How To Become A Risk Management Director: What It Is and Career Path

What is a risk management director and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

One of the main functions of a risk management director is to create an environment of risk awareness and promote risk reduction for their company. In order to do this, they need a clear understanding of the things that expose them to potential risks, such as insurance claims or lawsuits.

Their duties may also include assessing insurance policies to determine which policies suit their company's needs. Their role may involve meeting with other directors, managers, and lawyers. The risk management director is involved with monitoring internal investigations of incidents that have exposed the company to potential risks. They may also be involved with vetting company contracts to identify potential risk issues. A bachelor's degree is the minimum education level typically required to become a risk management director.

Employers look for individuals who have a degree in disciplines such as business or finance; they will also consider those who have studied law or logistics. Practical work experience is also required, so those considering this career should expect to start out in other risk management roles to qualify to become a risk management director. The average annual salary for the position is $144,062. For a traditional work week, that amounts to $69.26 an hour.

ScoreRisk Management DirectorUS Average

Salary

8.5

Avg. Salary $133,286

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.4

Growth rate 17%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.34%

Asian 10.00%

Black or African American 8.57%

Hispanic or Latino 9.58%

Unknown 3.87%

White 67.65%

Gender

female 40.59%

male 59.41%

Age - 43

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 - 43

Stress level

6.4

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.1

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.4

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a risk management director

Explore risk management director education requirements

Most common risk management director degrees

Bachelor's

61.4 %

Master's

19.2 %

Associate

8.8 %

Start to develop specific risk management director skills

Skills	Percentages
Oversight	10.68%
Risk Assessments	7.82%
Governance	7.58%
Risk Management	7.48%
Project Management	4.64%

Complete relevant risk management director training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New risk management directors 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 risk management director based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real risk management director resumes.

Research risk management director duties and responsibilities

Manage budget process and ensure a positive ROI.
Manage all Sarbanes-Oxley, financial, internal and ad-hoc audit activities.
Manage Fujitsu-Siemens relationship for the Americas.
Enhance CRM analytics for managing consumer interactions during multi-channel service transactions.

Get risk management director experience

Generally, it takes 4-6 years to become a risk management director. The most common roles before becoming a risk management director include vice president, risk manager team lead and director.

Prepare your risk management director resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your risk management director 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 risk management director resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable risk management director resume templates

Build a professional risk management director 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 risk management director resume.