability to present complex technical information in a clear and concise manner to a variety of audiences, including executives and non-technical leaders.
• Demonstrated expertise in managing enterprise-wide governance initiatives across data domains.
• Demonstrated ability to scale and sustain external and internal initiatives and partnerships around data governance functions.

Responsibilities

• Own and maintain the enterprise data classification and handling program, including policies, standards, and data inventories.
• Develop and operate processes for data lifecycle management - covering data ownership/stewardship, data lineage, retention, de-identification, and secondary use in research and clinical contexts.
• Partner with OCDO, Privacy, and Legal to ensure data governance policies are consistently applied across systems, cloud services, and research platforms.
• Provide governance guidance on projects involving data collection, integration, analytics, and AI/ML use cases, including IRB-adjacent data use considerations.
• Assess data-related risks across systems, applications, third‑party vendors, and cloud environments; track and drive remediation.
• Support external audits and assessments involving data (HIPAA, HITRUST, research compliance), including evidence preparation and response coordination.
• Collaborate with Privacy and Legal to interpret and operationalize current and emerging regulations: HIPAA/HITECH (including the 2025 Security Rule updates), GDPR, the Common Rule, and FDA 21 CFR Part 11.
• Maintain data protection impact assessments, handling standards, and records of processing activities and policy exceptions.
• Recommend and oversee data protection technologies including DLP, CASB, DSPM, and data discovery/classification tools.
• Maintain enterprise data flow documentation: systems of record, data transfers, cross-border flows, and third-party obligations.
• Work with Security Operations monitoring for data-related threats (exfiltration, misuse); support incident response scoping and regulatory notification requirements.
• Define and report metrics on data governance program effectiveness for executive and regulatory audiences.
• Deliver targeted awareness training on data handling, classification, and secure use of cloud and collaboration platforms.
• Mentor team members and contribute to maturing data governance practices across the organization.

Skills

Cross-discipline communication

Governance initiatives

Policy fluency

Data governance

Data protection

Education

Bachelor's degree in IT / data science / public health

9+ years experience in data analytics / governance

Tools

DLP

DSPM

Data catalogs

Azure / AWS

Job description

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center is seeking a Data Governance Specialist III to design, implement, and operate the enterprise data governance program within the Information Security function. The role focuses on protecting sensitive clinical, research, and operational data in compliance with regulations and institutional policy.

This role collaborates with OCDO, Privacy, and Legal to apply governance across systems, cloud services, and research platforms, bringing technical depth and policy fluency