Interim compliance officer salary · day rates, 2026

What an interim compliance officer earns, by the day and by the assignment

An interim compliance officer is paid a day rate, not a salary.

FD Capital, a recruiter, puts an interim compliance officer at £350–£500 a day outside IR35 and an interim head of compliance at £600–£850.

Barclay Simpson, a compliance recruiter, puts an interim head of compliance or project lead in London at £1,000–£1,400 a day.

The rate covers full-time work for a fixed period, with no salary, pension or paid holiday behind it.

When you hire an interim compliance officer through us, we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.

Brief us on an interim 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

£350–£500

Interim compliance officer · a day, outside IR35

FD Capital, 2026

£600–£850

Interim head of compliance · a day, outside IR35

FD Capital, 2026

£1,000–£1,400

Head of compliance, London · a day, interim or project lead

Barclay Simpson, 2026

3–5

Shortlist · with day rate, availability and IR35 set out

15 minutes · video or phone

Book 15 minutes to hire an interim compliance officer

Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Interim 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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On the board · last 3 months

Interim compliance officer jobs on the board

0 Interim compliance officer · 4 interim executive

No Interim compliance officer roles on the board in the last three months. Showing interim executive roles instead.

Browse every role on the board →

Interim compliance roles on the board

Fractional recruiting starts with the brief, not the CV pile. Send a Interim Compliance Officer brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five candidates, each through five-stage vetting.

01/ the role

How an interim compliance officer is paid, and why the unit is the day

An interim compliance officer holds a compliance seat full-time for a defined period.

FD Capital names the usual reasons: regulatory project delivery, cover for a vacancy, Section 166 remediation and Consumer Duty implementation.

The FCA sets out what the Consumer Duty asks of firms.

Barclay Simpson’s 2026 survey found 72% of compliance employers regularly use interim support.

That makes the day rate the real unit of pay.

There is no salary, no employer pension and no paid holiday, and the interim carries the gaps between assignments.

Across all functions, the Institute of Interim Management’s 2026 survey puts the average assignment at 10.0 months, the average gap between assignments at 3.2 months and the average days billed in a year at 148.

An interim who works through their own company pays themselves through salary and dividends from what the company earns, after its costs and Corporation Tax.

The day rate is the company’s income, not the interim’s take-home pay.

Not every interim works that way: Barclay Simpson says half of interim compliance professionals are now on fixed-term contracts, up from a third in 2024.

02/ scope

How to hire an interim compliance officer

1. Define the mandate and its end

Say what the interim must deliver and by when: a remediation plan closed, a monitoring programme rebuilt, a regulatory change embedded, a handover to a permanent hire.

A financial crime mandate runs to the Money Laundering Regulations 2017; an anti-bribery one to the Ministry of Justice’s Bribery Act 2010 guidance.

A defined mandate sets the seniority, and the seniority sets the rate.

2. Decide whether the seat is a Senior Management Function

An interim head of compliance at an FCA firm may need to hold Compliance Oversight, SMF16.

Anyone in a Senior Management Function needs FCA or PRA approval before starting, so build the approval time into the start date.

Banks, building societies and insurers are dual-regulated, so the Prudential Regulation Authority is involved as well as the FCA.

3. Decide IR35 status at the start

If your business is medium or large, you make the status determination for the engagement and give the interim your reasons.

Settle it before you go to market, because it changes the rate candidates quote.

What we do on an interim brief

We recruit interim, fractional, part-time, temporary and permanent compliance leaders, and non-executive directors.

The International Compliance Association, a professional body, offers compliance qualifications; treat them as one signal among several.

We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, and every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting first.

Roles on the board are listed on compliance officer jobs.

03/ the board

What the board holds.

A read of the roles on the board on this page, counted as they stand: how each is engaged, whether the posting gives the days and the rate, and where the work happens.

On this board, last 90 days · 4 roles · interim executive

Engagement

Interim4

Seat

Finance director2
CEO1
COO1

Days a week

Stated in the posting3
Not stated1

Day rate

Verified rate1
Estimated (est)1
Rate not stated2

Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)

Remote1
Hybrid1
On-site1
Not classified1

Newest posting on the board: 18 Sept 2026.

Postings per week on this board, last 90 days

4 postings on this board in the last 90 days, counted by the week each was published.

04/ rates by stage

Interim compliance officer salary day rates by seniority and source

Day rates as each publisher states them, all 2026. FD Capital’s bands are outside IR35 and come from its own placements. Barclay Simpson’s table states no IR35 basis. Robert Walters’ are PAYE contract rates for London financial services, with its own averages; Morgan McKinley’s are London contract daily rates by years of experience. FD Capital, Barclay Simpson, Robert Walters and Morgan McKinley are recruiters. The IIM figures cover every interim function, not compliance alone.

SeatDay rateBasisSource

Interim compliance analyst£250–£380UK, outside IR35FD Capital, 2026

Interim compliance officer£350–£500UK, outside IR35FD Capital, 2026

Interim compliance officer or manager£400–£750UK, outside IR35 (quick-reference band)FD Capital, 2026

Interim compliance manager£450–£650UK, outside IR35FD Capital, 2026

Interim head of compliance£600–£850UK, outside IR35FD Capital, 2026

Compliance AVP or manager£350–£550 London · £250–£500 South East · £200–£450 regionalTemporary or interimBarclay Simpson, 2026

Compliance VP or senior manager£450–£650 London · £400–£600 South East · £400–£550 regionalTemporary or interimBarclay Simpson, 2026

Compliance director or project consultant£600–£1,000 London · £550–£850 South East · £450–£750 regionalTemporary or interimBarclay Simpson, 2026

Head of compliance or project lead£1,000–£1,400 London · £850–£1,000 South East · £550–£850 regionalTemporary or interimBarclay Simpson, 2026

Compliance monitoring officer, London£250–£400 (0–3 yrs) · £400–£500 (3–5) · £500–£750 (5+)Contract daily rate by experienceMorgan McKinley, 2026

Compliance manager (financial services), London£500–£600 (0–3 yrs) · £600–£700 (3–5) · £700–£800 (5+)Contract daily rate by experienceMorgan McKinley, 2026

Head of compliance, London£700–£800 (0–3 yrs) · £800–£950 (3–5) · £950–£1,200 (5+)Contract daily rate by experienceMorgan McKinley, 2026

Central compliance AVP, London sell side£300–£400, average £355PAYE contract rateRobert Walters, 2026

Central compliance VP, London sell side£400–£500, average £435PAYE contract rateRobert Walters, 2026

Central compliance director, London sell side£600–£700, average £660PAYE contract rateRobert Walters, 2026

Compliance VP, London asset manager£600–£900, average £760PAYE contract rate; large institutional asset managerRobert Walters, 2026

Compliance director, London asset manager£1,000PAYE contract rate; large institutional asset managerRobert Walters, 2026

All interim managers, average£907All functions; £949 outside IR35, £830 insideIIM survey, 2026

05/ economics

Interim pay and IR35: who decides, and what it changes

Tax status turns on how the engagement runs, not on the title or the contract alone.

Under the off-payroll working rules (IR35), a medium or large client makes the status determination; for a small client outside the public sector, the interim’s own company decides.

The rules apply contract by contract, so one interim can have engagements on both sides.

It shows in the rates.

The IIM’s 2026 survey puts the average interim day rate at £949 outside IR35 and £830 inside, across all functions.

Robert Walters quotes PAYE rates, which are paid through a payroll.

HMRC’s CEST tool gives its view on a specific engagement.

Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.

06/ vetting

How we vet interim compliance officers

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

01
Qualification screen
Verify Interim 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

07/ interim compliance officer day rate

Interim compliance officer day rate by seniority and region

The interim compliance officer day rate rises with the seat.

FD Capital puts an interim compliance analyst at £250–£380 a day, an interim compliance officer at £350–£500 and an interim compliance manager at £450–£650, all outside IR35.

Its quick reference gives a wider £400–£750 for an interim compliance officer or manager.

Region moves the rate as much as the title.

Barclay Simpson puts an interim compliance AVP or manager at £350–£550 a day in London, £250–£500 in the South East and £200–£450 in the regions.

Robert Walters puts a London sell-side central compliance VP at £400–£500 a day on PAYE, with an average of £435.

To compare with a salary, multiply the rate by the days worked.

At FD Capital’s £350–£500, 220 days would bill £77,000–£110,000, and the IIM’s all-function average of 148 days billed would bill £51,800–£74,000.

Both are our arithmetic, a comparison and not a salary.

For scale, Robert Half’s 2026 median for a permanent compliance manager is £73,500 in base salary.

08/ interim head of compliance

Interim head of compliance: the senior day rates

FD Capital puts an interim head of compliance at £600–£850 a day outside IR35.

Barclay Simpson puts a head of compliance or project lead at £1,000–£1,400 a day in London, £850–£1,000 in the South East and £550–£850 in the regions.

Robert Walters puts a compliance director at a large London asset manager at £1,000 a day on PAYE, and Morgan McKinley puts a London head of compliance on contract at £700–£800 a day with up to three years’ experience, rising to £950–£1,200 beyond five.

At Barclay Simpson’s London £1,000–£1,400, 220 days would bill £220,000–£308,000, and 148 days £148,000–£207,200 (our arithmetic, not a salary).

The interim pays their own pension, holidays, insurance and the gaps between assignments out of it.

09/ the other routes

Interim, permanent or fractional: which pay basis fits

Interim cover buys a full-time compliance lead for a fixed period.

A permanent hire is paid a salary and package; see compliance officer salary.

If the work fits into part of the week, a fractional head of compliance on a day rate may cost less over the same months; see fractional compliance officer salary.

For the role itself, see what a compliance officer does.

10/ questions

Interim compliance officer salary FAQ

The questions people ask before bringing in an interim compliance officer.

An interim compliance officer is paid a day rate rather than a salary. FD Capital puts the rate at £350–£500 a day outside IR35. At that rate, 220 days would bill £77,000–£110,000 and the IIM’s all-function average of 148 days billed would bill £51,800–£74,000 (our arithmetic). That is gross income to the interim’s company, before its costs, pension and tax.

Barclay Simpson puts an interim compliance AVP or manager in London at £350–£550 a day and a VP or senior manager at £450–£650. Robert Walters puts a London sell-side central compliance VP at £400–£500 a day on PAYE, and Morgan McKinley puts a London compliance monitoring officer at £250–£750 a day depending on experience.

FD Capital puts an interim head of compliance at £600–£850 a day outside IR35. Barclay Simpson puts a head of compliance or project lead at £1,000–£1,400 a day in London and £550–£850 in the regions.

Define the mandate and its end date, check whether the seat needs SMF16 approval, and decide IR35 status before you go to market. Then check the candidate’s record on comparable assignments. We send a shortlist of 3–5 with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.

The day rate times the days. At FD Capital’s £350–£500, a month of about 22 working days is £7,700–£11,000 (our arithmetic). There is no employer’s National Insurance or pension on top when the interim works outside IR35 through their own company. We set out the day rate for every candidate on the shortlist.

None of our compliance sources publishes an assignment length. Across all interim functions, the IIM’s 2026 survey puts the average assignment at 10.0 months and the average gap between assignments at 3.2 months.

It depends on how the engagement runs. A medium or large client makes the status determination; a small private-sector client leaves it to the interim’s own company (HMRC). The IIM’s 2026 survey puts average day rates at £949 outside IR35 and £830 inside, across all functions.

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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.

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