Head of Data Sovereignty & Assurance - Global Fintech

A leading global payments platform is hiring a Head of Data Sovereignty & Assurance to own and build the firm's global data assurance layer across its cross-border financial infrastructure.

This role is responsible for establishing full visibility, control, and auditability of data flows across every jurisdiction the business operates in; to design and operationalise a data assurance map that eliminates black boxes and ensures every data movement is traceable, compliant, and regulator-ready by design.

You will own end-to-end data sovereignty strategy, including GDPR compliance, data localisation requirements, and cross-border data transfer mechanisms such as SCCs. A core part of the role is building real-time monitoring and control frameworks that provide continuous assurance over how data is stored, processed, and transferred globally.

In parallel, you will lead regulatory alignment across global frameworks including GDPR, DORA, EU AI Act, NYDFS, and the CLOUD Act, translating these into certifiable, audit-ready systems aligned to standards such as ISO, NIST, PCI DSS, and SOC2. You will also drive the implementation of policy-as-code and compliance-as-code, ensuring regulatory requirements are embedded into infrastructure and workflows at scale.

We're looking for candidates with 10+ years of experience across data governance, or data privacy within financial services, fintech, or highly regulated technology environments. The critical differentiator is deep expertise in data privacy, cross-border data governance, and data architecture, with hands-on experience translating regulatory requirements into system-level implementation.

Strong familiarity with EU/UK regulatory environments, particularly GDPR and related data frameworks, is a strong advantage. This role is suited to someone who combines technical depth with regulatory fluency, and who can build a globally scalable data governance model that is verifiable, controllable, and sovereign by design.