How will this role impact First Command?
The First Command Bank Chief Compliance Officer is responsible for leading, maturing, and sustaining the Bank’s enterprise compliance function. This role provides strategic oversight of the Bank’s compliance management system, including regulatory compliance, BSA/AML oversight, fair lending, consumer compliance, risk assessments, monitoring and testing, compliance training, issue management, regulatory change management, and board and committee reporting.
The Chief Compliance Officer serves as a trusted advisor to the Bank President, senior leadership, business line leaders, and the Board of Directors on matters related to regulatory compliance, compliance risk, emerging regulatory expectations, and the effectiveness of the Bank’s compliance controls. This role is expected to move the compliance function beyond reactive issue response and toward a mature, proactive, risk-based, and business-integrated model.
This position serves as a primary compliance liaison with regulatory agencies and internal audit, supports regulatory examinations and audit activities, and presents compliance program updates, risks, challenges, and remediation progress to executive leadership, the Board of Directors, and applicable committees. The Chief Compliance Officer contributes to business results by helping the Bank effectively manage regulatory compliance risk while supporting responsible growth, operational discipline, and customer trust.
What will the employee do in this role?
- Lead the continued development, maturation, and administration of the Bank’s compliance management system, ensuring it is appropriately scaled.
- Establish and maintain a proactive, risk-based compliance program that includes governance, policies and procedures, regulatory change management, risk assessments, monitoring and testing, issue management, training, reporting, and board-level oversight.
- Provide strategic leadership and direction for the Bank Compliance team, including coaching, talent development, performance management, succession planning, and building team capability.
- Create a high-accountability compliance culture by setting clear expectations, strengthening communication, encouraging sound judgment, and developing compliance professionals who can effectively partner with the business.
- Serve as a trusted advisor to the Bank President, senior leadership, line of business leaders, and other key stakeholders on compliance risk, regulatory expectations, and practical approaches to risk mitigation.
- Serve as the primary liaison with applicable regulatory agencies and coordinate regulatory examinations, inquiries, and responses in partnership with senior leadership, legal, risk, internal audit, and business line stakeholders.
- Oversee the Bank’s BSA/AML compliance framework in partnership with the designated BSA Officer, ensuring appropriate governance, escalation, reporting, monitoring, and issue resolution.
- Oversee consumer compliance requirements, including but not limited to fair lending, UDAAP, HMDA, TILA, FCRA, ECOA, deposit regulations, privacy, CRA, marketing compliance, complaint management, and applicable lending and deposit regulations.
- Lead compliance risk assessments and use results to prioritize compliance monitoring, testing, training, reporting, control enhancements, and resource allocation.
- Develop, maintain, and enhance compliance reporting that provides senior leadership, committees, and the Board of Directors with clear visibility into key compliance risks, trends, issues, remediation progress, and program maturity.
- Chair or actively participate in applicable compliance, risk, audit, operations, technology, and governance committees.
- Report regularly to the Board of Directors, Audit Committee, Risk Committee, or other applicable governance bodies regarding the state of the compliance program, key risks, regulatory matters, and remediation efforts.
- Monitor changes in banking laws, regulations, regulatory guidance, and supervisory expectations; evaluate impact to the Bank; and partner with business leaders to implement required changes.
- Ensure Bank policies, procedures, standards, and controls remain current, aligned with applicable regulatory requirements, and socialized with key stakeholders to support evergreen maintenance and consistent execution across business lines.
- Partner with lines of business to embed compliance considerations into new products, services, process changes, system implementations, marketing initiatives, and customer-facing activities.
- Provide effective challenge to business leaders while maintaining a collaborative, solutions-oriented approach that supports responsible growth and sound risk management.
- Oversee regular compliance monitoring, testing, and quality reviews to evaluate control effectiveness, identify process or procedure inconsistencies, and ensure timely stakeholder engagement to mitigate risk.
- Validate that compliance issues, audit findings, regulatory findings, and monitoring results are appropriately documented, assigned, escalated, remediated, and closed.
- Partner with Internal Audit to coordinate audit activity, share risk insights, support audit planning, and ensure compliance-related findings receive appropriate management attention.
- Evaluate customer complaints for potential compliance implications and partner with the appropriate business, risk, legal, and operations teams to identify trends, root causes, and corrective actions.
- Design, deliver, and oversee compliance training for Bank employees, senior leaders, and the Board of Directors, ensuring training is practical, timely, role-based, and aligned with regulatory risk.
- Provide ongoing guidance and research support to Bank employees and leaders regarding compliance-related questions, regulatory interpretation, and control expectations.
- Maintain clear compliance program documentation, including procedures, control inventories, issue tracking, committee materials, risk assessment documentation, and evidence of oversight and stakeholder review.
- Identify opportunities to improve compliance processes, reporting, technology, workflow, accountability, and governance to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the compliance function.
- Foster strong relationships across the Bank, Legal, Risk, Internal Audit, Operations, Technology, Marketing, Lending, Deposits, and other business areas to ensure compliance is integrated into business decision-making.
What roles will this employee lead?
This position provides direct leadership to the Bank Compliance function and is responsible for developing a high-performing team capable of supporting the Bank’s current and future compliance needs. The Chief Compliance Officer is expected to coach team members, strengthen technical and leadership capability, clarify roles and responsibilities, improve accountability, and create development plans that support both individual growth and compliance program maturity.
This role may also provide indirect oversight, guidance, or effective challenge to employees across the Bank who own compliance-related processes, controls, reporting, or remediation activities.
What skills and qualifications does this employee need?
Education
- Bachelor’s degree required in business, finance, accounting, legal studies, risk management, compliance, or a related field.
- Advanced degree preferred but not required.
Work Experience
- 10+ years of progressive banking, compliance, risk, audit, legal, or regulatory experience required.
- Experience leading or materially strengthening a bank compliance management system required.
- Prior experience in a community bank, regional bank, or similarly regulated financial institution strongly preferred.
- Experience supporting a growing or increasingly complex bank environment preferred.
- Prior regulatory examination management experience required.
- Previous regulatory, examiner, audit, or second-line risk experience strongly preferred.
- 7+ years demonstrated experience leading teams, coaching employees, developing talent, and building team capability required.
- Experience communicating with executive leadership, board members, regulators, auditors, and senior business leaders required.
Certifications
Preferred certifications include one or more of the following:
- Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager, CRCM
- Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist, CAMS
- Certified Bank Compliance Officer, CBCO
- Certified Internal Auditor, CIA
- Certified Public Accountant, CPA
- Certified Regulatory and Compliance Professional, CRCP
- Other banking, risk, audit, or compliance-related certifications
Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
- Strong working knowledge of federal and state banking laws, regulations, regulatory guidance, and supervisory expectations.
- Demonstrated ability to build, mature, and sustain a risk-based compliance management system.
- Strong understanding of consumer compliance requirements, including fair lending, UDAAP, HMDA, ECOA, TILA, FCRA, CRA, privacy, deposit regulations, lending compliance, marketing compliance, and complaint management.
- Working knowledge of BSA/AML program governance, oversight, escalation, reporting, and regulatory expectations.
- Proven ability to lead regulatory examinations, coordinate responses, manage findings, and communicate effectively with regulators.
- Strong leadership, coaching, and talent development skills, including the ability to set expectations, provide feedback, hold team members accountable, and build confidence and capability across the compliance function.
- Ability to influence senior leaders and business partners through credibility, sound judgment, practical recommendations, and effective challenge.
- Ability to translate complex regulatory requirements into practical, business-relevant guidance.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to prepare executive-level and board-level reporting.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to identify root causes, evaluate risk, recommend controls, and monitor remediation.
- Demonstrated ability to assess compliance risks, evaluate control effectiveness, and prioritize work based on risk.
- Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities, deadlines, examinations, audits, projects, and stakeholder expectations.
- Ability to balance regulatory expectations, business needs, operational realities, and customer impact.
- High integrity, sound judgment, discretion, and ability to handle confidential and sensitive information.
- Demonstrated commitment to continuous improvement, process maturity, operational discipline, and strong governance.
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