Compliance officer jobs · Compliance vacancies · Permanent, interim and fractional

Compliance officer jobs · permanent, interim and fractional

Compliance officer jobs are roles keeping a business within the rules of its regulator: running the monitoring programme, advising the business, keeping policies current and reporting to the board. They come as permanent posts, interim assignments and fractional or part-time seats, from compliance officer to head of compliance. The board below shows the compliance roles on our board, with permanent roles first where the posting says full-time.

We recruit permanent, interim, fractional and part-time compliance leaders, and non-executive directors. Hiring rather than looking? On every brief we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.

Brief us on a compliance hire →See the roles

How a brief runswhat we undertake

01Brief30-MINUTE SCOPING CALLDay 0
02Shortlist of 3–5VETTED · RATE BENCHMARK · IR35After the brief
03InterviewsYOU MEET THE SHORTLISTYour diary
04Scoped startFIRST-MONTH OUTCOMES AGREEDYou set the date
05Fractional, interim and permanentIR35 POSITION SET OUTOn every brief

Shortlist3–5

3–5

Shortlist · with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 set out

Vetting · stages before a candidate reaches a client

15 minutes · video or phone

Book 15 minutes to hire a compliance officer

Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Compliance Officer candidates, their day rates and availability.

0115 minutes, video or phone
02We scope the role and the days a week
03A shortlist of 3–5 after the call
04Fractional, interim and permanent briefs

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Pick a day that suits · live availability

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On the board · last 3 months

Compliance officer jobs jobs on the board

0 Compliance officer jobs · 2 legal and compliance

No Compliance officer jobs roles on the board in the last three months. Showing legal and compliance roles instead.

Browse every role on the board →

Current compliance roles on our board

Fractional Quest is a fractional recruitment agency: send a Compliance Officer brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five vetted candidates.

01/ the role

Compliance officer jobs: what the board holds

The board on this page holds the compliance roles on our board: compliance officers, heads of compliance, money laundering reporting officers and data protection officers, in every mode of work. Roles whose posting says full-time come first. Interim, fractional and part-time roles follow, and where a posting states how the role is engaged, the listing says so. When there are few compliance roles, the board widens to the legal seats beside them, and says that it has.

What the seat does

In an FCA investment firm the rules require a permanent and effective compliance function that operates independently: it monitors and assesses whether the firm’s policies work, advises the people doing regulated business, reports to the management body at least once a year and watches complaints handling. A compliance officer must be appointed to run it. For the day-to-day picture, see what a compliance officer does.

One title, several seats

“Compliance officer” covers a wide range. The senior FCA seat is the Compliance Oversight function, SMF16, the person responsible for the compliance function in the firm and reporting to the governing body on this. Below it sit compliance managers, monitoring officers and analysts. Outside financial services the title has its own legal meanings: a law firm’s COLP and COFA, or the officer a business under the Money Laundering Regulations names as responsible for its compliance with them. Read each posting for which one it is.

02/ scope

How to get a compliance officer job

1. Learn the rules of one sector

Compliance work is sector-specific. Most compliance officer jobs are in FCA-regulated firms, law firms and businesses supervised for anti-money laundering, and each runs on its own rulebook. Many people move in from operations, audit, legal or a front-office role in the same sector, where they already know how the business works.

2. Take a recognised qualification

None is required by law, but postings often name one. The International Compliance Association calls its Diploma in Governance, Risk and Compliance the industry-standard qualification for compliance officers and managers. The CISI’s Diploma in Investment Compliance is an Ofqual level 6 qualification for compliance professionals working towards a senior management role.

3. Build towards an approved function

The senior compliance jobs in financial services are Senior Management Functions. Anyone holding SMF16 or SMF17 needs FCA or PRA approval before starting, must be fit and proper, and carries the Duty of Responsibility for their area. A record of monitoring, regulatory change and board reporting is what an approval and a shortlist are judged on.

4. Pick the route in

Not every compliance job is permanent. Part-time compliance jobs and fractional MLRO roles hold the seat for set days a week; the head of function can be part-time too, as in part-time chief compliance officer jobs. If you work through your own company, the off-payroll working rules (IR35) may apply: status turns on how the engagement runs, and a medium or large client makes the determination. Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.

03/ related roles

Compliance officer jobs by type

Every page we keep for the compliance seat, one per kind of role or question. We recruit permanent, interim, fractional and part-time compliance leaders.

Part-time compliance jobsPart-time chief compliance officer jobsFractional MLROFractional DPO jobsWhat is a compliance officer?

04/ vetting

How we vet compliance officers

What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.

01
Qualification screen
Verify Compliance Officer tenure, sector context and stage fit.
SOURCING
02
Mandate fit
Match to your situation — stage, board dynamics, timing.
MATCHING
03
Reference deep-dive
We take references ourselves, from recent past clients — real outcomes, not titles.
VERIFY
04
Shortlist
Three to five candidates with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5

05/ compliance officer vacancies

Compliance officer vacancies where they come from

Compliance officer vacancies follow the rules that create them. In financial services, firms must keep a compliance function and, where the FCA requires one, an approved SMF16. Under the Money Laundering Regulations a business in scope must appoint an officer responsible for compliance and a nominated officer and tell its supervisor within 14 days of each appointment. HMRC lists the businesses it supervises, from estate and letting agents to money service businesses, so compliance jobs reach well beyond banks.

Vacancies also open when a role holder leaves. An approved function cannot be left empty for long. Under the FCA’s 12-week rule, someone can cover a senior manager’s temporary or unforeseen absence for less than 12 consecutive weeks without approval, and the FCA can give time-limited approval to an interim while the firm finds a permanent candidate. That is why interim compliance work is common.

Read a vacancy for the regulator, the approved function if any, who the role reports to and how much of the week it really needs.

06/ permanent compliance officer jobs

Permanent compliance officer jobs the market and the pay

Permanent compliance officer jobs are full-time employed roles, and they are the ones listed first on this page. They suit firms with enough regulated activity to keep a monitoring programme running every week: banks, insurers, investment and wealth managers, payments firms and larger law firms.

Pay depends on the sector and regulator, the size of the firm, whether the role holds an SMF, qualifications and location. We publish no compliance officer salary figure because we have no sourced one. Listings show pay where the posting states it; on every shortlist we set out each candidate’s pay.

Independence shapes the permanent seat. In an investment firm the compliance officer is appointed and replaced by the management body, must not be involved in the services they monitor, and must not be paid in a way that compromises their objectivity. Ask how the role’s bonus is set before you accept.

07/ questions

Compliance officer jobs FAQ

The questions people ask before bringing in a compliance officer.

On this page: the board shows the compliance roles on our board, permanent roles first where the posting says full-time, then interim, fractional and part-time. Part-time roles also have their own page, part-time compliance jobs.

Compliance officer and manager roles in FCA-regulated firms, heads of compliance holding SMF16, MLROs holding SMF17, a law firm’s COLP and COFA, and compliance roles in businesses supervised under the Money Laundering Regulations.

It depends on the sector, the regulator, firm size, whether the role holds an SMF, and location. We have no sourced compliance officer salary figure, so we do not publish one. Listings show pay where the posting states it.

Learn the rules of one sector, often by moving across from operations, audit or legal; take a recognised qualification such as the ICA Diploma in Governance, Risk and Compliance or the CISI Diploma in Investment Compliance; and build a record of monitoring and board reporting. Part-time and interim roles are another way in.

Only where the role is a Senior Management Function. Holding SMF16 (compliance oversight) or SMF17 (MLRO) needs FCA or PRA approval before starting. Compliance officers below that level are not approved, though they may fall under the Certification Regime.

The compliance officer covers the firm’s whole regulatory system; the MLRO owns anti-money laundering systems and controls and decides which suspicions to report to the National Crime Agency. One approved person can hold both. See what a compliance officer does.

It depends on how the engagement runs in practice, not on its label. In most cases a medium or large client makes the determination; for a small client outside the public sector, the worker’s own company decides (HMRC). We set out each candidate’s IR35 position on the shortlist and do not promise an outcome.

Decide which regulator and approved functions apply, how many days a week the work needs, and whether the seat is permanent, interim or part-time. Our part-time compliance jobs page sets out the options. On every brief we send a shortlist of 3–5 after five-stage vetting.

Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5

Bring the brief. We architect the team.

A shortlist of 3–5 with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.

Book a call →Submit a brief