Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Governance Specialist Assistant

🎯 Role Definition

The Governance Specialist Assistant supports the organization's governance, risk and compliance (GRC) framework by executing policy administration, control testing, regulatory monitoring, and stakeholder coordination. This role is hands-on with documentation, workflow management, audit responses, and data stewardship activities, working closely with legal, compliance, IT, internal audit, and business units to ensure consistent application of governance policies across the enterprise.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Compliance Analyst / Compliance Coordinator
Risk Analyst / Risk Control Associate
Data Steward / Data Governance Coordinator
Legal Assistant with regulatory exposure

Advancement To:

Governance Specialist / Senior Governance Analyst
Governance & Compliance Manager
Risk Manager / Senior Risk Analyst
Head of Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRc) or Data Governance Lead

Lateral Moves:

Internal Audit or Audit Specialist
Policy & Controls Analyst
ESG / Sustainability Governance Analyst
Privacy and Data Protection Analyst

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Assist in drafting, revising and maintaining corporate governance policies, standards and procedures to ensure alignment with regulatory requirements (e.g., SOX, GDPR, CCPA, AML) and industry best practices; manage version control, stakeholder approvals and document publication.
Execute periodic control testing and documentation for internal controls and compliance programs, preparing detailed test scripts, evidence logs, deficiency notes and remediation trackers for review by senior governance staff and auditors.
Support regulatory monitoring and horizon scanning activities by tracking new laws, regulations and guidance; summarize implications for business units and coordinate distribution of regulatory change notices and implementation timelines.
Coordinate responses to internal and external audit findings and regulatory examinations, compiling evidence packages, documenting remediation steps, tracking deadlines and validating remediation effectiveness with business owners.
Maintain and administer the governance and risk registers, logging policy exceptions, compliance issues, risk ratings, mitigations and escalation paths; prepare weekly/monthly status reports for governance committees and executives.
Facilitate governance committees, working groups and steering meetings by preparing agendas, meeting materials, minutes, actions items and follow-ups; escalate unresolved issues to senior managers as appropriate.
Support third-party risk and vendor governance reviews by collecting due diligence documentation, tracking vendor certifications, coordinating remediation of vendor findings and maintaining vendor risk profiles.
Assist in the development and delivery of governance and compliance training programs, awareness campaigns and knowledge base articles for employees and new hires; track completion and effectiveness metrics.
Perform end-to-end onboarding of new policies and standards into the policy management lifecycle — intake, review, approval, publication, employee communication and archival — using the organization’s policy management system.
Conduct root cause analysis for recurring governance or compliance issues and work with process owners to design and document corrective action plans and preventative controls, including process flow updates and control automation opportunities.
Support data governance activities by cataloging critical data elements, maintaining data lineage documentation, participating in data classification exercises and coordinating with data stewards to enforce data handling standards.
Assist in privacy and data protection efforts: support data subject access request workflows, maintain records of processing activities (RoPA), and coordinate with privacy officers to ensure timely fulfilment of privacy obligations.
Prepare and maintain governance dashboards, metrics and KPIs using Excel, Power BI or Tableau; deliver executive-level summaries and drill-down analyses to demonstrate program health and trends over time.
Collaborate with IT and security teams to ensure governance controls are integrated with IT change management, incident management, access reviews and configuration management processes.
Support the implementation and administration of GRC technology platforms (e.g., MetricStream, Archer, ServiceNow GRC) by configuring workflows, managing user access, building reports and troubleshooting user issues.
Assist in performing ethics and conduct investigations intake and documentation, coordinating interviews, preserving evidence, and working with legal and HR to ensure appropriate escalation and remediation.
Manage the lifecycle of regulatory and statutory filings, maintaining calendars, coordinating internal approvals, and compiling submission packages to regulators and oversight bodies.
Conduct periodic reviews of policies and process adherence through targeted sampling, operational assessments, and on-the-ground process walkthroughs; produce actionable findings and recommendations for process owners.
Support business continuity and resilience governance by maintaining recovery plans, testing schedules, coordinating tabletop exercises and documenting outcomes and remediation actions.
Maintain confidentiality and integrity of sensitive governance documentation, applying appropriate access controls and ensuring secure storage and transmission of regulated data.
Assist in cross-functional projects to embed governance into product and program lifecycles, including risk assessments, control design, and go-to-market compliance checklists.
Provide subject matter support for Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance activities: assist with documenting key controls, evidencing operating effectiveness, and liaising with financial reporting teams and external auditors.
Compile and analyze compliance-related data for trend analysis, risk heat maps and predictive indicators; provide data-driven insights to influence governance decisions and prioritization.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
Provide backup support for basic IT and security gate checks when coordinating vendor onboarding and system integrations.
Support cross-functional projects such as ESG reporting, regulatory program implementations and continuous improvement initiatives as assigned.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Policy and procedure development, version control and policy lifecycle management.
Knowledge of regulatory frameworks: SOX, GDPR, CCPA, AML/KYC, FCPA, PCI-DSS and sector-specific regulations.
Experience with GRC platforms (e.g., Archer, MetricStream, ServiceNow GRC, RSA) for issue tracking, control testing and reporting.
Data governance fundamentals: data cataloging, data lineage, critical data element (CDE) identification and metadata management.
Audit support and internal controls testing methodology, including evidence collection and remediation tracking.
Proficiency in Microsoft Excel (advanced functions, pivot tables), Power BI or Tableau for dashboarding and KPI reporting.
Familiarity with privacy tools and processes (DSAR workflows, RoPA, consent management) and privacy frameworks (ISO 27701, NIST privacy framework).
Experience with vendor / third-party risk management processes and due diligence documentation.
Basic SQL and data querying skills to extract evidence and build compliance datasets.
Project and program management fundamentals, including task tracking, milestone management and stakeholder communication.
Understanding of IT controls, change management, identity/access management and incident response processes.
Documentation and technical writing skills for clear control narratives, SOPs, and remediation plans.
Familiarity with audit and accounting concepts for SOX and financial control environments.

Soft Skills

Strong written and verbal communication; ability to summarize complex regulatory requirements for non-technical audiences.
High attention to detail, accuracy and quality in documentation and evidence management.
Analytical mindset with the ability to synthesize data into actionable governance insights.
Excellent stakeholder management and collaboration skills across legal, IT, finance and business teams.
Proactive problem-solving and a bias for driving issues to resolution with follow-through.
Time management and prioritization skills in a deadline-driven, multitask environment.
Confidentiality, integrity and professional judgment when handling sensitive information.
Adaptability to changing regulatory priorities and evolving program requirements.
Facilitation and meeting management skills for governance committees and cross-functional working groups.
Continuous learning orientation and curiosity about compliance, technology and regulatory trends.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Finance, Law, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field.

Preferred Education:

Master’s degree in Business Administration, Risk Management, Information Governance, or a related discipline.
Professional certifications such as CIPP, CISM, CRISC, CAMS, CIA, or a GRC-specific certification are highly desirable.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Business Administration, Finance or Accounting
Information Systems, Computer Science or Data Governance
Law, Regulatory Affairs or Public Policy
Risk Management, Internal Audit or Compliance

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 2–5 years in governance, compliance, risk management, audit, data governance, or related roles.

Preferred: 3+ years supporting governance programs in regulated industries (financial services, healthcare, technology), demonstrated experience with GRC tools, control testing, regulatory reporting and cross-functional stakeholder engagement. Prior exposure to privacy, SOX, and third-party risk programs is a strong plus.