A university is basically a small city, and it has the compliance portfolio to prove it. Campuses run obligations across FERPA and student-data privacy, research integrity and IRB oversight, sponsored research and export control, Title IX, and the security and data governance of keeping the whole place running. That range keeps steady demand for compliance, privacy, audit, research-compliance, and information-security people. If you want a GRC role with variety and a public-good mission attached, the campus is where it lives.
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.
Higher Education GRC jobs: what the market looks like right now
A snapshot built from the 95 Higher Education GRC roles currently on this page.
What these roles pay by level
Median advertised midpoint, by seniority band. Bars are to scale.
Median advertised salary midpoint by seniority level
Level
Median midpoint
Postings
Mid-level
$109k
32
Senior / lead / manager
$136k
17
How these figures were calculated, and sources
Primary source: our own board. Every figure above is the median midpoint of the salary ranges published in the live postings on this page. Nothing is estimated, modeled, or carried over from a previous month. It is recalculated each time the board refreshes.
What is included. Only postings that publish a salary range. Hourly, weekly and monthly rates are annualised (2,080 hours, 52 weeks, 12 months). Ranges below $20,000 a year are excluded as data-entry placeholders. A seniority band is shown only when at least five postings support it; director and executive / c-suite are present on this page but below that threshold, so no median is published for those bands.
What this is not. These are advertised ranges, not accepted offers. Advertised ranges tend to run wider than what is actually paid, and roles that do not publish a range are missing from the calculation entirely, which can bias the result upward.
For an independent benchmark, compare against the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics for SOC 13-2011 — Accountants and Auditors, published annually at bls.gov/oes. BLS reports actual wages across all employers rather than advertised ranges, so its medians normally sit below job-board figures.
Where the work is
Work mode: 9 remote, 0 hybrid, 86 on-site or unstated.
Seniority mix: mid (48), senior (28), executive (11), director (8)
Employers hiring more than one: Deutsche Bank (19), GE Vernova (4), Chime Financial, Inc (3), UT Austin (3), Air Force Civilian Career Training (3), Chime (3)
Skills these postings ask for
audit planning and scoping
walkthroughs and control testing
workpaper documentation
issue writing and management response
data analytics in audit
Certifications that come up most
None of these are universally required, but they appear often enough in Higher Education GRC postings to be worth knowing: CIA, CISA, CPA, CFE, CRMA. The certification academy covers what each one actually tests and who it is for.
Hiring for Higher Education GRC?
We have 95 open Higher Education GRC 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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