Defense GRC is demanding, and it does not go out of style. The primes, the national-security startups, and the aerospace firms carry obligations you cannot wave off: CMMC, ITAR and export control, NIST 800-171, FedRAMP, and the clearance rules that decide who gets to touch the work at all. The roles run from industrial security to government compliance to the new frontier of governing AI in defense systems. If you carry a clearance or a government-compliance background, the demand here is steady and it is serious.

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

Security clearances in GRC, explained

On a lot of defense, aerospace, and federal GRC jobs the clearance is the real gate, more than the skills. If a posting names one, it means it: the work touches classified information, and only cleared people can do it. Here is the ladder, lowest to highest.

Public Trust. Not a classified clearance, but a federal suitability standard for jobs that touch sensitive, not classified, government systems and data. Common on civilian-agency compliance and IT jobs.
Confidential. The entry tier of classified access, covering information whose disclosure could cause damage to national security.
Secret. The most common clearance in defense work, covering information whose disclosure could cause serious damage to national security.
Top Secret (TS). Covers information whose disclosure could cause exceptionally grave damage to national security. A deeper background investigation, and a much smaller candidate pool.
TS/SCI. Top Secret plus access to Sensitive Compartmented Information, granted compartment by compartment, often paired with a polygraph (CI poly or full-scope poly). This is the top of the ladder, and the scarcest, highest-paid corner of GRC.

"Clearable" or "able to obtain" means the employer will sponsor the clearance if you are eligible, generally a US citizen who can pass the investigation. You do not always need it on day one, but you have to be able to get one.

Why it matters for your search: the clearance level decides the size of the pool and the pay. Cleared GRC jobs, industrial security, government compliance, classified-systems risk and audit, are scarce, durable, and pay a premium precisely because the gate is hard to clear. If you hold one, lead with it.

See all cleared GRC jobs and the full clearance guide →

Security, Defense & Aerospace GRC jobs: what the market looks like right now

A snapshot built from the 172 Security, Defense & Aerospace 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	$118k	58
Senior / lead / manager	$148k	24
Director	$220k	5
Executive / C-suite	$280k	8

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, modelled, 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.

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 13-1041 — Compliance Officers, 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: 18 remote, 7 hybrid, 147 on-site or unstated.
Seniority mix: mid (88), senior (59), executive (14), director (11)
Employers hiring more than one: Defense Information Systems Agency (9), SEI (9), Army National Guard Units (8), Deutsche Bank (7), Air National Guard Units (5), Defense Contract Management Agency (5)

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 Security, Defense & Aerospace GRC 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 Security, Defense & Aerospace GRC?

We have 172 open Security, Defense & Aerospace 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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