Data Governance Specialist at BDO South Africa

Introduction    
At BDO, we believe in investing in our people to help them grow, both professionally and personally. The foundation of our business is strong relationship, with colleagues, clients and other stakeholders and we work hard every day to make this a reality. Our commitment is to create unlimited growth by giving our people continuous opportunities and our client's unparalleled support.

BDO’s global organisation extends across 167 countries and territories, with 88,120 people working out of 1,617 offices – and we’re all working towards one goal: to provide our clients with exceptional service. Our firms across the organisation cooperate closely and comply with consistent operating principles and quality standards.

BDO South Africa has a vacancy for a Data Governance Specialist to join the National Operations department, this position can be based anywhere in South Africa so candidates from all regions are encouraged to apply.

The Data Governance Specialist is responsible for deploying and enforcing policies, procedures frameworks and controls that ensure data is used and maintained properly. Additional responsibilities include monitoring and improving data quality and promoting a data protection culture within the firm.

Specification    
Main Duties and Responsibilities:

• Keep abreast of regulatory changes impacting the workplace:
• Assist in the development of policies, procedures, frameworks and tools with specific focus on relevant legislation
• Ensure that all business policies contain the right content addressing legislative requirements.
• Collaborate with Risk and Legal departments to interpret data-related Legislation and Regulations, including, but not limited to the Protection of Personal Information Act and the General Data Protection Regulation

Data Governance:

• Create and implement an enterprise wide Data Governance Framework
• Create data governance policies, processes, standards and controls
• Deploy and enforce policies and procedures that ensure data is used and maintained properly
• Ensure that new systems and/or applications adhere to existing data management practices, policies, and procedures
• Serve as a liaison between Business and Functional areas and technology to ensure that data related business requirements for protecting sensitive data are clearly defined, communicated and well understood and considered as part of operational prioritization and planning
• Translate data compliance requirements to technical and business requirements for IT and data owners and data analysts to action

Serve as Privacy Champion for the firm:

• Monitor compliance with the BDO Global Privacy Policy and relevant local data protection legislation
• Inform, advise and issue recommendations on data protection processes within the firm
• Have due regard to the risk associated with the processing operations
• Provide advice on the need, methodology, safeguards and other elements of a privacy impact assessment (PIA)
• Maintain a record of all categories of processing activities carried out on behalf of controller
• Promote a data protection culture within the firm

Ensure that Data Quality is excellent throughout the lifecycle of the data:

• Define acceptable data quality levels in conjunction with business owners and define rules that the company must use to ensure data is available, at the right quality levels and accessed securely by authorised personnel
• Collaborate with data owners and data analysts to analyse data for data quality issues and define requirements for what quality measures needs to be tracked.
• Work with data analysts to investigate, and resolve data quality issues within enterprise applications, using various techniques while safeguarding against data loss

Business process improvement:

• Influence the enhancement of business processes and methodologies.
• Evaluating business processes, anticipating requirements, uncovering areas for improvement, and developing and implementing solutions

Other:

• Draft reports and share information in different ways to increase understanding

Requirements    
Qualifications:

• Degree in Commerce (Risk Management, Business Administration, Finance, Legal, Information Systems preferred)

Work Experience:

• 2-4 years in a similar role

Knowledge:

• Expertise in national data protection laws and practices
• Knowledge and operational skills in Data Governance and Data Quality will be advantageous
• Understanding of information technologies and data security
• Knowledge of business analysis frameworks

Technical Competencies:

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Working knowledge of Microsoft programs including Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and Outlook
• Ability to present information clearly and concisely at a level appropriate to the target audience

Behavioral Competencies:

• Ability to deal with and influence executives and senior leaders
• Critical thinking
• Time management
• Work independently as well as within a team

BDO Core Competencies:

• Relationships and Collaboration
• Exceptional Client Service
• Engaging people
• Leadership
• Quality, Risk management and Operational performance

The appointment will be made in terms of the Firm's Employment Equity Policy.
Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.