What does a compliance investigator do?
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. There are also instances when a compliance investigator must travel to different locations, investigate contract adherence, and identify any fraudulent or illegal activities. Furthermore, it is essential to maintain records of all investigations, producing progress reports as needed.
Compliance investigator responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real compliance investigator resumes:
- Participate in OCC exam preparation and review including research and presentation of documentation to achieve compliance with federal examiner requests.
- Conduct BSA risk assessments on new products & services.
- Prepare and conduct yearly bank wide BSA/AML training.
- Research employee theft, fraud, Medicaid and Medicare contract compliance and computer security issues.
- Investigate potential AML, KYC and OFAC violations in the Americas and draft reports of findings.
- Investigate potential OFAC violations, money laundering, and fraudulent financial activity across client business lines.
- Assist with the evaluation and mediation of financial regulatory information utilize to ensure AML/ BSA compliance.
- Train new hires and new analysts on the principles of BSA/AML investigations, typologies, policies and procedures.
- Investigate and analyze if the case will be waive or confirm and summit the SAR to the regulatory agencies.
- Provide SAR filing recommendation through supporting documentation.
- Develop oversight programs for enhance supervisory scenarios, engage others to act responsibly and minimize operational risks and internal controls issues.
- Prepare final case dispositions to be used to draft and file SARs in accordance with FINCEN guidelines.
- Collaborate with senior management in developing and implementing strategic plans for Medicaid policy issues for government relate policies.
- Review and writing of all enterprise information systems security policy, procedures and documentation management for publishing to Microsoft SharePoint.
- Supervise and accountable for regulatory audits administer by corporate office and NASD.
Compliance investigator skills and personality traits
We calculated that 10% of Compliance Investigators are proficient in Federal Laws, Law Enforcement, and Management System. They’re also known for soft skills such as Empathy, Good judgment, and Leadership skills.
We break down the percentage of Compliance Investigators that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Federal Laws, 10%
Conduct investigations regarding violations of state and federal laws pertaining to discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodation.
- Law Enforcement, 10%
Assisted local and federal law enforcement officials in the prosecution of individuals suspected of internal fraud.
- Management System, 7%
Ensured compliance of Environmental Protection Agency's operations, safety and waste management systems within the HSE protocols.
- Conduct Investigations, 5%
Conduct investigation in conjunction with the Office of Inspector General when working Medicare/Medicaid fraud.
- Ethics, 5%
Work closely with Compliance Officers, Ethics Liaison Officer and University management during the investigation process.
- Due Diligence, 4%
Manage quality control ensuring product accuracy and consistency including; case narratives, suspicious activity reports and enhanced due diligence reviews.
Common skills that a compliance investigator uses to do their job include "federal laws," "law enforcement," and "management system." You can find details on the most important compliance investigator responsibilities below.
Empathy. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a compliance investigator to have is empathy. Their role and responsibilities require that "police officers need to understand the perspectives of a variety of people in their jurisdiction and be willing to help the public." Compliance investigators often use empathy in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "created policies and implemented communication initiatives to ensure individuals at all levels in the organization gain understanding of compliance program. "
Good judgment. Many compliance investigator duties rely on good judgment. "police and detectives must be able to determine the best way to solve an array of problems.," so a compliance investigator will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways compliance investigator responsibilities rely on good judgment: "created goodguy requests for any false ofac hits / aml related issues, with written dispositions to compliance. "
Leadership skills. compliance investigators are also known for leadership skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to compliance investigator responsibilities, because "police officers must be comfortable with being a highly visible member of their community, as the public looks to them for help in emergencies." A compliance investigator resume example shows how leadership skills is used in the workplace: "provide ongoing compliance leadership and oversight to all 54 branch offices in the central region. "
Physical strength. A big part of what compliance investigators do relies on "physical strength." You can see how essential it is to compliance investigator responsibilities because "police officers must be strong enough to physically apprehend suspects and to assist people in precarious situations." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical compliance investigator tasks: "strengthened company s export compliance program by improving the license post approval processes. "
Communication skills. Another crucial skill for a compliance investigator to carry out their responsibilities is "communication skills." A big part of what compliance investigators relies on this skill, since "police and detectives must be able to speak with people and to express details in writing about an incident." How this skill relates to compliance investigator duties can be seen in an example from a compliance investigator resume snippet: "assist in reviewing ofac hits and communication ofac and sanctions updates. "
The three companies that hire the most compliance investigators are:
- Public Consulting Group53 compliance investigators jobs
- Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc.5 compliance investigators jobs
- Centene4 compliance investigators jobs
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Compare different compliance investigators
Compliance investigator vs. Regulatory affairs specialist
A regulatory affairs specialist assists in securing and maintaining government approval for nutritional products, drugs, medical devices, and related supplies. They are often employed by medical, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology companies. They may also work in the government or law. Typically, they work on document preparation, file maintenance, information management, and coordination of tasks across various departments. They expanded their duties and responsibilities as a result of company acquisitions and restructuring, worldwide globalization of markets, and constantly evolving regulations.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, compliance investigator responsibilities require skills like "federal laws," "law enforcement," "conduct investigations," and "ethics." Meanwhile a typical regulatory affairs specialist has skills in areas such as "regulatory affairs," "medical devices," "regulatory compliance," and "regulatory submissions." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
The education levels that regulatory affairs specialists earn slightly differ from compliance investigators. In particular, regulatory affairs specialists are 0.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a compliance investigator. Additionally, they're 1.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Compliance investigator vs. Registration officer
A regulatory compliance officer makes sure that a company operates or complies with the regulations, bylaws, policies, and other legal requirements. Regulatory compliance officers ensure that the organization has internal controls controlling and managing risks. The officers review and set standards for outside communications for the safety of the facilities. They build, design, or update internal policies to mitigate the possible breaking of regulations and laws. Also, they organize employee training sessions on a regular basis.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real compliance investigator resumes. While compliance investigator responsibilities can utilize skills like "federal laws," "law enforcement," "management system," and "conduct investigations," registration officers use skills like "patients," "customer service," "emergency room," and "patient data."
Registration officers earn lower levels of education than compliance investigators in general. They're 9.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Compliance investigator vs. Regulatory compliance officer
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, compliance investigators are more likely to have skills like "law enforcement," "conduct investigations," "ethics," and "due diligence." But a regulatory compliance officer is more likely to have skills like "regulatory compliance," "risk management," "powerpoint," and "regulatory risk."
Regulatory compliance officers earn the best pay in the non profits industry, where they command an average salary of $71,048. Compliance investigators earn the highest pay from the pharmaceutical industry, with an average salary of $75,235.Most regulatory compliance officers achieve a similar degree level compared to compliance investigators. For example, they're 0.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 10.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Compliance investigator vs. License inspector
Types of compliance investigator
Updated January 8, 2025
