The External Research Data Governance Lead plays a pivotal role within Data, Automation and Predictive Sciences (DAPS) function, advancing GSK’s data-as-an-asset ambition to drive research productivity and innovation for patients.
As part of the Research Data Office (RDO) team, the role is accountable for ensuring that external data engagements, across partnerships, collaborations, public repositories, and third-party vendors, are aligned with scientific objectives, ethical standards, and regulatory expectations. This responsibility is ongoing, evolving alongside GSK’s growing external data ecosystem and scientific needs.
Positioned within a centralized RDO team, the role requires close collaboration across Research Tech, Therapeutic Areas, AI/ML, R&D Tech (Onyx and Development Data Fabric), Legal, Risk & Compliance, and other business partners. The Associate Director serves as a trusted advisor to these partners, integrating governance into research workflows and contractual frameworks to maximize data utility, integrity, and compliance while safeguarding participant privacy and intellectual property.
As research becomes increasingly computational and data-driven, this role ensures that all external data entering GSK’s research environment is FAIR, interoperable, rights-managed, and IP-protected by design. Through a balance of scientific enablement and governance rigor, the Associate Director helps establish a trusted, compliant, and scalable data ecosystem that underpins responsible in-silico discovery and accelerates medicines and vaccines innovation.
This is an individual contributor role operating within a high-performing, collaborative, and continuously improving team culture, where curiosity, consistency, agility, and quality drive measurable impact and end-user value realization.
1. External Data Engagement Support
Partner with research teams to evaluate and advise on the type, structure, format, and utility of external data assets, ensuring alignment with internal scientific and data management needs.
Provide guidance on data acquisition, licensing, and access models, including open data, licensed data, collaborations, and consortia.
Partner with research and computational teams to embed governance-by-design controls across data ingestion, integration, and reuse within digital and in-silico environments.
Ensure data used in AI model training and computational workflows meets standards for traceability, rights management, and reproducibility.
2. Contractual and Compliance Governance
Collaborate with Legal, Procurement, and Business Data Owners to review and clarify data schedules in contractual agreements.
Ensure accurate documentation of data use rights, reuse and sharing restrictions, retention, and ownership terms.
Identify potential data and IP risks in external engagements and provide governance recommendations to mitigate misuse, leakage, or compliance exposure.
Align data acquisition and use practices with global privacy regulations (GDPR, HIPAA, EHDS, and regional equivalents) and internal ethical standards.
3. External Data Governance Frameworks
Drive consistent governance practices for data obtained through academic collaborations, partnerships, public repositories, or third-party vendors.
Develop and maintain policies, standards, and playbooks guiding external data assessment, onboarding, and lifecycle management.
Champion the adoption of FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) and ALCOA+ (Attributable, Legible, Contemporaneous, Original, Accurate, Complete, Consistent, Enduring, and Available) principles for externally sourced datasets.
4. Governance, Ethics, and Privacy Leadership
Support the Head, Research Data office in shaping company positions and responses to emerging data ethics, AI governance, and open data policies.
Drive compliance with global data protection regulations (GDPR, HIPAA, EHDS, U.S. Data Protection final rule, and country-specific legislation), particularly for human and sensitive data.
Build alignment between research governance, enterprise data privacy, and AI ethics frameworks to ensure responsible data and model stewardship.
Promote an ethical data culture—ensuring data reuse, AI model training, and external data collaborations uphold the highest standards of transparency, consent, and trust.
5. Cross-Functional Collaboration and Thought Leadership
Act as a bridge between scientific, digital domains, procurement, legal, translating technical and contractual language into actionable ‘data’ governance expectations.
Partner with business data owners, computational scientists, and platform teams to ensure governance processes are streamlined and enable scientific productivity
Represent Research in enterprise-level data governance engagements, ensuring early discovery and in-silico needs are fully integrated into company data strategies.
Maintain awareness of emerging data governance trends, external standards (e.g., FAIR, Pistoia Alliance, CDISC, ELIXIR), and policy changes impacting research data flows
Lead training and awareness initiatives across Research on data rights, responsible reuse, and computational governance practices.
We are looking for professionals with these required skills to achieve our goals:
Advanced degree (MSc, PhD, JD, or equivalent) in Life Sciences, Data Science, Bioinformatics, Computer Science, Biological/Chemical Engineering, or related field; minimum 5 years’ relevant experience in research data governance, digital R&D, or computational research operations in pharmaceutical/biotech settings. Prefer 8+ years for senior roles or a PhD with 5+ years of applied experience.
Knowledge of research data modalities (omics, imaging, clinical, real-world, structural biology, AI training datasets, public data repositories, etc) and related metadata standards.
Experience navigating data licensing, contractual data rights, and ethical data use frameworks.
Familiarity with data privacy laws (GDPR, HIPAA, EHDS, and country-specific legislation), data licensing models, and IP protection principles in research collaborations.
If you have the following characteristics, it would be a plus:
Excellent stakeholder management skills with demonstrated ability to partner across scientific, legal, procurement, compliance, and digital domains.
Strong understanding of research data modalities (omics, imaging, clinical, real-world, structural biology, AI training datasets, public data repositories, etc) and related metadata standards.
Pragmatic and solution-oriented, capable of balancing scientific agility with compliance rigor, Experience embedding FAIR, ALCOA+ and Governance-by-design principals into data management and computational workflows.
Strategic Thinker with the ability to translate governance principles into practical implementation guidance for research environments.
#GSK-LI
Please visit GSK US Benefits Summary to learn more about the comprehensive benefits program GSK offers US employees.
Why GSK?
Uniting science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together.
GSK is a global biopharma company with a purpose to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We aim to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade, as a successful, growing company where people can thrive. We get ahead of disease by preventing and treating it with innovation in specialty medicines and vaccines. We focus on four therapeutic areas: respiratory, immunology and inflammation; oncology; HIV; and infectious diseases – to impact health at scale.
People and patients around the world count on the medicines and vaccines we make, so we’re committed to creating an environment where our people can thrive and focus on what matters most. Our culture of being ambitious for patients, accountable for impact and doing the right thing is the foundation for how, together, we deliver for patients, shareholders and our people.
If you require an accommodation or other assistance to apply for a job at GSK, please contact the GSK Service Centre at 1-877-694-7547 (US Toll Free) or +1 801 567 5155 (outside US).
GSK is an Equal Opportunity Employer. This ensures that all qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), parental status, national origin, age, disability, genetic information (including family medical history), military service or any basis prohibited under federal, state or local law.
Important notice to Employment businesses/ Agencies
GSK does not accept referrals from employment businesses and/or employment agencies in respect of the vacancies posted on this site. All employment businesses/agencies are required to contact GSK's commercial and general procurement/human resources department to obtain prior written authorization before referring any candidates to GSK. The obtaining of prior written authorization is a condition precedent to any agreement (verbal or written) between the employment business/ agency and GSK. In the absence of such written authorization being obtained any actions undertaken by the employment business/agency shall be deemed to have been performed without the consent or contractual agreement of GSK. GSK shall therefore not be liable for any fees arising from such actions or any fees arising from any referrals by employment businesses/agencies in respect of the vacancies posted on this site.
Please note that if you are a US Licensed Healthcare Professional or Healthcare Professional as defined by the laws of the state issuing your license, GSK may be required to capture and report expenses GSK incurs, on your behalf, in the event you are afforded an interview for employment. This capture of applicable transfers of value is necessary to ensure GSK’s compliance to all federal and state US Transparency requirements. For more information, please visit the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) website at https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/