Chief Data Office - Records Retention & Destruction - Associate

Are you looking for an exciting opportunity to join a dynamic and growing team in a fast-paced, challenging area? This is a unique opportunity to partner with business and control functions, strengthen information lifecycle governance, and help deliver a comprehensive, auditable approach to records retention and destruction. Business / Team Overview The Retention and Destruction function is responsible for enabling compliant information lifecycle management across physical and electronic records. The team partners with Legal, Compliance, Risk, Technology, and business stakeholders to ensure records are retained according to approved schedules, placed on hold when required, and destroyed in a controlled, auditable manner when eligible. Job Summary As Records Retention & Destruction Analyst (602) within the Retention and Destruction team, you will be responsible for supporting the execution and oversight of compliant records retention and destruction processes. You will coordinate retention schedule adherence, disposition reviews, legal holds, evidence collection, and operational reporting across physical and electronic records. You will partner with Legal, Compliance, Risk, Technology, data stewards, and business stakeholders to resolve exceptions and maintain audit-ready documentation. You will also help strengthen controls, improve procedures, and advance automation for defensible information lifecycle management. Job Responsibilities • Execute day-to-day retention and destruction activities for in-scope records (electronic and/or physical), ensuring eligibility and approvals are met prior to disposition. • Support adherence to approved retention schedules by coordinating with record owners, data stewards, and technology partners. • Assist with legal hold processes: intake, implementation support, tracking, release coordination, and validation of hold effectiveness. • Perform disposition reviews, sampling, and quality checks to confirm correct classification, retention calculations, and exception handling. • Maintain auditable evidence for disposition decisions and completion of destruction activities, including chain-of-custody where applicable. • Track and remediate exceptions (e.g., retention conflicts, unknown owners, incomplete metadata, hold impacts), escalating issues through defined governance channels. • Produce operational reporting and metrics (e.g., backlog, eligible-for-destruction volumes, holds coverage, exception trends, cycle times). • Contribute to process documentation: SOPs, runbooks, control narratives, and training materials. • Participate in risk and control activities, including periodic attestations, internal reviews, and audit/exam support. • Collaborate with technology teams to improve automation for disposition workflows, retention tagging, and defensible destruction. Required Qualifications, Skills, and Capabilities • Demonstrated experience in records management, information governance, compliance operations, risk and controls, or a related operational role. • Working knowledge of records lifecycle principles, including retention schedules, disposition, legal holds, defensible destruction, and auditability. • Strong attention to detail and ability to follow controlled processes while maintaining accurate, audit-ready evidence. • Proven ability to analyze data and metadata, determine retention eligibility, and identify or resolve exceptions. • Proficiency in Microsoft Excel and basic reporting, with the ability to work effectively with large datasets. • Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to coordinate across business, legal, compliance, risk, and technology stakeholders. • Ability to manage competing priorities, exercise sound judgment, and meet deadlines in a fast-paced production environment. Preferred Qualifications • Familiarity with electronic records and content management systems and/or eDiscovery and legal hold tooling. • Experience supporting audits, regulatory exams, or formal control testing activities. • Exposure to data classification, data lineage/ownership, and metadata quality practices. • Understanding of privacy and data protection considerations as they relate to retention and destruction. • Experience improving operational processes (Lean, Six Sigma, or equivalent continuous improvement methods). Competencies • Control-minded execution and operational discipline • Sound judgment and escalation when eligibility/approvals are unclear • Stakeholder management and collaborative problem-solving • Documentation rigor and continuous improvement orientation