Managing Director, Data Governance & Architecture

The Managing Director, Data Governance & Architecture leads Plymouth Rock's enterprise data governance framework and architectural standards to ensure data is trusted, secure, well-classified, and accessible for consumption across Business Intelligence, Machine Learning, and AI applications.

This role is responsible for defining and operationalizing how data is classified, governed, accessed, and distributed across the enterprise, enabling data to be safely consumed at scale by both people and machines. The leader will establish the policies, tools, and processes required to manage data as a strategic asset while supporting the company's transition to an AI/ML-driven operating model.

Partnering closely with Data Product & Engineering, Data Services and business leaders, this role ensures that data is fit for purpose, compliant, and reusable, and that governance frameworks enable—rather than constrain—speed, innovation, and value delivery.

Key Responsibilities

• Enterprise Data Governance Strategy

• Define and implement a comprehensive data governance framework aligned to Plymouth Rock's AI/ML-first data strategy.
• Establish enterprise standards for data classification, lineage, quality, retention, and access, ensuring data is managed as a controlled and auditable asset.
• Develop governance policies that support scalable consumption across Business Intelligence and AI/ML use cases, balancing control with speed and flexibility.
• Promote a culture where data is treated as a strategic asset and company resource, with clear accountability for its quality and use.

• Data Classification, Tagging, and Lineage

• Design and deploy enterprise-wide data classification standards, including the tagging of sensitive data and alignment to permitted use cases and personas.
• Implement metadata management and data catalog capabilities that provide transparency into data origin, transformation, and usage.
• Ensure that all data products are properly classified, documented, and discoverable across the enterprise.
• Establish and enforce lineage tracking to enable traceability from source systems through downstream consumption.

• Access Control, Security, and Responsible Data Use

• Define and enforce policies governing data access, consumption, and distribution across all platforms, including structured data warehouses, data lakes, and AI data services.
• Implement role-based and use-case-based access controls to ensure sensitive data is only available to authorized users and systems.
• Ensure governance frameworks support responsible AI usage, including controls around data privacy, bias, and regulatory compliance.
• Partner with Legal, Compliance, and Risk teams to maintain adherence to all applicable regulatory requirements.

• Governance Enablement Across Data Services

• Establish governance processes and controls tailored to the three primary data consumption patterns:

• • Business Intelligence (reporting and analytics)
  • Machine Learning (model training, feature engineering, and scoring)
  • AI / Agentic systems (retrieval, reasoning, and interaction)

• Ensure that governance standards are consistently applied across all environments while accommodating the differing requirements of deterministic and probabilistic workloads.
• Enable secure and scalable data access for AI and ML systems without introducing bottlenecks to development or deployment speed.

• Third-Party Data Acquisition and Management

• Lead the enterprise capability for sourcing, contracting, and integrating third-party data with particular oversight and policy consistency for external data exchange relationships.
• Establish standards for evaluating, onboarding, and governing external data sources to ensure quality, compliance, and reusability.
• Manage relationships with key data vendors (e.g., LexisNexis, TransUnion, and others), ensuring contractual enforcement and effective data utilization.
• Ensure third-party data is integrated into enterprise data products and made broadly accessible consistent with governance policy and contract terms.

• Data Architecture Standards and Platform Alignment

• Define and maintain enterprise data architecture standards supporting both legacy Business Intelligence and emerging AI/ML workloads. Partner with upstream application and infrastructure architects ensuring end-to-end system integrity.
• Partner with Data Products and Engineering teams to ensure that data ingestion, storage, and processing patterns align with governance requirements.
• Ensure architectural consistency across structured data warehouses, data lakes, AI/ML consumption platforms.
• Guide the evolution of the data platform to support scalability, modularity, and reuse.

• Organizational Alignment and Accountability

• Work closely with data product owners and business data stewards to embed governance into day-to-day operations.
• Establish clear accountability for data quality, classification, and usage at the data product level.
• Support cross-functional execution by ensuring governance frameworks enable coordinated delivery across business, data, and AI teams.
• Drive transparency into data quality and governance performance through measurable KPIs.

Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Information Systems or a related field required.
• Advanced degree preferred.

Experience Preferred

• 7+ years of experience in data governance, data architecture, or enterprise data management.
• Proven experience designing and implementing governance frameworks in complex, multi-system environments.
• Experience supporting AI/ML data requirements, including structured, unstructured, and streaming data.
• Strong understanding of data privacy, regulatory requirements, and responsible AI practices.
• Demonstrated ability to balance governance and control with speed and innovation in a modern data environment.
• Experience working in cross-functional environments with business, technology, and analytics teams.
• P&C Insurance experience and working familiarity of insurance underwriting operations and platform systems preferred.

Salary Range:

The pay range for this position is $265,000 to $341,000 annually. Actual compensation will vary based on multiple factors, including employee knowledge and experience, role scope, business needs, geographical location, and internal equity.

Perks and Benefits

• 4 weeks accrued paid time off + 9 paid national holidays per year
• Free onsite gym at our Boston Location
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Low cost and excellent coverage health insurance options that start on Day 1 (medical, dental, vision)
• Robust health and wellness program and fitness reimbursements
• Auto and home insurance discounts
• Matching gift opportunities
• Annual 401(k) Employer Contribution (up to 7.5% of your base salary)
• Various Paid Family leave options including Paid Parental Leave
• Resources to promote Professional Development (LinkedIn Learning and licensure assistance)
• Convenient location directly across from South Station and Pre-Tax Commuter Benefits

About the Company

The Plymouth Rock Company and its affiliated group of companies write and manage over $2.3 billion in personal and commercial auto and homeowner's insurance throughout the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, where we have built an unparalleled reputation for service. We continuously invest in technology, our employees thrive in our empowering environment, and our customers are among the most loyal in the industry. The Plymouth Rock group of companies employs more than 1,900 people and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Plymouth Rock Assurance Corporation holds an A.M. Best rating of “A-/Excellent”

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