Data Protection/Data Governance Engineer

Data Protection / Data Governance Engineer 3 Month Contract | Outside IR35 | £560-£640 per day

London (1 day per week)

A leading digital media and technology business is looking for a Data Protection / Data Governance Engineer to lead a critical governance transformation across a large-scale Google Cloud environment.

This is a hands-on contract focused on moving data governance from policy into practice. The organisation already has governance frameworks in place but now requires an experienced contractor to establish ownership, implement technical controls, and ensure governance is embedded across its cloud and data platforms.

You'll work closely with Legal, the DPO, Platform Engineering and senior leadership to build a scalable governance capability that balances compliance with business agility.

The Role

Over a 12-week engagement, you will assess and improve a complex GCP estate, implement governance controls, and establish processes that enable the business to meet its data protection and retention obligations.

Success in this role means delivering practical, sustainable governance that is automated wherever possible and can be operated by the permanent team following handover.

Key Responsibilities

• Assess and remediate governance gaps across a large Google Cloud Platform environment.
• Design and implement least-privilege and zero-trust access controls.
• Review and optimise IAM, RBAC, service accounts and organisation policies.
• Work with Legal and Compliance stakeholders to translate policy requirements into technical controls.
• Classify data and implement retention standards across cloud platforms.
• Review large volumes of historical and archived data to determine appropriate retention and deletion approaches.
• Restructure and govern BigQuery datasets to support automated retention and access controls.
• Implement governance controls through Terraform and Infrastructure as Code.
• Establish a practical DPIA process and governance workflows.
• Introduce governance standards across key SaaS platforms including GA4, Meta and Xtremepush.
• Produce documentation, operating procedures and handover packs for the permanent team.

Your Skills & Experience Essential

• Strong hands-on experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
• Expertise in IAM, RBAC, Organisation Policies and Service Accounts.
• Experience implementing least-privilege and zero-trust security models.
• Strong BigQuery governance and security experience.
• Terraform or equivalent Infrastructure as Code expertise.
• Experience delivering data governance, data protection or cloud governance programmes.
• Strong understanding of GDPR, data retention, DPIAs and broader data protection principles.
• Experience working across Engineering, Legal, Compliance and business stakeholders.
• Proven track record delivering contract engagements independently.

Desirable

• Experience within regulated industries such as Gambling, Gaming, Financial Services, FinTech or Insurance.
• Experience with DLP tooling and data classification frameworks.
• Experience governing SaaS platforms containing personal data.
• Previous experience working within large, complex cloud estates.