Director of Test Data Management - London

FDM is a global business and technology consultancy seeking a Test Data Manager to work for our client within the Finance sector. This is initially a 6 month contract with very good prospects to extend and will be a hybrid role that will be based in London.

We are seeking a highly experienced Director of Test Data Management to lead the strategy, governance, delivery and operational management of enterprise-wide test data services across a portfolio of business and technology transformation programmes.

This role is responsible for establishing and operating a robust Test Data Management capability that enables high-quality, secure and compliant testing across complex application and data landscapes. The successful candidate will work closely with Programme Directors, Enterprise Architects, Application Owners, Engineering Teams, Data Governance, Information Security and third-party delivery partners to ensure the right test data is available at the right time while meeting regulatory, privacy and risk requirements.

This is a strategic leadership position requiring an individual capable of defining target-state capabilities, implementing governance frameworks and driving operational excellence across multiple concurrent initiatives.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategy & Leadership

• Define and own the enterprise Test Data Management strategy.
• Establish a scalable operating model supporting project and BAU delivery.
• Build, lead and mentor Test Data Managers, Analysts and Data Engineers.
• Drive continuous improvement and automation across the test data lifecycle.
• Provide executive-level reporting, insight and recommendations to senior stakeholders.
• Shape the long-term vision for test data services across the organisation.

Governance, Risk & Compliance

• Define and implement Test Data Management standards, controls and governance frameworks.
• Ensure compliance with GDPR, data privacy regulations and internal security policies.
• Establish enterprise-wide approaches to data masking, anonymisation and synthetic data generation.
• Manage audit, regulatory and risk-related requirements.
• Partner closely with Information Security, Compliance, Risk and Data Governance teams.

Test Data Delivery

• Oversee end-to-end provision of test data for complex programmes and release cycles.
• Ensure timely availability of test data for functional, integration, UAT, regression, performance and non-functional testing.
• Lead data refresh, provisioning, subsetting, masking and archival activities.
• Resolve critical data issues impacting programme delivery.
• Support large-scale transformation programmes with complex data dependencies.

Stakeholder Management

• Build strong relationships with senior business and technology stakeholders.
• Partner with Programme Managers, Test Managers, Architects and Data Owners.
• Influence decision-making at Director and Executive level.
• Manage strategic suppliers and third-party partners.
• Represent the Test Data function within governance forums, steering committees and leadership meetings.

Tooling & Automation

• Drive adoption of modern Test Data Management tooling and practices.
• Implement automated test data provisioning and refresh capabilities.
• Promote self-service test data solutions to improve delivery efficiency.
• Support integration with CI/CD pipelines and automated testing frameworks.
• Evaluate emerging capabilities including synthetic data generation and AI-enabled testing solutions.