In short
A compliance manager's resume has an odd problem: much of your best work is things that didn't happen. No breach, no enforcement, no repeat finding. A good compliance manager's resume states those absences plainly, with the scope they cover, next to the frameworks you built and the remediations you closed. And it stays understated, because a risk reader treats confident adjectives as a risk. Below, a senior Compliance Manager's resume is set out and explained section by section, followed by her headline, her letter's first lines, and who she approaches.
Helen is hypothetical, and her resume is made FutureDay's way: from work she actually did, with every matter described by type and outcome, and nothing named that couldn't be. It reads as careful because she is.
A compliance manager's resume, top to bottom
HELEN MAVROS
Admitted Lawyer | Compliance & Regulatory Risk | Retail Banking and Credit
Melbourne VIC · helen.mavros@email.com · 0400 000 000 · linkedin.com/in/helenmavros
Summary
Admitted lawyer and compliance manager for a customer-owned bank with $6.8B in assets and 280,000 members. Leads a team of six covering AML/CTF, responsible lending, breach reporting and privacy, and is the bank's day-to-day contact with AUSTRAC and ASIC.
Closes regulatory remediations and leaves behind controls the business can run on its own. The bank has had no enforcement action, and no new findings at its last two independent reviews.
Career highlights
- Closed an AML/CTF remediation carrying 14 findings in 19 months by rewriting the transaction monitoring rules and introducing quarterly control attestations, with no residual findings at the independent review that followed.
- Rebuilt the breach reporting process, cutting the time from incident to assessment from 34 days to 6, and every reportable matter since has gone to ASIC within the 30-day deadline.
- Wrote and embedded the bank's first compliance obligations register, mapping 640 obligations to 210 controls with named owners across 11 business units.
Experience
Compliance Manager, Tamberlane Mutual 2020 to now
Customer-owned bank, $6.8B assets, 280,000 members, 650 staff. Team of six. Reports to the Chief Risk Officer and reports quarterly to the board risk committee.
- Reviews and signs off 120 to 150 product, marketing and policy changes a year; none has been withdrawn after launch for a compliance reason.
- Led the bank's response to the design and distribution obligations, writing target market determinations for 46 products ahead of the start date.
- Cut false positives in transaction monitoring by 38%, which let the financial crime team clear its review backlog within a quarter.
- Runs annual AML/CTF and privacy training for all 650 staff, with 99% completed on time.
Senior Compliance Adviser, Greyfriars Wealth 2016 to 2020
Financial advice and platform business, 140 advisers, $9B funds under advice.
- Ran the adviser file review program, reviewing around 400 files a year and cutting repeat findings by 60% in two years.
- Managed a fee remediation across 3,100 client accounts, returning $4.6M to clients and closing the program on the date agreed with ASIC.
- Wrote the conflicts of interest policy adopted across the group.
Earlier career
Legal and compliance roles in financial services, including Lawyer at Ashby Rowe Lawyers and Compliance Analyst at Elmore Insurance.
Qualifications
Bachelor of Laws (Honours), Bachelor of Arts
Admitted to practise in Victoria
Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS)
Regimes and skills
AML/CTF Act and Rules · Responsible lending · Design and distribution obligations · Breach reporting · Privacy Act · Obligations registers and control testing · Board and regulator reporting
- HeadlineAdmission first. Her admission is the one claim a legal or risk reader can check, so it leads. The last slot is the domain, not a number, because exposure in this field is described more than counted.
- SummaryUnderstated on purpose. No "passionate", no "trusted advisor". The second paragraph states two absences and what they cover. In compliance, what didn't happen is often the whole result.
- HighlightsThe regime, the scale, the outcome. Each names the regime and the size of the problem, so a reader knows exactly what was at stake. None names a customer or a matter that couldn't be named.
- Scope lineThe weight of the seat. Assets, members, staff, team, and the line to the board risk committee. That last part tells a reader she is trusted with the board, without a bigger title.
- BulletsVolume and judgement together. 120 to 150 sign-offs a year shows volume. "None withdrawn after launch" shows the calls were right. A compliance reader wants both.
- Earlier careerRange without dates. Private practice and insurance show the range behind her, in one line with no dates.
- RegimesRegimes, not software. In compliance, the laws and obligations a job description names do the work a tool list does in other fields. These are the ones she has actually run.
What does a chief risk officer look for in a compliance manager?
A Chief Risk Officer or General Counsel is asking three things. Do you know our regimes and our regulators? Have you closed problems, not just reported them? Will the business still follow the framework once you've built it? A resume with a closed remediation, a deadline met every time and a register that owners actually use answers all three, quietly.
Before: "Responsible for ensuring the organisation's compliance with regulatory requirements."
After: "Rebuilt the breach reporting process, cutting the time from incident to assessment from 34 days to 6, and every reportable matter since has gone to ASIC within the 30-day deadline."
What should a compliance manager lead with on LinkedIn?
Qualification, specialism, then the industry. Helen's headline:
"Admitted Lawyer | Compliance & Regulatory Risk | Banking, AML/CTF and Credit"
Not "Passionate compliance professional | Trusted advisor". A risk reader takes that as a reason to read the rest more sceptically.
How should a compliance manager's cover letter open?
Measured and short, on the problem rather than on you:
"Your role mentions an open AML/CTF remediation. I closed one carrying fourteen findings in nineteen months at a customer-owned bank, and the independent review that followed found nothing further."
Then close on judgement and fit. In this field, enthusiasm reads as a risk.
Who should a compliance manager approach, and what do they say?
Senior compliance roles often go to someone the Chief Risk Officer already knows, or someone their auditor or law firm suggests. Helen's resume confirms what a referral has already said. The referral is the work.
A Compliance Manager does best starting with:
- Former colleagues in risk, legal and internal audit. Compliance teams are small and people move between banks, insurers and super funds. They hear first when a team is being rebuilt.
- The partners and consultants who ran your reviews. External auditors and law firms see inside many institutions. They often know which one has just had a letter from a regulator and needs help fast.
- The Chief Risk Officer or General Counsel at institutions in your sector. That's who hires a compliance manager.
Her first message is short and the request is modest. To a law firm partner who ran one of her independent reviews:
"Hi David, thanks again for the work on last year's review. I'm starting to think about my next role, most likely a senior compliance or head of compliance position in banking or insurance. If you hear of a client building out its compliance function, I'd appreciate a mention. And happy to compare notes on the AML/CTF changes any time."
Compliance also has specialist recruiters who are worth knowing. Here's how to work with a recruiter well.
Where FutureDay helps a compliance manager
FutureDay puts together your resume from work you actually did, as Helen's is, and tailors it to each job description without adding to it. It then shows you each day who to contact, what to say, and what to do next.
In summary
Admission or certification first, then specialism and industry.
State what didn't happen, with the scope it covers.
Name the regime and the regulator; never the matter.
Show volume and judgement in the same line.
Referrals open doors the resume can't; give them most of your time.