7 Strategic Moves to Advance Your GRC Career

Introduction

In the dynamic field of GRC, evolving professionally often means stepping out of your comfort zone and into a new job—at your current organization or elsewhere.

We created this overview to give GRC practitioners insight into several common moves they might make, both in job scope and company type. 

Use this guide as a starting point to align your career moves with your professional growth objectives.

Professional Moves

<span class="blue-box-span"> What’s your current focus, and where would you like to see yourself professionally in 18 months? Explore these key GRC career moves and learn how they can enhance your expertise and advance your position in the field. </span>

1. Compliance Management to Risk Management

While compliance is fundamentally about ensuring adherence to laws, regulations, and standards, moving into risk shifts the focus toward forecasting, evaluating, and mitigating potential threats that could impact organizational objectives. This shift broadens your perspective and enhances your ability to contribute to your organization's resilience and strategic decision-making. Embracing this change requires the ability to analyze, quantify, and prioritize risks based on ever evolving models. This skill set is increasingly invaluable in today's fast-paced and uncertain business environment.

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2. Commercial Compliance to Federal Compliance

Transitioning from a focus on commercial compliance standards like SOC, PCI, and ISO to federal frameworks such as FedRAMP, IRAP, and FISMA represents a significant shift in the scope and complexity of compliance efforts. This move involves navigating a more stringent and detailed landscape of regulations designed to protect national security and public sector information. Professionals making this transition must adapt to heightened scrutiny and a broader range of controls, reflecting the unique risks and requirements associated with the federal sector. Mastery of these federal compliance frameworks demands a deep understanding of specific regulatory requirements and an ability to interact effectively with government agencies or consultants and adapt to their rigorous assessment and continuous monitoring processes. This shift opens up opportunities to contribute to critical projects that directly impact revenues, requiring a nuanced understanding of the interplay between technology and policy.

3. Governance & Policies to GRC Engineering

Pivoting from defining, implementing, and monitoring policies and procedures that guide organizational behavior to the technical deployment and monitoring of GRC controls through code is a big step. As a GRC engineer, you will deliver impact by leveraging technology to streamline compliance, detect and mitigate risks more effectively, and ensure that governance policies are embedded within the operational layer of the organization. This role requires a blend of technical skills, including scripting, the use of APIs, and data analytics, alongside a deep understanding of control implementation. Embracing this change opens the door to the technical side of security teams (e.g., security engineer) or business functions (e.g., business intelligence).

4. IC/Project Manager to Team Leader

As an individual contributor (IC) or project manager, your primary focus is likely centered on executing specific tasks or managing projects within defined parameters. However, transitioning into a team leader role significantly broadens your scope to guiding a team toward achieving broader GRC objectives. A leadership position demands a solid understanding of GRC principles, strong interpersonal skills, and a leadership approach that motivates, mentors, and aligns your team's efforts with the organization's strategic goals. The shift from working on tasks to empowering others to excel in their roles involves fostering a collaborative environment and driving continuous improvement in GRC practices. Advancing in this direction opens opportunities for a significant impact, as you influence not only the direction and efficiency of your team's operations but also earn a seat at the table to affect the overall strategy of the company's GRC program.

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Company Moves

<span class="blue-box-span"> Identify the type of professional environment best suited to your GRC career growth objectives.</span>

1. Private to Public Sector

Practitioners who step into the public arena must adapt to the rigorous demands of transparency, accountability, and regulatory compliance that define the landscape. Regardless of the specific GRC focus, deepening one's understanding of the broader regulatory environment—including mastering the intricacies of SEC and SCC rulings and filings—is crucial for navigating the challenges ahead. Moreover, given the increased scrutiny and the necessity of safeguarding shareholder interests, effective risk management becomes the guiding principle in every decision. This transition offers an opportunity to leverage your expertise on a larger scale and introduce innovation into established GRC processes.

2. SaaS Providers to Traditional Industries

In transitioning from the fast-paced, innovation-driven world of SaaS providers to more established sectors such as Healthcare, Financial Services, Energy, or Travel, GRC practitioners must adapt their approach to meet the distinct regulatory landscapes, risk profiles, and corporate processes. Traditional industries often come with a lengthy history of regulatory requirements, necessitating a deep dive into the specific laws, guidelines, and practices governing each sector. For instance, while SOC 2 may be table stakes for all SaaS providers, Healthcare demands strict adherence to patient privacy laws and data security standards, Financial Services are bound by complex financial regulations, and the Energy and Travel sectors face their own set of compliance and environmental considerations. This transition requires practitioners to leverage their tech-savvy backgrounds to streamline GRC processes, introduce digital transformations, and navigate the nuanced complexities of each regional industry. By understanding the unique challenges and leveraging their expertise, GRC professionals can drive significant improvements within these traditional sectors, ultimately contributing to their resilience and success.

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3. On-Prem (mostly) to Cloud-First Environments

Cloud environments introduce new dynamics in architecture governance, privacy, and cybersecurity risks. GRC Professionals must become adept at leveraging cloud-specific frameworks and tools to ensure a robust program capable of addressing dynamic and potentially drastic changes overnight. Moreover, cloud services' ephemeral and distributed nature necessitates a proactive approach to risk assessment, emphasizing continuous monitoring and real-time threat detection. Embracing a cloud-first strategy also involves fostering a culture of security awareness and compliance across all levels of the organization, ensuring that cloud adoption enhances, rather than compromises, the company’s risk posture. For GRC practitioners, this move is not just about adapting to new technologies but about enabling an efficient GRC program.

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