How to hire a chief compliance officer

How to hire a chief compliance officer, step by step

Here's a step-by-step chief compliance officer hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a chief compliance officer job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new chief compliance officer
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a chief compliance officer do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the chief compliance officer you need to hire. Certain chief compliance officer roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   Hiring the perfect chief compliance officer also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   This list presents chief compliance officer salaries for various positions.

   Type of Chief Compliance Officer	Description	Hourly rate
   Chief Compliance Officer		$31-76
   Compliance Analyst	A compliance analyst is in charge of ensuring that every operation and aspect in a company or facility adheres to the laws and regulations. They are also responsible for conducting regular inspections and assessments, producing reports and presentations, disseminating necessary information and reminders, researching existing policies and laws related to the industry, and remaining updated with new regulations... Show more	$18-41
   Compliance Investigator	A compliance investigator is primarily responsible for ensuring all aspects of a facility or company complies with its policies and regulations, including government laws and standards. Their responsibilities revolve around conducting regular inspections, gathering and assessing documentation, and conducting interviews and assessments... Show more	$20-38

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Oversight
   • Compliance Issues
   • Risk Management
   • Ethics
   • Regulatory Compliance
   • Risk Assessments
   • Compliance Policies
   • Internal Audit
   • AML
   • HIPAA
   • Securities
   • Human Resources
   • FINRA
   • Due Diligence

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Achieve desired results of no material audits or investigations thereafter by CMS or OIG.
   • Respond to all regulatory inquiries and manage FINRA routine and trading examinations.
   • Manage successful litigation, arbitration and mediation proceedings, including commercial disputes, product liability, employment and intellectual property.
   • Work closely with industry-leading securities attorneys in matters of pending litigation, consumer complaints, and regulatory investigations.
   • Develop, maintain and enforce policies and procedures relate to anti-money laundering, ethics training, and business continuity.
   • Draft complete sets of HIPAA privacy and security policies and regularly advise clients on state and federal privacy issues.

   More chief compliance officer duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the chief compliance officer job description is a good way to get more applicants. A chief compliance officer salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for a chief compliance officer in Kansas may be lower than in Delaware, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level chief compliance officer. Additionally, a chief compliance officer with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average chief compliance officer salary

   $102,166yearly

   $49.12 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level chief compliance officer salary

   $65,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 23, 2026

   Average chief compliance officer salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	District of Columbia	$126,447	$61
   2	New York	$119,532	$57
   3	California	$119,185	$57
   4	New Jersey	$113,267	$54
   5	Massachusetts	$111,212	$53
   6	Pennsylvania	$105,553	$51
   7	Virginia	$103,457	$50
   8	Texas	$97,948	$47
   9	North Carolina	$93,545	$45
   10	Illinois	$91,351	$44
   11	Minnesota	$91,053	$44
   12	Oregon	$89,163	$43
   13	Wisconsin	$88,940	$43
   14	Maryland	$87,960	$42
   15	Ohio	$86,694	$42
   16	Nebraska	$84,577	$41
   17	Arizona	$82,810	$40
   18	Utah	$78,597	$38
   19	Florida	$73,898	$36
   20	Kansas	$71,230	$34

   Average chief compliance officer salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	McKinsey & Company Inc	$170,486	$81.96
   2	Stocktwits	$146,789	$70.57
   3	Bloomberg	$145,186	$69.80	18
   4	Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group	$133,774	$64.31
   5	Artisan Partners	$132,258	$63.59	1
   6	Amundi	$132,121	$63.52
   7	St. John's Well Child and Family Center	$131,506	$63.22
   8	Royal Bank of Canada	$124,881	$60.04	12
   9	Nicklaus Children's Hospital	$124,744	$59.97	3
   10	Frost Bank	$124,050	$59.64	3
   11	Eastbay	$123,422	$59.34
   12	HSBC Bank	$122,013	$58.66	10
   13	Merck	$119,985	$57.69	3
   14	State Street	$116,687	$56.10	75
   15	ACA Group	$115,737	$55.64
   16	Crown Equipment	$112,391	$54.03	9
   17	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	$111,785	$53.74	148
   18	American Water	$111,072	$53.40	5
   19	U.S. Bank	$110,991	$53.36	70
   20	East West Bank	$110,795	$53.27	25

4. Writing a chief compliance officer job description

   A good chief compliance officer job description should include a few things:

   • Summary of the role
   • List of responsibilities
   • Required skills and experience

   Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of a chief compliance officer job description:

   Chief compliance officer job description example

   If you are a current YAI employee, please click this link to apply through your Workday account.
   
   Develops and champions an organization-wide strategy and vision for compliance and quality consistent with YAI's strategic goals and mission and creates a comprehensive and effective execution plan to support successful implementation. Develops an effective compliance, quality education and training program, including introductory training for all new employees, ongoing training for all employees and supervisors, and specialized training as needed. Designs, communicates, and executes initiatives designed specifically to promote awareness and understanding of compliance, quality issues, applicable laws and regulations, reporting requirements and the consequences of non-compliance. Ensures alignment of quality improvement and compliance initiatives with the organization's strategic plan and directs the day to-day execution of strategies and tactics implemented to improve outcomes and results for both the organization and the people we support and regularly evaluates for potential efficiencies and improvements. Promotes an awareness and understanding of positive ethical and moral principles, consistent with the mission, vision and values of YAI. Works closely with YAI Network Leadership in the establishment of key performance indicators (KPIs) and monitors trends to evaluate effectiveness, reliability and efficiency of operations and makes recommendations for improvement, process redesign, etc. Directs or participates in the review, investigation and analysis of incidents for risk and adverse event identification. Recommends interventions which will enhance the safety and well-being of people we support, staff and organization at large and mobilizes departmental or administrative support to identify and address risk areas. Establishes and enforces policies, procedures and controls that ensure agency-wide compliance with all Federal, State, Local and other relevant regulatory agency requirements and cooperation with appropriate entities in any audit, survey, inquiry or investigation across all states of operation. Develops, disseminates and interprets compliance policies and standards consistent with laws and regulatory requirements, which promote the organization's commitment to compliance and business integrity. Maintains an awareness of laws and regulations and regularly monitors regulatory requirements to keep abreast of changes that may affect YAI Network services or operations, including health care, managed care, mental health, behavioral, educational or other services, including services in specific states and provides timely information regarding analysis and recommendations of regulatory changes and their impact to operational leaders. Ensures efficient processes for documenting all compliance, quality, incident management and safety-related initiatives and activities, as appropriate or required. Establishes methods to leverage best practices, monitor adherence to policies, procedures, and legal/regulatory requirements and leads efforts to identify and evaluate exposures and correct defective processes. Collaborates and coordinates with administrators and other departmental leaders on all safety/risk management issues and designs, coordinates and informs various aspects of safety and risk management programs for the entire YAI Network. Conducts periodic risk assessments to determine compliance priorities and utilizes findings to inform decision-making, develop strategies to mitigate risk and establish goals to address areas of concern. Facilitates and oversees regular internal and external audits, risk analyses and compliance reviews (billing/fiscal and regulatory) to ensure the organization's adherence to established policies, procedures, laws and regulations, identifying areas for improvement and ensuring readiness for regulatory audits and surveys, including those determined by the Person Centered/Quality Improvement Committee and the Agency Review Committee. Provides oversight to the facility-based quality programs ensuring establishment of consistent methods for the collection and monitoring of data, compliance with relevant laws and regulations, maintenance of policies and procedures and facilitates aggregation and analysis of data for reporting, as appropriate. Designs and leads performance improvement projects to assure milestones and KPIs are met within defined parameters. Serves as the Compliance for YAI Network and ensures adjustments to the organization´s compliance program as needed to reflect regulatory changes. Serves as primary resource for the organization on complex compliance, quality, incident management and ethics matters and sits on committees as assigned or as necessary, including chairing the compliance committees. Provides oversight and supervision to compliance and quality teams and participates in the recruitment, retention, assessment and development of qualified and effective staff to support compliance, quality and ethics-related activities across the organization. Develops and manages departmental budget, leading cost efficient and effective operations and ensuring that operations are within budgetary guidelines, periodically provides education to the Board of Directors and updates to the Board or a sub-committee thereof. Performs all related work, as assigned.
   Education and Experience:
   Bachelor's degree; and
   At least 10 years of progressively responsible experience in compliance, quality and/or ethics, including experience managing and/or auditing compliance or ethics in a highly-regulated environment; designing, implementing and evaluating quality assurance programs or quality improvement initiatives; process analysis and redesign; policy development and analysis or related work, including at least five (5) years in a managerial or consultative role; or
   Satisfactory equivalent combination of education and/or experience Demonstrated knowledge of federal, local, and state regulations and their applications to non-profit organizations Experience enforcing, rules of compliance, specifically in areas with regulatory oversight bodies such as OPWDD, DDD, DDS, CMS, NYOMH and DOH Thorough knowledge CMS regulations
   Additional Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
   Excellent written and verbal communication skills Strong commitment and passion for the organization's mission and toward diversity and inclusion; values diversity of background, thought, and perspectives Unquestionable ethics and integrity Ability to identify and respond to sensitive program and organizational issues, concerns and needs Ability to thrive in a collaborative environment working with individuals at all levels Open minded with excellent interpersonal and active listening skills Preferred:
   Master's degree Previous experience in compliance, quality or ethics in an organization providing healthcare, mental health, social or managed care services and/or supporting people with intellectual/developmental disabilities (I/DD) Certified in Healthcare Compliance and/or Healthcare Privacy Healthcare Privacy experience and/or supervision of privacy specialist Extensive knowledge of New York, New Jersey and California regulations relating to non-profit organizations and I/DD services
   
   All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or status as a Vietnam or disabled veteran. YAI is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right chief compliance officer for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your chief compliance officer job on Zippia to find and recruit chief compliance officer candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting chief compliance officers requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new chief compliance officer

   Once you've decided on a perfect chief compliance officer candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.

   It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

   To prepare for the new chief compliance officer first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a chief compliance officer?