About Northern Trust:
Northern Trust, a Fortune 500 company, is a globally recognized, award-winning financial institution that has been in continuous operation since 1889.
Northern Trust is proud to provide innovative financial services and guidance to the world’s most successful individuals, families, and institutions by remaining true to our enduring principles of service, expertise, and integrity. With more than 130 years of financial experience and over 22,000 partners, we serve the world’s most sophisticated clients using leading technology and exceptional service.
Overview
We are seeking a strategic and execution-focused Head of IAM Governance, Risk & Operations to lead and modernize Identity & Access Management Governance, Risk and Operations program.
This role extends beyond traditional IAM to include next-generation identity challenges, including AI agents, non-human identities, and autonomous systems. You will define how identity is governed in an era where agentic AI act with delegated authority.
Grounded in balancing power, control, and alignment—you will ensure identity systems are secure by design, governed with intent, and constrained by policy, preventing uncontrolled privilege expansion across both human and machine actors.
Key Responsibilities
IAM Governance & Strategy
- Define and implement a modern IAM governance framework spanning:
- Human identities
- Machine/service identities / AI agents and autonomous actors
- Establish policies and standards based on global regulations
- Lead governance forums to ensure accountability across technology, security, and business domains
- Partner with data governance to align identity controls with data sensitivity and usage
Agentic AI Identity & Governance
- Define and operationalize identity frameworks for agentic AI, including:
- Unique identity issuance for AI agents
- Scoped permissions and task-based entitlements
- Lifecycle management (creation, delegation, revocation, termination)
- Establish policy guardrails for autonomous decision-making systems, ensuring:
- Traceability of actions
- Attribution of decisions
- Controlled delegation of authority
- Implement controls to prevent:
- Privilege escalation by AI agents
- Unauthorized data access or propagation
- “Identity sprawl” across machine and AI ecosystems
- Partner with AI/ML teams to integrate IAM into AI pipelines, orchestration layers, and model execution environments
Risk & Compliance
- Own IAM risk identification across human and non-human identities.
- Define risk models for autonomous access, delegated authority, and machine-to-machine interactions
- Ensure compliance with evolving regulatory expectations related to AI governance and identity accountability
- Lead audit readiness for IAM and AI identity controls
- Develop KPIs/KRIs for:
- Identity risk exposure
- Access anomalies (human vs. agentic)
- Policy violations and drift
Operations & Execution
- Oversee IAM operations across:
- Joiner/Mover/Leaver (JML) lifecycle
- Access certifications and continuous attestation
- Privileged Access Management (PAM)
- Authentication and authorization services
- Implement access controls (adaptive, context-aware, risk-based)
- Ensure operational scalability as identity volumes grow exponentially with AI adoption
Leadership & Stakeholder Engagement
- Build and lead a forward-looking IAM organization capable of supporting AI-era identity challenges
- Partner with:
- Risk
- Data Governance
- AI/ML Engineering
- Enterprise Architecture
- Translate complex identity and AI risk concepts into clear executive narratives
- Establish a culture of accountability, transparency, and controlled innovation
Qualifications
Required
- 12+ years in cybersecurity/IAM with 5+ years in senior leadership roles
- Deep expertise in:
- Identity Governance & Administration (IGA)
- Privileged Access Management (PAM)
- Authentication and access control
- Proven experience managing IAM in complex, highly regulated environments
- Strong understanding of non-human identities.
- Demonstrated ability to design governance models, not just operate within them
Preferred
- Experience integrating IAM with AI/ML platforms or data ecosystems
- Familiarity with agentic AI frameworks and orchestration tools
- Experience with tools such as SailPoint, Saviynt, CyberArk, Okta, and cloud IAM platforms
- Anthropic Mythos Leadership and Assessment.
What Success Looks Like
- A unified IAM framework governing humans, machines (Including AI)
- High audit readiness across both IAM and emerging AI governance domains
- Scalable, automated IAM operations aligned to enterprise growth and innovation
Salary Range:
$205,700 - 360,100 USDSalary range is a good faith estimate of base pay. Northern Trust provides a comprehensive benefits package including retirement benefits (401k and pension), health and welfare benefits (medical, dental, vision, spending accounts and disability), paid time off, parental and caregiver leave, life & accident insurance, and other voluntary and well-being benefits. Northern Trust also provides a discretionary bonus program that may include an equity component.
Working with Us:
As a Northern Trust partner, greater achievements await. You will be part of a flexible and collaborative work culture in an organization where financial strength and stability is an asset that emboldens us to explore new ideas.
Movement within the organization is encouraged, senior leaders are accessible, and you can take pride in working for a company committed to assisting the communities we serve! Join a workplace with a greater purpose.
We’d love to learn more about how your interests and experience could be a fit with one of the world’s most admired and sustainable companies! Build your career with us and apply today. #MadeForGreater
Reasonable accommodation
Northern Trust is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please email our HR Service Center at [email protected].
We hope you’re excited about the role and the opportunity to work with us. We value an inclusive workplace and understand flexibility means different things to different people.
Apply today and talk to us about your flexible working requirements and together we can achieve greater.
Skills Required
- 12+ years in cybersecurity/IAM with 5+ years in senior leadership roles
- Deep expertise in Identity Governance & Administration (IGA)
- Privileged Access Management (PAM) expertise
- Authentication and access control expertise
- Proven experience managing IAM in complex, highly regulated environments
- Strong understanding of non-human identities (machine identities, AI agents)
- Demonstrated ability to design IAM governance models
- Experience integrating IAM with AI/ML platforms or data ecosystems
- Familiarity with agentic AI frameworks and orchestration tools
- Experience with tools such as SailPoint, Saviynt, CyberArk, Okta, and cloud IAM platforms
- Anthropic Mythos Leadership and Assessment
Northern Trust Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Northern Trust and has not been reviewed or approved by Northern Trust.
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Retirement Support — Retirement offerings are positioned as a standout, with a 401(k) plus an additional employer-funded pension described as a differentiator. This combination is repeatedly framed as a meaningful offset within total rewards, especially for long-term financial security.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time-off benefits are depicted as generous, spanning paid time off, holidays, and dedicated paid volunteer time. The breadth of leave options is highlighted as a consistent strength that supports work-life balance.
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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is characterized as comprehensive, typically including medical, dental, vision, and mental-health support through an assistance program. The offering is portrayed as robust and family-supportive, with multiple plan options in some descriptions.
Northern Trust Insights
What We Do
As a global leader in innovative wealth management, asset servicing and investment solutions, Northern Trust (Nasdaq: NTRS) is proud to guide the world’s most successful individuals, families and institutions by remaining true to our enduring principles of service, expertise and integrity. A globally recognized Fortune 500 Company in continuous operation since 1889, we’ve built a legacy of empowering clients to reach their goals with confidence. Since our roots as a trust bank, we’ve grown to a global presence with more than 24,000 employees in more than 20 countries and across six core business units: Wealth Management Asset Management Asset Servicing Technology Corporate Functions Enterprise Operations Join a Team That’s Achieving Greater At Northern Trust, we refer to our employees as partners – with good reason. We understand that relationships are the key to our success. Here you’ll join a diverse and inclusive team of innovators with the drive to challenge the way things have always been done. Instead of choosing between a dynamic career and work-life balance, enjoy working with a team that supports your goals in the office and at home. We’ll help you get where you want to go without sacrificing what matters most to you. Delivering value and adhering to our enduring principles What are enduring principles? Since our founding, they have guided our strategy and success. Thanks to the dedication of our partners, Northern Trust continues to thrive by adhering to three enduring principles: service, expertise and integrity . What does this mean? Service Northern Trust has a relentless drive to provide exceptional service to our clients, our partners and our communities. We set new standards and go above and beyond in our commitment to delivering greater results. Expertise Expertise is at the core of who we are. We focus sharply on what we do well. From expanding our capabilities, to hiring talented professionals to developing innovative solutions, our expertise is why we continue to be a trusted advisor for generations of families and institutions. Integrity Operating with uncompromising ethics is central to Northern Trust’s heritage. As a result, our clients, partners and communities know they can rely on us. For more than 130 years, our integrity has been our guide – and that will never change.
Why Work With Us
At Northern Trust, we go further because we go together. We embrace flexibility, encourage balance, and prioritize inclusion at all levels, working together to keep you connected. We are committed to our employees—all 24,000 of them. Whether this is a first step or a bold new leap in your career, we’re here to help you move forward.
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