Data Governance Technical Program Manager

Gusto • Denver, CO • 1m ago

Why This Job is Featured on The SaaS Jobs

Data governance has become a core product and platform concern for SaaS companies adopting AI, because model quality and regulatory exposure both trace back to the same pipelines and controls. This role sits at that intersection, coordinating governance across data platforms, engineering, security, legal, privacy, and risk. The remit spans access reviews, DSAR workflows, pipeline governance, and audit readiness, making it a representative example of how modern SaaS operators are formalising “AI-ready” data practices.

For a SaaS career, the value is in learning how durable operating systems get built across functions rather than within a single team. Program leadership here involves translating between technical constraints and compliance expectations, setting multi-quarter roadmaps, and managing dependencies that cut across platform and product delivery. Experience designing governance that is automated and evidence-driven also transfers well to other SaaS environments where scale and scrutiny increase together.

This position tends to suit program leaders who prefer ambiguity-to-structure work and who are comfortable influencing senior stakeholders without direct authority. It also fits professionals who enjoy combining delivery rigor with pragmatic risk management, and who want their scope to span both data infrastructure and the controls that enable it.

The section above is editorial commentary from The SaaS Jobs, provided to help SaaS professionals understand the role in a broader industry context.

Job Description

About the Role:

Gusto is becoming an AI-native company, and that only works if our data governance keeps pace. As the Data Governance TPM, you'll own the definition and delivery of that program across Data Platforms, R&D, Legal & Compliance, Security, AIT, and Risk. You'll stand up new controls, harden the data flows that feed our models, and make sure every workstream meets our regulatory, audit, and business bar. You'll drive the timelines, manage the dependencies, head off the risk, and use AI plugins to do the work itself, so governance becomes something that helps Gusto move faster instead of slowing it down.

About the Team:

The TPM organization is part of our AIT, Risk, and Security team. We deliver the cross-functional work that lets Gusto securely accelerate its AI and platform modernization. The Data Governance program sits right at the intersection of security, compliance, and platform engineering, and it's foundational to how Gusto scales its AI ambitions responsibly. This is one of the most strategic programs on the team, and you'll lead it across a complex, fast-moving group of stakeholders.

Here’s what you’ll do day-to-day:

Set the strategy and the roadmap

Work with leaders across Security, Legal, Compliance, Privacy, GRC, Data Platforms, and Risk to shape where data governance goes as Gusto becomes an AI-native company.
Define what good governance looks like for an AI-first business, and set the multi-quarter vision that gets us there.
Run intake and prioritization with senior stakeholders, and make the call on what gets built first.
Decide where governance should clear the way for AI speed and where it needs to hold the line, and bring leaders along on the why.
Put AI plugins to work to pull together stakeholder input, map dependencies, and keep the roadmap grounded in what's really happening.

Run the programs and the change

Lead delivery across the governance portfolio. That includes RBAC and User Access Reviews, DSAR, Kafka and data pipeline governance, ITGC, disaster recovery, feature stores for Risk models, and cleaning identifiable data before it ever reaches a model.
Build governance workflows that run on AI plugins by default, so control checks and evidence collection happen automatically instead of by hand.
Build the plans, manage scope and risk, track milestones, and deliver against every audit and regulatory commitment.
Roll out new controls and help teams adopt them with training, comms, and runbooks that plugins keep up to date for you.
Keep a busy, fast-moving group of stakeholders aligned with clear, steady updates on where things stand.

Manage stakeholders and vendors

Hold vendors and partners to their commitments and push them toward AI-forward ways of working.
Stay on top of how every workstream is tracking, raise flags early, and get teams unstuck when they stall.
Watch the program budget, tooling spend, and implementation costs.

Here's what we're looking for:

You'll need

A history of taking programs from ambiguous to shipped in regulated environments.
8+ years leading cross-functional TPM or delivery work, with real time spent on security, compliance, data, or infrastructure.
A solid handle on data governance, from access controls and data lifecycle to privacy, audit and ITGC, and data pipelines, and a sense for how they help Gusto move faster on AI.
A way of working where AI plugins drive your everyday delivery, and you help the people around you work the same way.
The ability to speak the language of engineering, legal, privacy, data platform, and security, and keep everyone rowing together.

Nice to have

Familiarity with AI and ML governance, including training data hygiene, feature stores, and ML platform tooling.
Hands-on experience using AI clients and plugins (MCPs) to generate program artifacts and take the busywork off your plate.
A working knowledge of control frameworks like SOC 1/2, ISO 27001, and ISO 42001, plus privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA.
A PM certification (PMP, CAPM, Scrum, or Prosci) and time spent in high-growth fintech or another regulated, fast-paced industry.

Our cash compensation amount for this role is targeted at $151,580-180,000 in Denver. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate experience and expertise and may vary from the amounts listed above.

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