Roles
What does a compliance officer do?
KnowQuant research deskUpdated 1 September 2026Method 2026.1
Short answer
A compliance officer at a quant firm owns regulatory permissions, trade surveillance, personal account dealing, market-abuse controls and regulator relationships across every venue the firm touches. New York total compensation typically runs from about $110,000 at entry level to $400,000 or more for a head of compliance at a multi-venue firm.
Multi-venue, multi-jurisdiction trading makes this a technical role rather than a paperwork one. Surveillance calibration, algorithm governance, best execution and exchange rule changes all require someone who can read both the regulation and the system that implements it, and the most valuable people in the function can interrogate the data themselves. Firms pay a premium for that combination, particularly in London and Hong Kong where the regulatory reporting load is heaviest.
The recurring requirements are Regulatory frameworks, Trade surveillance, Market abuse controls, SQL, Algorithm governance, Regulator engagement. Typical backgrounds are compliance professionals from banks and brokers, regulators moving into industry, legal and paralegal backgrounds, operations analysts who specialised in controls.
The role concentrates in New York, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Chicago, Dubai / Abu Dhabi, where the New York median is $205k in annual total compensation.
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Cite these figures
KnowQuant Quant Compensation Benchmark, Q3 2026 edition, method 2026.1. https://www.know-quant.com/answers/what-does-a-compliance-officer-do
Free to quote and republish with attribution and a link to the source page, under our terms. Method 2026.1, last reviewed 1 September 2026. The methodology sets out how each band is built and what it excludes.
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Methodology
Figures are expressed as annual total compensation (base salary plus expected performance bonus) in the reference market's local currency, converted from a US dollar base. They describe typical market ranges rather than any individual offer, and exclude sign-on payments, deferred equity and carried interest. Portfolio-manager figures reflect formulaic profit-share arrangements and are therefore far more dispersed than any other role.
KnowQuantIndex 2026.1 · Updated September 2026
Modelled bands describe the market, not an individual offer. Where an employer states pay, the stated figure is used and labelled as such.