Manager - Governance and Compliance (Contractor)

Accountabilities:

• Develop, maintain, and enforce security, compliance, risk, privacy, AI governance, and operational policies, standards, processes, and supporting tools in line with business objectives.
• Establish governance frameworks and security guardrails for Generative AI and Machine Learning tools, addressing risks such as IP leakage, shadow AI, unauthorized data ingestion, and unsafe usage.
• Define AI governance and security architecture standards for client-facing projects, ensuring data confidentiality, algorithmic transparency, regulatory alignment, and adherence to client security requirements.
• Conduct AI risk assessments and audits covering prompt injection, training data provenance, bias mitigation, third-party AI capabilities, and emerging AI security risks.
• Serve as a subject matter expert on applicable regulations and provide compliance guidance to clients and internal stakeholders, embedding effective compliance processes into assessments and delivery activities.
• Oversee compliance with global and regional privacy requirements, including India's DPDP Act, GDPR, CCPA, and PDPA, with particular attention to cross-border data transfers.
• Oversee IT infrastructure security, monitoring, maintenance, and adherence to established security best practices.
• Mature the security program through penetration testing, disaster recovery exercises, cloud security posture management, and other proactive security initiatives.
• Integrate DevSecOps and Secure SDLC practices into internal and client development pipelines, including software supply chain security, dependency scanning, and SBOM management.
• Champion Zero Trust security principles, least-privilege access, RBAC, and robust identity and access management practices.
• Lead security and compliance incident response, including severity assessment, resource allocation, containment, and remediation.
• Manage and optimize security technologies such as SIEM, DLP, EDR, vulnerability scanning, endpoint management, Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Defender, and development secret-scanning solutions.
• Drive organization-wide security awareness initiatives, including phishing simulations, employee training, AI risk education, and social engineering awareness.
• Lead compliance programs and audits while acting as the primary liaison with external auditors, vCISO providers, and other assurance partners.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and lead strategic initiatives that improve operational efficiency, security maturity, and business agility.
• Manage vendor and technology partner relationships, including contract negotiations, third-party risk assessments, AI vendor evaluations, and service-level oversight.
• Take on additional responsibilities of a similar level as required to support evolving security, compliance, and business priorities.

Requirements:

• 8+ years of experience in senior IT, cybersecurity, security, risk, or compliance roles, including at least 2 years leading technical teams.
• Strong understanding of cloud technologies, with broad familiarity across GCP, AWS, and Azure environments.
• Demonstrated success leading and completing audits against major compliance frameworks such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, and ISO 42001.
• Strong practical knowledge of AI governance, AI safety, privacy within AI pipelines, and LLM threat modeling, including OWASP Top 10 for LLMs.
• Solid knowledge of established security and risk frameworks and methodologies, including MITRE ATT&CK, CIS, NIST, and ISO standards.
• Strong understanding of global and regional data protection requirements, including India's DPDP Act, GDPR, CCPA, PDPA, and cross-border data transfer governance.
• Knowledge of networking, identity and access management, cloud security architecture, and modern security best practices.
• Hands-on familiarity with SIEM, DLP, EDR, vulnerability management, endpoint management, and security monitoring technologies.
• Experience managing departmental budgets, negotiating vendor agreements, conducting third-party assessments, and overseeing external technology partners.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical and compliance topics for customers, executives, and non-technical stakeholders.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, prioritization, and time-management abilities, particularly when managing complex cross-functional initiatives simultaneously.
• Proactive and adaptable approach, with the ability to respond effectively to evolving business requirements, unexpected security challenges, and high-priority incidents.
• Collaborative team-player mindset and ability to work effectively with functions including sales, marketing, customer support, product development, and technical teams.
• Willingness to work flexibly across global time zones and contribute with an all-hands-on-deck mentality when required.
• Industry certification in information security or risk management, such as CCSP, CISSP, CISM, or CRISC.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Information Systems, IT Management, or a related discipline.

Benefits:

• Full-time remote position with the flexibility to work from anywhere in India.
• Opportunity to shape security, risk, compliance, privacy, and AI governance strategies across a global organization.
• High-impact leadership role combining strategic thought leadership with hands-on program execution.
• Exposure to advanced cloud, cybersecurity, AI governance, privacy, and emerging technology initiatives.
• Opportunity to work with global stakeholders, clients, auditors, external security specialists, vendors, and technology partners.
• Scope to strengthen audit readiness, security maturity, responsible AI adoption, and operational resilience.
• Collaborative, inclusive environment that values diverse perspectives, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Flexibility to support global collaboration and business needs across different regions and time zones.