Compliance Officer

A Compliance Officer checks that an organisation is meeting its legal and regulatory obligations. This could mean reviewing internal policies, auditing business processes, reporting breaches, or advising managers on what the rules require. The work is detail-oriented and often involves reading legislation, writing reports, and talking to people across different parts of a business. Some Compliance Officers focus on a specific area, such as financial services, workplace health and safety, or environmental regulation. Others work across a broader range of obligations depending on the size and type of their employer.

A typical day might include reviewing contracts or policy documents to check they meet current regulatory requirements, preparing a compliance report for senior management, or following up on an internal audit finding. There may be meetings with legal counsel, risk teams, or external regulators. Some days involve training staff on new obligations or updating a compliance register. The pace and focus can shift quickly when a regulator issues new guidance or a potential breach is flagged internally.

Most employers look for a bachelor degree in a relevant field such as law, business, finance, or risk management (JSA Occupation Profile). In financial services, the RG 146 standard set by ASIC is a common benchmark for those advising on financial products. Some roles may accept significant industry experience in place of a formal degree, particularly where a candidate has moved from a related field such as auditing, legal practice, or regulatory affairs. Course options may be available through yourcareer.gov.au or via free TAFE pathways at dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe.

Compliance work can feel like a constant race to keep up. Regulations change, regulators issue new guidance, and the consequences of getting it wrong can be serious for both the organisation and the individual officer. The role often requires saying no to colleagues or flagging uncomfortable findings to senior leaders, which takes confidence and clear communication. Career changers coming from outside regulated industries may find the learning curve steep, particularly in sectors like financial services or healthcare where the regulatory environment is complex and specialised. Building credibility in a new industry takes time, and the role rarely comes with a clear playbook.

In practice, compliance roles tend to cluster in cities where large financial services, government, and corporate employers are based.

Published for ANZSCO unit group 2244, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.

This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.

Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.

See full salary breakdown by state

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• Government Administration Officer to Compliance Officer

• Attention to Detailcore
• Confidentiality and Privacy Compliancecore
• Incident Reportingcore
• Policy and Procedure Adherencecore
• Policy Interpretationcore
• Quality Assurance and Checkingcore
• Record Managementcore
• Regulatory and Legislative Awarenesscore
• Report Writingcore
• Risk Identificationcore
• Written Communicationcore
• Continuous Learning and Upskilling
• Electronic Document Management
• Microsoft Office Suite Proficiency
• Problem Solving
• Process Documentation
• Process Improvement Identification
• Reporting and Analytics
• Stakeholder Communication

• ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.

Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.

Where our numbers come from.

What Compliance Officer workers move into, from ten years of tax records.

Last updated: 10 October 2026