Data Governance Specialist

The CDC Foundation helps the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) save and improve lives by unleashing the power of collaboration between CDC, philanthropies, corporations, organizations and individuals to protect the health, safety and security of America and the world. The CDC Foundation is the go-to nonprofit authorized by Congress to mobilize philanthropic partners and private-sector resources to support CDC’s critical health protection mission. Since 1995, the CDC Foundation has raised over $1.9 billion and launched more than 1,300 programs impacting a variety of health threats from chronic disease conditions including cardiovascular disease and cancer, to infectious diseases like rotavirus and HIV, to emergency responses, including COVID-19 and Ebola. The CDC Foundation managed hundreds of programs in the United States and in more than 90 countries last year. Visit www.cdcfoundation.org for more information.  

Job Highlights

Location: Remote, must be based in the United States

Salary Range: $81,000-$117,875 per year, plus benefits. Individual salary offers will be based on experience and qualifications unique to each candidate.

Work Hours: 8am- 5pm Pacific time zone is preferred, but working hours are flexible.

Position Type: Grant funded, limited-term opportunity

Position End Date: June 30, 2025 

Overview

The Data Governance Specialist will drive the development of a tailored health data governance framework that is aligned with industry standards and regulatory requirements. This role is aligned to the Workforce Acceleration Initiative (WAI). WAI is a federally funded CDC Foundation program with the goal of helping the nation’s public health agencies by providing them with the technology and data experts they need to accelerate their information system improvements.

Working within Marin County Health and Human Services (MCDHHS) Director’s Office the Data Governance Specialist will play a critical role in bridging gaps between siloed systems, developing a data governance infrastructure, collaborating to create and identify structured policies and procedures, leading training initiatives to empower staff and help foster a culture of data stewardship and trust in data driven decision-making.  This position will work to formalize the Data Governance infrastructure in MCDHHS and will work collaboratively to advance specific policies to support the data infrastructure of Marin’s California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) Justice Involved Initiative (JII) team, which aims to improve the care of justice-involved Medicaid (MediCal in California) enrollees. Data governance for this initiative will include policies for the governance of internal and external data from EHRs, a newly adopted HIE, and a care coordination system to enable transformative whole person care for this population through data exchange.

The Data Governance Specialist will be hired by the CDC Foundation and assigned to the MCDHHS Director’s Office under the Chief Operating Officer/Chief Assistant Director of Health and Human Services with close ties to the MCDHHS Compliance Officer and the cross-departmental JII team. This position is eligible for a fully remote work arrangement for U.S. based candidates.

• Coordinate and facilitate collaboration across executive leadership, legal teams, external stakeholders, and cross-functional internal teams in the development and delivery of a tailored health data governance framework.
• Oversee data governance for MCDHHS, including establishing and implementing a department-wide framework and protocols for the management of data, such as protocols regarding data ownership, data integrity and usability, consistency and validity of data, and data security, in consultation and coordination with Compliance Officer and other executive staff.
• Conduct a comprehensive assessment of current data governance practices, policies and procedures to identify gaps and risks as they pertain to the Justice Involved Initiative (JII) data landscape.
• With input from existing staff and in collaboration with the Compliance Officer, lead the development of clear policies, procedures and guidelines for data management, privacy, security and compliance that align with agency goals.
• Ensure data stewards and key partners have the training and resources to perform effectively on their data management, quality, and governance responsibilities.
• Define access policies and optimize data-related workflows and communication.
• Define clear roles and responsibilities to ensure standards and best practices are followed.
• Coordinate meetings with executive teams, product manager(s), developers, subject matter experts, vendors, and users; prepare agendas, take minutes, assign follow up tasks and ensure progress on action items.
• Effectively communicate insights and plans to cross-functional team members and management.
• Translate complex data governance concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including IT, legal, compliance, and business units, to promote a culture of data governance and foster collaboration in data modernization, including data exchange.
• Provide recommendations regarding standardization of data functions, integration of data across multiple programs and outside sectors, and the development of protocols to ensure the usability of exchanged data to facilitate JII programmatic needs.

• Bachelor’s degree in health administration, computer science, information systems, computer engineering, operations management or related field required. MBA or other related advanced degree preferred.
• A minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in data governance, data management, or data quality, with a preference for a year or more of experience in data governance. 7-9 years of experience are the preferred years of experience.
• Experience developing and documenting data governance processes and procedures as part of a data governance committee
• Advanced understanding of data management, confidentiality, compliance, laws and regulations such as, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
• Experience coordinating data governance, or directly managing data management documentation, for data systems, metadata, and metadata standards (e.g. file layouts, data dictionaries, data attributes, data user policies, data management policies)
• Excellent planning, coordination, organization and problem-solving skills with the ability to collaborate at all levels, and think both strategically and tactically
• Experience collaborating with multi-disciplinary teams and multi-agency groups for information gathering, input, and decision making around change and risk management initiatives and roll-out.
• Strong understanding of data-related technical concepts and legacy systems.
• Outstanding interpersonal and teamwork skills; and the ability to develop productive working relationships with technical and non-technical executives, administrators, directors, managers and staff
• Experience working in a virtual environment with remote partners and teams.
• Certification in data governance (e.g., Certified Data Management Professional, Data Governance Certification) preferred

Special Notes

This role is involved in a dynamic public health program. As such, roles and responsibilities are subject to change as situations evolve. Roles and responsibilities listed above may be expanded upon or updated to match priorities and needs, once written approval is received by the CDC Foundation in order to best support the public health programming.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, mental or physical disabilities, veteran status, and all other characteristics protected by law.

We comply with all applicable laws including E.O. 11246 and the Vietnam Era Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 governing employment practices and do not discriminate on the basis of any unlawful criteria in accordance with 41 C.F.R. §§ 60-300.5(a)(12) and 60-741.5(a)(7). As a federal government contractor, we take affirmative action on behalf of protected veterans.

The CDC Foundation is a smoke-free environment.

Relocation expenses are not included.