Compliance Manager Jobs: Jobs, Salaries & Careers (2026)

The Compliance Manager owns a compliance program or a major piece of one. Managers set policy, run monitoring and testing, manage regulatory relationships, and lead a team of analysts. They translate regulation into something the business can actually operate, and they answer for it when regulators ask. It is the pivotal step between analyst work and the Chief Compliance Officer's seat.

What a Compliance Manager does

Own and run a compliance program or a major regulatory area
Set policies and design controls that meet regulatory obligations
Lead monitoring, testing, and issue remediation
Manage and develop a team of compliance analysts
Serve as a point of contact for regulators and auditors
Advise the business on the compliance impact of new products, including AI

Core skills

Deep knowledge of the relevant regulatory landscape
Program and people management
Sound judgment under ambiguity
Influence and stakeholder management
Clear communication to executives and regulators
Ability to operationalize rules into controls

Certifications that help

CCEP · CAMS · CIPP · CRISC

Train for these through the GRC Careers certification guides.

Where it sits on the career ladder

← Compliance Analyst · Compliance Manager (Management) · Chief Compliance Officer →

How to break into this job

Compliance Managers typically come up from analyst or specialist roles after several years, or move across from law, audit, or risk. The step up is as much about leadership and judgment as technical knowledge: owning outcomes, managing people, and being the person who can stand in front of a regulator.

Compliance Officer paystats as of Q2 2026

BLS put the 2024 median at $78,420. In 2026, market trackers show averages from roughly $99,000 to $120,000, with the top quartile above $160,000. Financial centers and senior governance roles sit at the top of that range.

Sources: BLS, 2024 median

FAQ

What does a Compliance Manager do that an analyst does not?
A Compliance Manager owns outcomes and people: setting policy, running the program, managing analysts, and being accountable to regulators. Analysts execute within the program a manager designs and runs.

What is the next step up from Compliance Manager?
The path typically leads to Director of Compliance and then Chief Compliance Officer, the executive accountable for the entire compliance program.

Does AI change the Compliance Manager role?
Yes. Managers increasingly advise on whether AI-driven products and decisions meet regulatory obligations, extending traditional compliance discipline to automated systems.

Compliance Manager jobs: what the market looks like right now

A snapshot built from the 19 Compliance Manager roles currently on this page.

What these roles pay

Of the 19 open Compliance Manager roles on this page, 8 publish a salary range. Across those:

Median advertised midpoint: $201k
Middle half of the market: $158k to $206k
Full advertised range: $85k to $275k

Computed from the live postings on this page, not from survey data, and recalculated every time the board refreshes. Roles without a published range are excluded.

Where the work is

Work mode: 3 remote, 1 hybrid, 15 on-site or unstated.
Seniority mix: senior (18), executive (1)
Employers hiring more than one: OKX (4), Decagon (2)

Skills these postings ask for

policy and procedure writing
control testing and evidence collection
regulatory change management
SOX and SOC 2 readiness
issue management and remediation tracking

How to get a compliance job — the full career guide for this field: entry routes, transferable backgrounds, certifications and salary by level.

Certifications that come up most

None of these are universally required, but they appear often enough in Compliance Manager postings to be worth knowing: CCEP, CRCM, CAMS, CIPP/US, AIGP. The certification academy covers what each one actually tests and who it is for.

Hiring for Compliance Manager?

We have 19 open Compliance Manager roles on the board right now. Reach candidates who are already searching for this role, not a general audience. Your posting appears on this page, in the job alerts, and across the GRC Careers network.

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New to this job? Read the How to Become a Compliance Manager roadmap.
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