How To Become A Chief Risk Officer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a chief risk officer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

A chief risk officer (CRO) reduces business risks that could put a company in danger. They implement policies and procedures to manage operational risks. Risks can be internal or external in nature, and they can be technical, regulatory, or competitive. A CRO must monitor all procedures that might cause risk exposure. For example, if a company collects data, the CRO must ensure that all data is kept confidential. They also develop budgets for risk-related projects, supervise the funding, and supervise the team that works on the risk factors.

To become a CRO you will need a postgraduate degree, preferably in business administration. You also need at least 20 years of work experience in economics, actuarial science, law, or accounting. You also need excellent knowledge of technology, networks, and systems. As the risk landscape becomes more complex, the position of CRO is becoming more important. As such as important person, you can make a median salary of $125,000.

ScoreChief Risk OfficerUS Average

Salary

8.0

Avg. Salary $117,089

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.5

Growth rate 17%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.34%

Asian 10.51%

Black or African American 7.86%

Hispanic or Latino 13.77%

Unknown 4.12%

White 63.41%

Gender

female 28.73%

male 71.27%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress level

9.5

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.3

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.9

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a chief risk officer

Explore chief risk officer education requirements

Most common chief risk officer degrees

Bachelor's

68.5 %

Master's

18.1 %

Associate

5.2 %

Start to develop specific chief risk officer skills

Skills	Percentages
Oversight	9.04%
Risk Assessments	6.15%
Operational Risk	5.60%
Human Resources	4.93%
Audit Findings	4.62%

Complete relevant chief risk officer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New chief risk officers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a chief risk officer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real chief risk officer resumes.

Research chief risk officer duties and responsibilities

Manage investigation and reporting of occurrences to applicable regulatory agencies when indicate and facilitate disclosure to patients and families.
Develop the tools and process for aggregation of product level results to the entity level for all ERM risk modeling projects.
Analyze and develop treasury management reports.
Provide oversight for regulatory and compliance directives.

Get chief risk officer experience

Generally, it takes 6-8 years to become a chief risk officer. The most common roles before becoming a chief risk officer include vice president, senior vice president team lead and risk manager.

Prepare your chief risk officer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your chief risk officer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a chief risk officer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable chief risk officer resume templates

Build a professional chief risk officer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your chief risk officer resume.