VP - Data Architecture Governance

About the role

Role Summary/Purpose: The VP - Data Architecture Governance leader is a strategic leadership role within Synchrony's Data & Analytics Engineering organization responsible for enterprise data platform architecture governance, risk & controls oversight, and architecture decision leadership. This role ensures enterprise-wide alignment of data architecture standards, reference patterns, and control requirements to support Synchrony's evolving data landscape and long-term business objectives. As a leader, you will work extensively with senior architects, engineering teams, Internal Audit, risk and compliance functions to design "controls-by-design" architecture guardrails and ensure they are implemented and evidenced through engineering workflows -across AWS cloud services (e.g., Redshift, EMR, SageMaker, etc.), Ab Initio, Kafka, Hadoop, Oracle, Snowflake and SAS - which collectively support Synchrony's enterprise-wide data, AI and analytics needs to enable informed decision-making and business growth. You will lead governance activities including issue management, risk & controls assessment, and audit/regulatory coordination (e.g., SOX) , while mentoring teams and promoting architectural excellence. Our Way of Working We're proud to offer you choice and flexibility. At Synchrony, our way of working allows you to have the option to work from home near one of our Hubs or come into one of our offices. Occasionally you may be required to commute to our nearest office for in person engagement activities such as business or team meetings, training and culture events. Essential Responsibilities: Own the L3 data architecture governance process, ensuring standards, procedures, and job aids are defined, maintained, and aligned with Synchrony's strategic objectives including cloud modernization efforts. Collaborate with enterprise and domain architects to align data architecture standards and controls across Synchrony. Lead issue and risk management activities for data architecture, including tracking, resolving, and documenting closure of control gaps and audit findings; ; drive root-cause analysis and sustainable remediation (not just closure). Drive coordination of audits, regulatory requests, and certifications (e.g., SOX), ensuring timely responses and remediation. Author and curate executive and regulator ready architecture governance content (e.g., standards, policies, control narratives, procedures, evidence packs, and briefing materials), ensuring clarity, consistency, and auditability. Partner with compliance, risk, business stakeholders and engineering teams to embed controls into data platform processes supporting operational resilience and regulatory compliance. Maintain risk and control documentation and update governance tools to track risk posture and mitigation actions. Communicate progress and risk exposure regularly to senior leadership. Chair/lead architecture design reviews for critical data engineering initiatives (batch + streaming), approving reference patterns for ingestion, transformation, storage, and consumption (APIs, datasets, events) and ensuring alignment to target-state architecture. Define technical guardrails and ensure adherence to approved reference architectures for data domains and products (data modeling, data contracts, metadata/lineage, data quality, security), including standards for cloud-native implementations and migration from legacy platforms. Drive automation of architecture compliance by partnering with platform/DevOps teams to embed controls into engineering workflows (e.g., CI/CD checks, configuration baselines, policy-as-code, automated evidence capture/monitoring). Perform other duties and/or special projects as assigned. Qualifications / Requirements: Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related field and a minimum 10+ years' experience in information technology or in lieu of degree, High School/GED and 15+ years of Information technology experience. A minimum of 8 years of progressive experience in governance role supporting engineering org or senior data architecture roles within regulated environments, with preference for financial services. Proven experience owning data platform architecture governance and control frameworks and driving compliance activities from design through implementation and evidence. Strong collaboration skills to work effectively with architects, engineers, risk, and audit teams. Experience managing audit coordination and regulatory compliance activities for technology platforms. Knowledge of industry best practices in data architecture and governance, with focus on cloud modernization initiatives. Strong communication skills, including ability to brief executive leadership on risk and compliance matters. Familiarity with risk management and issue tracking tools and processes is preferred. Ability and flexibility to travel for business as required Desired Characteristics: Strategic thinker with a strong risk ma

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