The pathway
How you actually get there, here
How you become one varies far more by country than what one does. This is the UK route. Most people take one of these ways in; the right one depends on where you're starting from.
- 1
Head of Compliance / Senior Compliance Manager (from a large organisation)
3-5 years in a previous senior leadership role.Skills to master
- Moving from managing a specific compliance area to overseeing an entire enterprise function
- developing board-level communication skills
- strategic budget management.
You're ready to move on when
- Successfully led a major compliance programme or initiative end-to-end.
- Consistently received strong feedback on influencing senior leaders.
- Managed a team of managers and demonstrated talent development capabilities.
- Proven ability to navigate complex organisational politics.
- 2
Director of Internal Audit / Head of Risk Management
4-6 years in a previous director-level audit or risk role.Skills to master
- Deepening regulatory expertise specific to our industry
- shifting from 'assurance' to 'compliance ownership'
- building proactive compliance programmes.
You're ready to move on when
- Demonstrated strong understanding of control environments and risk frameworks.
- Experience presenting audit/risk findings to audit committees.
- Proven ability to build relationships across diverse business units.
- A clear passion for regulatory compliance and ethical leadership.