Principal Data Governance Analyst

Technology is at the heart of Disney’s past, present, and future. Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology is a global organization of engineers, product developers, designers, technologists, data scientists, and more – all working to build and advance the technological backbone for Disney’s media business globally.

The team marries technology with creativity to build world-class products, enhance storytelling, and drive velocity, innovation, and scalability for our businesses. We are Storytellers and Innovators. Creators and Builders. Entertainers and Engineers. We work with every part of The Walt Disney Company’s media portfolio to advance the technological foundation and consumer media touch points serving millions of people around the world. 

Here are a few reasons why we think you’d love working here:

• Building the future of Disney’s media: Our Technologists are designing and building the products and platforms that will power our media, advertising, and distribution businesses for years to come.

• Reach, Scale & Impact: More than ever, Disney’s technology and products serve as a signature doorway for fans' connections with the company’s brands and stories. Disney+. Hulu. ESPN. ABC. ABC News…and many more. These products and brands – and the unmatched stories, storytellers, and events they carry – matter to millions of people globally. 

• Innovation: We develop and implement groundbreaking products and techniques that shape industry norms and solve complex and distinctive technical problems

Ad Platforms is responsible for Disney’s industry-leading ad technology and products – driving advertising performance, innovation, and value in Disney’s sports, news, and entertainment content, across all media platforms.

Job Summary:

Disney’s Ad Platforms group is seeking a Principal Data Governance Analyst, Privacy & Compliance to drive global advertising privacy and regulatory compliance initiatives across our data-driven advertising ecosystem.  In this role, you will apply deep domain expertise to develop and drive initiatives to proactively assess and implement changes to advertising capabilities globally. Additionally, this role will advise on impact, risk, and prioritization of privacy and compliance-enabling processes, technologies, and organizational structures to streamline and improve ad-serving capabilities throughout the Ad Platforms ecosystem. 

This role will also be accountable for ensuring our advertising technology platforms remain compliant with global privacy regulations (GDPR, CCPA, CPRA, LGPD, etc.), while enabling scalable and privacy-responsible advertising across Disney+, Hulu, ESPN, ABC, National Geographic, and more.

This position is ideal for a highly experienced compliance professional with a strong background in advertising technology, regulatory frameworks, and audit best practices, who thrives in complex, cross-functional environments.

Responsibilities:

• Champion and lead implementation of consent management and data minimization to meet and exceed regulatory compliance requirements.

• Partner with Legal, Privacy, Ads and Data Product, and Engineering Proactively Interpret and apply global privacy regulations (GDPR, CCPA, CPRA, LGPD, etc.) to Ad Platforms operations, guiding privacy-by-design implementation in ad-serving, targeting, and measurement workflows.

• Manage and oversee privacy capabilities within Adverting end-to-end workflows; identify and implement continual improvements to streamline and increase adoption.

• Drive updates and enhancements to privacy signal processing and privacy frameworks.

• Monitor and audit privacy-enabling workflows and architectures to ensure compliance with policies and standards.

• Identify, prioritize, and oversee implementation of key privacy-enhancing opportunities.

• Provide subject matter guidance and influence technical design decisions within Advertising projects and initiatives, to promote privacy-by-design principles early in the project lifecycle.

• Provide training and support to stakeholders to increase data literacy and awareness of advertising privacy principles.

• Sets standards and oversees collection, organization, and tracking of planning and execution activities to support privacy initiatives across Ad Platforms.

• Promote adoption of changes to advertising and data privacy security postures relating to targeting and segmentation.

• Represent The Walt Disney Company within Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Privacy, CTV, and Advertising forums and Working Groups, and recommend and advocate best practices aligned with IAB Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF), IAB Global Privacy Protocol (GPP), and additional frameworks relevant to advertising capabilities.

• Represent the Ad Platforms Privacy function in steering committees, working groups, and external regulatory conversations as needed.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Law, Computer Science, Public Policy, International Business, Information Systems, Software, Electrical or Electronics Engineering, or comparable field of study, and/or equivalent work experience.

• 10+ years of hands-on experience in privacy compliance, audit, data governance, or risk management, preferably in Ad Tech, Streaming, or Digital Media.

• Proficiency in compliance automation, audit tracking tools, and regulatory reporting.

• Demonstrated experience in legal technology and operations.

• Strong working knowledge of global data privacy laws and how they impact digital advertising and data monetization.

• Proven experience prioritizing efforts based on value, feasibility, and dependencies within a dynamic delivery environment.

• Outstanding verbal, written, presentation, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to effectively interact with all levels of management. This includes active listening, understanding stakeholder needs, managing expectations, conflict resolution, and delivering high-quality service to foster trust and satisfaction.

• Excellent follow-up skills and the ability to take initiative, as well as a proactive problem-solving approach, leveraging critical thinking and analytical skills to develop innovative solutions.

• Strong cross-functional communication skills and the ability to influence without authority.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Certifications such as CIPP/US, CIPP/E, CIPP, CIPM, CGRC, CGEIT, or CISSP.

• Extensive experience in the Media & Entertainment field, and/or consulting.

• Expertise in first-party data strategies, identity resolution technologies, and privacy-conscious advertising.

• Familiarity with cloud-based data platforms (AWS, GCP), data pipelines (Airflow), and governance tools (Semarchy, Alation, Unity, etc.).

• Hands-on experience with Snowflake and Databricks environments.

• Knowledge of any of the following: Python, SQL, AWS, GitHub.

• Experience with a reporting tool such as Tableau or Looker.

• Familiarity with Artificial Intelligence privacy strategies.

• Experience with advertising measurement frameworks, attribution modeling, and ad fraud mitigation.

• Demonstrated ability to embed privacy-by-design in machine learning, personalization, or audience segmentation initiatives.

• IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL®) Intermediate or Advanced certifications.

• Certifications in agile software development methodologies (PMI-ACP, CSPO, SAFe PO/PM, ICP-ACC, etc.)

• Other advanced product, platform, or agile courses/certifications.

The hiring range for this position in CA is $152,200.00 to $204,100.00 per year. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate’s geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. A bonus and/or long-term incentive units may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to the full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the level and position offered.