Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Integrity Manager

🎯 Role Definition

The Integrity Manager is a senior compliance and ethics professional responsible for designing, operating and continuously improving the organization's integrity program. This role leads complex investigations, manages third‑party risk and due diligence, builds durable policies and controls, oversees whistleblower/case management systems, and partners with legal, HR, finance and business leaders to remediate issues and mitigate reputational and regulatory risk. The ideal candidate combines strong investigative judgment, program management, regulatory knowledge (e.g., FCPA, UK Bribery Act, anti-money laundering and data privacy regimes), and proven stakeholder influence to drive a proactive culture of ethics and compliance across global operations.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Senior Compliance Analyst or Investigator
Corporate Counsel / Legal Counsel with compliance focus
Anti‑Fraud/AML Specialist or Internal Audit Senior

Advancement To:

Head of Integrity & Compliance / Compliance Director
Chief Compliance Officer (CCO)
Head of Ethics, Risk & Controls

Lateral Moves:

Internal Audit Lead (forensics focus)
Head of Third‑Party Risk Management
Data Privacy or Regulatory Affairs Lead

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead and manage complex internal investigations into alleged misconduct, fraud, bribery, conflicts of interest, data privacy breaches or other integrity-related issues from intake through closure, ensuring thorough evidence collection, chain of custody, appropriate interviewing, documentation and defensible conclusions.
Own and operate the whistleblower intake and case management program (hotline, portal and triage) to ensure timely assessment, assignment, investigation progress tracking, and confidential handling of sensitive matters.
Design, implement and continuously enhance company-wide integrity policies, codes of conduct, anti-bribery and corruption procedures, and related standards to ensure alignment with global regulatory requirements and best practices.
Conduct risk-based due diligence of third parties, agents, consultants and joint venture partners—documenting risk profiles, remediation plans, contract clauses and escalation recommendations for high-risk relationships.
Develop and maintain a risk-based integrity monitoring and testing program including regular controls testing, transaction monitoring, red-flag analysis and root-cause assessments to identify compliance gaps and control weaknesses.
Coordinate cross-functional remediation efforts after investigations or audits, working with HR, Legal, Finance and Business Units to implement corrective action plans, disciplinary measures and systemic improvements.
Serve as the primary liaison for regulators, external counsel and law enforcement when integrity investigations have regulatory or legal implications; prepare regulatory filings and supporting documentation as required.
Provide pragmatic, business-focused compliance advice to senior leadership and regional teams on high-risk transactions, market entry, third-party engagements and politically exposed persons (PEPs).
Maintain and report integrity KPIs and dashboards to executive leadership and the Board’s Audit & Risk or Ethics Committee, translating data into actionable insights and trend analysis.
Oversee vendor and contract reviews to ensure appropriate compliance clauses (anti-corruption, audit rights, sanctions screening, data protection) and manage remediation negotiations with suppliers and partners.
Lead training and communications on ethics and integrity topics—designing targeted training modules, simulated scenarios, leader-led sessions and awareness campaigns to drive adoption and behavioral change.
Manage and optimize the case management system and GRC tools used for intake, investigation workflow, sanctions screening, remediation tracking and record retention; ensure data integrity and auditability.
Perform periodic integrity risk assessments across jurisdictions and product lines, scoring exposures and recommending prioritized mitigation strategies and control owners.
Supervise and mentor junior investigators, analysts and integrity specialists, including workload assignment, performance feedback, competency development and career coaching.
Collaborate with Internal Audit to coordinate testing of internal controls implicated by integrity incidents and to avoid duplication of effort in investigative and audit activities.
Execute enhanced due diligence and transaction screening (including sanctions, adverse media and PEP screening) for high-risk customers, counterparties and strategic transactions.
Draft and present investigation reports, legal memoranda and executive summaries with clear findings, evidence, legal analysis and practical remediation recommendations tailored to both legal and business audiences.
Support M&A and strategic transaction diligence by evaluating target company integrity risks, uncovered litigation history, regulatory exposures and recommended protections in acquisition agreements.
Build and maintain relationships with business unit leaders, regional compliance partners, HR, legal and finance to embed integrity considerations into operational decision-making.
Develop and administer a remediation tracking framework to ensure timely closure of corrective actions, evidence collection, root-cause verification and periodic follow-up testing.
Lead cross-border coordination for multi-jurisdictional investigations, balancing local labor and data privacy laws while maintaining investigative integrity and consistent standards.
Design and maintain investigation playbooks, interview guides, evidence protocols and standard operating procedures to ensure consistent, defensible and legally compliant investigations.
Identify program improvements driven by data analytics and process automation; partner with IT and data teams to implement workflow automation, case trending analytics and improved reporting capabilities.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
Participate in cross-functional working groups (privacy, security, finance) to ensure integrity considerations are integrated into enterprise initiatives.
Represent the integrity team on periodic policy reviews, contract negotiations and ethical sourcing initiatives.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Compliance program design and governance (policy writing, program rollout, monitoring).
Conducting complex investigations and case management end-to-end.
Third‑party risk management and enhanced due diligence (EDD) processes.
Knowledge of anti-corruption laws and standards (FCPA, UK Bribery Act, OECD Guidance).
Sanctions screening, adverse media checks and PEP screening techniques.
Experience with GRC and case management platforms (e.g., RSA Archer, MetricStream, NAVEX, Convercent) and whistleblower tools.
Data analysis for compliance (Excel advanced functions, Power BI/Tableau, basic SQL for extraction and trend analysis).
Familiarity with AML/CFT frameworks, KYC processes and transaction monitoring where applicable.
Regulatory reporting and interaction experience (preparing responses, maintaining audit trails).
Forensic evidence collection, interview techniques, chain-of-custody and documentation best practices.
Contract review for compliance clauses and negotiation support on mitigation language.
Project management skills (creating remediation plans, tracking remediation SLAs and deliverables).
Knowledge of privacy laws (GDPR, CCPA) as they relate to cross‑border investigations and data handling.
Experience leveraging analytics and process automation to scale monitoring and case handling.

Soft Skills

High personal integrity, sound judgment and discretion handling sensitive and confidential matters.
Strong verbal and written communication skills with ability to translate technical risk into business-friendly recommendations.
Influencing and stakeholder management across senior leaders, regional teams and cross-functional partners.
Analytical mindset with capability to synthesize complex facts and make pragmatic decisions under pressure.
Emotional intelligence and resilience when conducting interviews and managing contentious matters.
Bias-for-action mindset combined with attention to detail and documentation rigor.
Leadership and people development skills to coach investigators and build a high-performing integrity team.
Conflict resolution and negotiation skills to manage remediation outcomes with HR, legal and business units.
Organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple high-priority investigations concurrently.
Cultural sensitivity and ability to operate effectively in multi-jurisdictional environments.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Law, Business Administration, Finance, Accounting, Criminal Justice or related field.

Preferred Education:

JD (law degree), Master’s in Compliance, MBA or related advanced degree.
Professional certifications such as CCEP (Certified Compliance & Ethics Professional), CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner), CAMS (Certified Anti‑Money Laundering Specialist) or equivalent.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Law
Business / Management
Finance / Accounting
Criminal Justice / Forensic Accounting
Risk Management / Governance
Information Security / Data Privacy

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 5–10 years in compliance, investigations, internal audit, legal or anti-fraud roles with at least 2–4 years leading investigations or managing integrity programs.

Preferred:

7+ years of progressive experience in corporate compliance, investigations or third‑party risk functions.
Demonstrable experience running multi-jurisdictional investigations, interacting with regulators, and implementing global integrity controls.
Prior experience in heavily regulated industries (financial services, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, energy) and familiarity with cross-border data protection and employment laws.