Data Protection Specialist at Aga Khan Education Service, Kenya (AKESK)

DATA PROTECTION SPECIALIST

The Data Protection Specialist is an individual who understands compliance requirements in general and has relevant expertise to guide and work with AKES entities and departments, to run the data protection and privacy program across AKES offices and Aga Khan Schools in East Africa.

Summary of Responsibilities:

• Act as the primary point of contact within the organization and any relevant public bodies on matters related to data protection.
• Draft internal and external (public) policies, guidelines, and procedures for compliance with data protection regulations and acts, in consultation with key stakeholders.
• Maintain comprehensive records of all data assets and processing activities conducted by AKES units, including the purposes of all processing activities.
• Identify, assess, and mitigate risks associated with each data asset and processing activity from a compliance perspective.
• Proactively conduct audits to ensure compliance and address potential issues.
• Design and conduct awareness sessions for staff members.
• Inform and advise staff members about the obligations to comply with the data protection laws.
• Promote a culture of data protection compliance across all units of the organization.
• Advise on and facilitate data protection impact assessments.
• Ensure privacy by design at all levels within the organization.
• Liaise with other organizations and vendors that process data on our behalf.
• Ensure all queries from data subjects are addressed within legal time frame.
• Address privacy breaches and take proactive steps to avoid / minimize such breaches.

The requirements

The ideal candidate will have:

• Preferably master’s degree in law, finance, business management, or a related field.
• 3 – 5 years’ proven experience of risk and compliance management, policy development, information management, security and/ or audit.
• Good knowledge of legal requirements and procedures, including data protection regulations and acts like GDPR, etc. 
• Knowledge of data processing operations in education sector (preferable).
• Strong analytical skills with strong attention to detail.
• Experience of working with multi-cultural international organization(s).
• Effective technical writing, communication, and presentation skills in English.
• Ability to effectively coordinate with internal and external stakeholders.
• Willingness to travel, as needed.