How To Become A Head Of Ethics And Compliance: What It Is and Career Path

What is a head of ethics and compliance and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

The Head of Ethics and Compliance is responsible for creating policy frameworks and ensuring compliance. He/She oversees the company's projects to promote timely delivery and compliance. Not just this, but he/she submits periodic reports of ethics and compliance matters. He/She develops and implements ethics strategies to ensure responsible conduct and accountability. Additionally, he/she devises structures to ethics, and compliance plans are put in the company's policies and standards.

Heads of ethics and compliance are mostly required to have at least a bachelor's degree in law, finance, or a related discipline. They must be experienced with handling complex and sensitive information. They must also possess negotiation, communication, organization, and teamwork skills. By implication, you must be able to influence policy at high levels externally and internally. Also, you must be experienced in causing change and innovation. The salary of the head of ethics and compliance varies between $128,030 and $192,440.

ScoreHead Of Ethics And ComplianceUS Average

Salary

8.5

Avg. Salary $132,706

Avg. Salary $59,228

Diversity

3.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.66%

Asian 8.90%

Black or African American 7.54%

Hispanic or Latino 12.64%

Unknown 4.69%

White 65.57%

Gender

female 33.59%

male 66.41%

Age - 47

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 - 47

Stress level

8.5

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.9

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.2

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a head of ethics and compliance

Explore head of ethics and compliance education requirements

Most common head of ethics and compliance degrees

Bachelor's

55.1 %

Master's

26.8 %

Doctorate

12.6 %

Start to develop specific head of ethics and compliance skills

Skills	Percentages
Risk Management	12.36%
Oversight	12.11%
Compliance Risk	8.42%
Compliance Program	8.42%
Compliance Issues	5.26%

Complete relevant head of ethics and compliance training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New heads of ethics and compliance 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 head of ethics and compliance based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real head of ethics and compliance resumes.

Research head of ethics and compliance duties and responsibilities

Develop, manage and implement program governance and structure to ensure major programs are strategically align with organizational objectives.
Receive, file, monitor and safekept actionable loan documents, titles and loan securities.
Provide oversight for the financial and technical aspects of contract procurement, management, and administration.
Provide AML operational oversight and compliance solutions for stakeholders.

Prepare your head of ethics and compliance resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your head of ethics and compliance resume.

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Choose from 10+ customizable head of ethics and compliance resume templates

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