Chief Compliance Officer / Head of Governance

Department: Governance, Ethics & Legal Council
Engagement Type: Senior Leadership — Non-Monetary Mission Role
Reports To: Board of Trustees / Founder Council

Role Overview & Strategic Intent

This is not a career move. It is an appointment to institutional stewardship.

The Trust is entering a phase where its long-term credibility, regulatory integrity, and internal discipline must be encoded into permanent systems — not held together by any single person's memory, relationships, or informal authority. We are seeking a Chief Compliance Officer / Head of Governance who will build the architecture of trust itself: the frameworks, protocols, and cultural disciplines that allow this organization to operate with integrity for decades beyond any individual's tenure, including their own.

This role carries real authority and real weight — but it exists entirely in service of the mission and the governing body, not as a platform for personal advancement. If you are seeking visibility, upside, or a stepping-stone, this is not your role. If you are seeking the rare prospect to build something structurally permanent and ethically uncompromising, read on.

Core Mission & Impact

Execution excellence in this role looks like invisibility of friction and permanence of structure: an organization where compliance is never a fire to fight because governance was built correctly the first time. Success is measured not by recognition, but by the absence of institutional failure — audits that pass without drama, conflicts that resolve through protocol rather than politics, and a governance framework so sound it requires no personal heroics to sustain.

Key Responsibilities & Ownership

Governance & Compliance

- Own the design, implementation, and continuous refinement of the Trust's full compliance framework (regulatory, fiduciary, ethical)
- Serve as the final internal checkpoint on matters of legal and regulatory risk,



escalating to the Board or external counsel per defined protocol
- Maintain and enforce conflict-of-interest, whistleblower, and ethical-conduct mechanisms across all levels of the organization
- Conduct and oversee regular audit cycles, risk assessments, and statutory filings with zero tolerance for procedural shortcuts

Operational Execution

- Advise the Founder Council and Board directly on governance risk, always through structured, documented channels
- Enforce compliance standards across cross-functional and volunteer teams with firmness, clarity, and diplomatic tact
- Manage relationships with external regulators, auditors, and legal counsel on behalf of the Trust
- Respond to compliance incidents with calm, protocol-driven resolution — never improvisation

System Building

- Design SOPs and governance documentation intended to function correctly with or without your direct involvement
- Build a succession-ready governance function: train, document, and structure such that institutional knowledge never depends on one individual
- Architect scalable compliance frameworks that anticipate the Trust's future growth in mission scope, geography, or complexity
- Establish internal training and onboarding systems that embed compliance culture organization-wide, not just at leadership level

Qualifications & Experience Prerequisites

- 15+ years in senior compliance, governance, legal, or regulatory leadership, ideally spanning regulated industries, government oversight bodies, or large institutional nonprofits




- Demonstrated experience operating under board/fiduciary oversight structures, not solely executive management
- Proven history of building compliance or governance frameworks from the ground up — not simply administering existing ones
- Direct experience navigating charity law, trust regulation, or equivalent nonprofit-specific compliance environments strongly preferred
- Verifiable record of long-tenure roles (5+ years average) reflecting genuine institutional commitment
- Comfortable and explicitly motivated to serve in a non-monetary, mission-first capacity — candidates should be prepared to discuss this motivation candidly and specifically

Culture, Governance & Working Principles

This role operates within a strict hierarchy of authority, and that structure is not incidental — it is core to the Trust's integrity model. You will be expected to:

- Defer absolutely to Board and Founder Council decisions once made through proper governance process, even where you have advised differently beforehand
- Escalate all material concerns through defined internal channels — never around them, never publicly, never informally
- Hold the mission and the institution above personal credit, visibility, or influence-building at every stage of your engagement
- Operate with the understanding that your success is measured by what continues functioning after you, not by what is attributed to you
- Embody absolute ethical consistency — the standard you enforce on others is the standard you will be held to without exception

We are not looking for a compliance administrator. We are looking for someone who has already proven, across a career, that they build things that last longer than their own involvement — and who finds that legacy more satisfying than any title could be.

If this describes your life's work rather than your next job, we want to hear from you.

Expected hours: 7.0 – 14.0 per week

Work Location: Remote

📌 Chief Compliance Officer / Head of Governance (Volunteer Role) (India)
🏢 Vandanam Organization
📍 India