Associate, Data Transformation & Governance

Grant Thornton · Chicago · $76,000–$114,000 (stated in the posting)

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Grant Thornton is seeking a Data Transformance & Governance Associate to join the team. Approved office locations can be found below. 

Associate, Data Transformation & Governance - Position Summary:

Grant Thornton GTech’s vision is centered around enabling scalable, secure, and repeatable data transformation capabilities that support enterprise transformation, mergers and acquisitions, and modern analytics. The Data Transformation & Governance function is responsible for embedding governance, quality, stewardship, compliance, and data standards into transformation initiatives so that data from acquired companies is accurate, secure, compliant, and ready for analytics and business decision-making.

Scope extends well beyond structured data. Every acquisition arrives with records held in mailboxes, personal and shared file storage, collaboration sites, chat history, service management platforms, and line-of-business applications, alongside the structured data in HR, finance, and client systems. Much of the firm’s retention and legal exposure sits in that unstructured content rather than in the database tables. This function is expected to see the whole estate, catalog it, determine how each category should be handled, and advise the integration teams accordingly.

The Associate, Data Transformation & Governance will help execute governance activities for acquired-company data integration by supporting inventory and classification work, documentation, data quality tracking, stewardship coordination, compliance evidence, and transformation readiness activities. The role works across both structured systems and unstructured content, and partners with data governance leads, data stewards, Data & Analytics, application teams, security and privacy stakeholders, and implementation partners to help ensure data migration, integration, archival, and analytics enablement work is organized, traceable, and aligned with enterprise governance expectations.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Help maintain data governance documentation that supports acquired-company integration, including standards, roles, ownership lists, stewardship trackers, escalation paths, and performance metric inputs.
• Support governance activities for data transformation initiatives, including data migration, integration, modernization, archival, reporting, and analytics enablement workstreams.
• Support build-out of the data estate inventory for assigned acquisitions, capturing structured application data alongside mailboxes, file storage, collaboration sites, chat and meeting content, service management records, and line-of-business repositories.
• Record content attributes in the inventory, including category, sensitivity, ownership, business purpose, volume, and disposition, and keep entries current as discovery progresses.
• Prepare summaries of content categories and handling direction for use by integration teams during migration planning.
• Assist with review of unstructured and semi-structured content for regulated, privileged, personal, and client-confidential material, and document findings for follow-up.
• Maintain ownership documentation for acquired-company data domains and track domains where an accountable owner has not yet been identified.
• Maintain approval records for new or materially changed use of data, and for external sharing and third-party access, so the approval trail stays complete.
• Flag data appearing in the environment without established ownership, registration, or approval, and route it for review.
• Apply enterprise retention categories to acquired-company data and content under direction, and escalate items that do not classify cleanly.
• Maintain records of retention periods, retention triggers, and disposal timing for acquired-company data and archived datasets, and track upcoming disposal eligibility.
• Support disposal activities by preparing schedules, collecting approvals, and capturing evidence of completion.
• Check and record legal hold and business hold status ahead of disposal, decommissioning, or archival activity, and maintain hold records through to release.
• Document circumstances that extend retention beyond standard periods, including inherited contractual commitments, audit activity, and content with long-term business value, and help prepare exception or extension requests.
• Capture record retention determinations made by service line quality and risk stakeholders for audit, tax, and advisory work, and reflect them in working documentation.
• Record jurisdictional differences for assigned entities, including local privacy, data residency, and statutory retention requirements, and flag conflicts for review.
• Support data quality and standardization activities by preparing profiling summaries, issue logs, remediation trackers, reconciliation evidence, and quality gate checklists.
• Maintain data definitions, critical data element lists, metadata entries, lineage notes, and ownership documentation for assigned data domains or integration workstreams.
• Maintain catalog and business glossary entries for assigned scope so consumers can determine meaning, context, and appropriate use.
• Help coordinate data stewardship activities by tracking assigned actions, meeting notes, follow-ups, status updates, and open issues with data owners and stewards.
• Assist with the use of governance technologies such as data catalog, metadata management, lineage, data quality, master data management, and data issue management tools.
• Support IT, data platform teams, and vendors by documenting requirements, validating tool outputs, and preparing rollout or training materials for governance tools.
• Assist Legal, Privacy, Risk, Compliance, and Security stakeholders with documenting data classification, access controls, masking requirements, retention expectations, and disposal evidence.
• Prepare governance reports and status materials using inputs such as data quality scores, policy adherence, stewardship engagement, remediation progress, issue aging, and readiness status.
• Maintain dashboards, trackers, meeting materials, and issue logs that communicate governance progress, risks, decisions needed, and assigned action items.
• Participate in cross-functional working sessions and document decisions, actions, ownership, and follow-up items related to data governance and transformation readiness.
• Support source-to-target mapping, lineage documentation, reconciliation tracking, data issue resolution, and integration readiness activities during acquired-company transformation efforts.
• Promote consistent governance practices by maintaining accurate documentation, following enterprise standards, and helping teams understand governance requirements.
• Identify opportunities to improve templates, trackers, documentation quality, reporting routines, and repeatable governance support processes.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications & Requirements

• 2+ years of experience in data governance, data management, data quality, data integration, records and information management, analytics, privacy and compliance, project coordination, or related enterprise technology roles.
• Experience supporting data governance, data quality, data documentation, data migration, integration, archival, analytics, or transformation activities.
• Exposure to unstructured content environments such as mail, file storage, or collaboration platforms, in addition to structured application data.
• Basic understanding of records retention concepts, including retention categories, retention periods, and disposal.
• Awareness of legal hold obligations and why routine disposal must be suspended when a hold is in effect.
• Exposure to merger, acquisition, divestiture, or acquired-company technology and data integration initiatives preferred.
• Basic understanding of data governance concepts, including data ownership, data stewardship, critical data elements, metadata, data quality, lineage, catalog and glossary practice, retention, and governed data delivery.
• Experience maintaining data quality trackers, remediation logs, reconciliation evidence, issue lists, meeting notes, documentation, or readiness materials.
• Familiarity with data catalogs, metadata platforms, data quality tools, workflow tools, reporting tools, or data issue management capabilities preferred.
• Basic understanding of privacy, data classification, access management, masking, retention, and internal policy controls preferred.
• Ability to work with business and technology stakeholders, follow structured processes, and maintain accurate governance documentation.
• Strong organizational, analytical, communication, documentation, and follow-up skills.
• Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems, Data Analytics, Business, Computer Science, Engineering, or related field required; relevant data governance, privacy, records management, project management, or data certifications preferred.

Preferred Experience

• Experience operating in a professional services, consulting, accounting, or complex enterprise environment.
• Exposure to governance and data platform tools such as Microsoft Purview, Collibra, Informatica, Alation, Snowflake, Power BI, ServiceNow, or comparable technologies.
• Exposure to retention, classification, or eDiscovery capabilities across mail, file storage, and collaboration platforms.
• Experience supporting data archival, historical data retention, legacy system decommissioning, or compliance-driven data preservation activities.
• Experience preparing governance templates, stewardship trackers, data readiness checklists, data quality scorecards, issue logs, or dashboard inputs.
• Experience coordinating with implementation partners, systems integrators, vendors, or consulting teams.
• Experience supporting cross-functional meetings with business, technology, risk, legal, privacy, security, and data stakeholders.

Success Measures

• Assigned documentation, trackers, and governance support activities are completed for acquired-company integration, migration, archival, modernization, and analytics enablement workstreams.
• Inventory entries for assigned scope are accurate and current across structured systems and unstructured content.
• Ownership and approval records for assigned scope are complete, current, and traceable.
• Retention categories, periods, and disposal timing are recorded accurately for assigned data and content, with unclear items escalated rather than guessed.
• Hold status is checked and recorded before disposal, decommissioning, or archival activity proceeds.
• Critical data assets within assigned scope have accurate documentation for owners, stewards, definitions, metadata, quality expectations, lineage, and controls.
• Data quality, reconciliation, issue resolution, and readiness materials are maintained and available to support transformation decisions.
• Business and technology stakeholders have clear, current reporting and documentation for assigned governance actions, risks, and readiness items.

The base salary range for this position is between $76,000 and $114,000. Placement within the pay range is at Grant Thornton’s discretion, and it is based on multiple factors, including but not limited to, job-related knowledge/skills, experience, business needs, progression within the role, geographic location, and internal equity. At Grant Thornton, compensation decisions are dependent upon the facts and circumstances of each position and candidate.

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