Resume Example & Template

AI Governance Counsel Resume Example

The role that sits between the legal team and the data scientists — and a resume that proves you can speak to both.

What is a AI Governance Counsel?

An AI Governance Counsel is a lawyer who makes AI systems deployable. They classify what a company builds against regulation like the EU AI Act, decide what documentation and human oversight each system needs, and sign off before a model reaches production. The job exists because legal risk in AI is now a delivery blocker, not an afterthought.

It is a genuinely hybrid role. You need real legal grounding — data protection, contracts, sectoral regulation — but you also have to read a model card, understand why a training set matters, and hold a credible conversation with an ML engineer about evaluation. Companies hire for the intersection, and the intersection is thin.

Demand grew sharply once the EU AI Act moved from proposal to obligation. Financial services, health, HR technology and any business selling into the EU now need someone who can turn regulatory text into requirements engineers can act on. Titles vary — AI Governance Counsel, Responsible AI Counsel, AI Compliance Lead — but the work is the same.

Key skills for a AI Governance Counsel resume

EU AI Act
AI governance
GDPR
automated decision-making
model risk management
conformity assessment
human oversight
DPIA
algorithmic accountability
technology contracts
vendor due diligence
AI ethics
regulatory training
cross-functional advisory
data governance

AI Governance Counsel resume example

Elena Vasquez

AI Governance Counsel

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Summary

Technology lawyer specialising in AI governance, with 8 years advising regulated businesses on deploying AI lawfully. Led the EU AI Act readiness programme for a listed fintech and built the model risk review process now used across 40+ deployed systems. Translates between legal, data science and product daily.

Experience

AI Governance Counsel · Northbeam Financial N.V.

Mar 2024 – Present

Built the EU AI Act compliance programme from scratch, classifying 40+ deployed AI systems by risk tier and defining the conformity assessment path for the four rated high-risk.
Chair the AI review board with the Head of Data Science and the DPO; every model now passes documented legal review before release.
Drafted the model documentation standard and human-oversight protocol adopted group-wide, cutting legal review from six weeks to nine days.
Negotiated AI-specific terms into 20+ vendor contracts covering training-data provenance, model updates and audit rights.

Senior Associate, Technology & Data · De Vries & Hallam

Sep 2020 – Feb 2024

Advised financial services and healthtech clients on GDPR, data governance and emerging AI regulation as lead associate on 30+ matters.
Produced the firm’s first EU AI Act readiness methodology, later used with nine institutional clients.
Supported two supervisory-authority investigations into automated profiling, including remediation planning.

Education

LL.M. Information Law

University of Amsterdam · 2016 – 2017

LL.B. Dutch Law

Universiteit Leiden · 2013 – 2016

Certifications

IAPP AIGP — AI Governance Professional
IAPP CIPP/E — Information Privacy Professional (Europe)

Skills

AI Governance: EU AI Act · Model Risk Management · Conformity Assessment · Human Oversight · AI Ethics

Data Protection: GDPR · DPIA · Automated Decision-Making · Cross-Border Transfers

Commercial: Technology Contracts · Vendor Due Diligence · IP & Training Data · Audit Rights

Use this as your starting point

How to write a AI Governance Counsel resume that stands out

Lead with a system you actually cleared for production. "Classified 40 AI systems and defined the conformity path for four rated high-risk" beats any description of your interest in AI regulation.
Prove you can talk to engineers. Reviewers for this role are trying to work out whether legal will slow delivery down — evidence that you sat with data scientists and shortened a review cycle answers the real question.
Name the frameworks explicitly: EU AI Act, GDPR Article 22, ISO/IEC 42001, the NIST AI Risk Management Framework. These are screened for literally, so paraphrasing costs you the match.
Quantify the process, not just the advice. Review cycle times, number of systems assessed, contracts renegotiated — governance work is measurable and most candidates never measure it.
Keep your qualification and jurisdiction near the top. Employers need to know quickly whether you can advise in their market.
Do not hide the technical learning. A machine-learning course, a certification such as the IAPP AIGP, or a project you built yourself all signal that you will not need everything translated for you.

AI Governance Counsel resume — FAQ

Do I need a technical background to become an AI Governance Counsel?

No, but you need technical literacy. You are not expected to train models. You are expected to read documentation, ask the right questions about data and evaluation, and understand what a control actually does. Most people in the role came from data protection or technology law and learned the machine learning afterwards.

Is this different from a Data Protection Officer?

Yes, though they overlap and sometimes sit in the same person. A DPO role is defined by data protection law and carries statutory independence. AI governance is broader — it covers model risk, evaluation, documentation and oversight, including systems that process no personal data at all.

What certifications help?

The IAPP AIGP is the most recognised AI-specific credential, and CIPP/E remains the baseline for European data protection. ISO/IEC 42001 lead-implementer training is useful if your employer is pursuing certification. None of these substitute for a documented example of governing a real system.

Which industries hire for this role?

Financial services, health and life sciences, HR technology, and any large enterprise deploying AI into the EU. Consultancies and law firms also build AI advisory teams, though in-house roles tend to involve more day-to-day system review.

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