Director, Data Governance & AI Data Enablement

We are driven to do more. More for our customers and the financial professionals who offer our products. If you are driven to do more and love the challenge of pursuing more, Athene is your kind of company. You will find we offer more than the basics to create an inclusive and dynamic work environment at our various locations.

Purpose:

Athene is seeking a senior leader to transform data governance into a business-led, AI-enabled capability. This role will ensure data is trusted, discoverable, and fit for advanced analytics, AI, and emerging agentic use cases, while embedding clear ownership within business domains and scaling governance through modern platforms and operating models.
Reporting to the Chief Data Officer (CDO), this individual will serve as a key member of the CDO leadership team, shaping enterprise data and AI strategy while leading a high-performing team to execute on governance priorities.

Accountabilities:

• Business Ownership & Strategy: Evolve data governance into a business-aligned model with clear domain ownership, treating data as a product with defined SLAs, quality standards, and measurable outcomes.

• AI Data Readiness & Enablement: Define and operationalize AI-ready data standards (quality, lineage, metadata, labeling) and partner with data, AI, and engineering teams to ensure datasets are fit-for-purpose for analytics, AI, and agentic use cases.

• Metadata, Lineage & Discoverability: Scale metadata, catalog, and lineage capabilities; establish consistent business definitions; and improve data discoverability and reuse across domains.

• Data Quality & Observability: Establish and monitor data quality standards and scorecards, partnering with engineering to implement observability and enable continuous improvement.

• Unstructured Data & GenAI Governance: Extend governance to structured and unstructured data, including classification, labeling, and secure usage, in alignment with responsible AI and traceability standards.

• Platforms & Enablement: Lead adoption of modern governance and metadata platforms, enabling self-service access and embedding governance into data, analytics, and AI workflows.

• Stakeholder Engagement & Culture: Partner across business, technology, risk, and compliance; deliver executive reporting; and promote data literacy and a data-driven culture.

Qualifications and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree, plus 8+ years of experience in data governance, data management, or related fields, and 5+ years of direct or indirect leadership experience.

• Experience supporting analytics, AI, or data-driven use cases

• Strong knowledge of data quality, metadata, lineage, and governance practices

• Experience with enterprise data governance or metadata platforms (e.g., Collibra, Alation, Informatica, Atlan)

• Proven ability to lead teams and drive cross-functional adoption

Preferred

• Experience in financial services or other regulated industries

• Familiarity with AI/ML, GenAI, or agentic AI data requirements

• Exposure to cloud data platforms (e.g., AWS, Snowflake)

Key Competencies

• Strategic mindset with strong execution focus and ability to translate governance into business value

• Influential leadership and stakeholder management

• Ability to balance governance rigor with innovation enablement

Drive. Discipline. Confidence. Focus. Commitment.  Learn more about working at Athene.

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Athene is committed to inclusion and is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.  We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, veteran status or any other status protected by federal, state or local law.