Privacy as a profession is here to stay. Over the last year, privacy has been in the spotlight like never before for corporate decision-makers. This is due, in part, to the EU GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). For companies conducting business in Europe, there is tremendous risk for failure to properly augment their human capital with experts who can address GDPR compliance prior to May 25, 2018.
Article 37 of the GDPR mandates that a company must appoint a Data Protection Officer (DPO) when it is a public authority or body, or its “core activities” consist of regular and systematic monitoring of data subjects on a large scale, or processing sensitive data on a large scale. The DPO “may be a staff member… or fulfill the tasks on the basis of a service contract.” While some corporations are assigning DPO responsibilities to existing staff, others are turning to a growing niche of consultants both independent and brand-backed to augment their organization, and in some cases, serve as the DPO. A new pathway is emerging for privacy professionals in the global job market—only the jobs might not be for full-time hires, but rather for contract consultants.
