At the American Cancer Society, we're working to end cancer as we know it, for everyone. Our employees and 1.3 million volunteers are raising the bar every single day. We are a culture comprised of diverse backgrounds and experience, to better serve our communities.
The people who work at the American Cancer Society focus their diverse talents on our lifesaving mission. It is a calling. And the people who answer it are fulfilled.
This position is fully remote, with flexibility to work from anywhere in the U.S.
The Director, Compliance & Ethics leads the design, implementation, and continuous improvement of the American Cancer Society’s enterprise compliance and ethics program. This role is responsible for directing the strategic vision, governance structure, and operational execution of compliance initiatives that ensure adherence to applicable laws, regulations, and ethical standards across the organization, while fostering a culture of integrity, accountability, and ethical decision-making aligned with ACS’s mission.
This role serves as a strategic partner, providing oversight of compliance frameworks, risk assessments, policy governance, training, investigations, and monitoring activities across the organization.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:
Compliance Program Leadership (25%)
- Develop, implement, and oversee an effective ethics and compliance program, including maintaining and enforcing compliance policies and procedures.
- Work with relevant compliance risk owners/experts across the organization to ensure that all policies, procedures, systems and activities support compliance and ethical behavior.
- Continuously review and improve ethics and compliance programs and their effectiveness to adapt to changes in laws, regulations, and organizational needs, and to evolve with emerging trends and best practices.esign, implement, and maintain a comprehensive compliance and ethics program aligned with regulatory expectations and leading practices (e.g., DOJ, OIG guidance).
Compliance Risk Assessment, Mitigation & Monitoring (20%)
- Partner with internal risk management professionals to conduct regular risk assessments to identify compliance risk or ethical concerns.
- Work with other departments to identify potential compliance risks and advise on corrective action plans and mitigation strategies.
- Develop and leverage a compliance council to support compliance monitoring, collaboration on risk mitigation and champion compliance.
Ethics Program Leadership, Policy Management & Governance (20%)
- Provide oversight of the ethics reporting program, including hotline operations and case management.
- Direct investigations into ethics concerns, ensuring fairness, confidentiality, and timely resolution.
- Ensure consistent, fair, and well-documented investigative processes and outcomes.
- Manage the lifecycle of enterprise compliance and ethics-related policies, including drafting, review, approval, communication, and updates.
- Ensure policies are aligned with legal requirements, risk management priorities, and organizational standards.
- Maintain centralized policy repository and governance processes.
Training and Awareness (15%)
- Design and deliver compliance and ethics training programs to educate team members, volunteers, leadership and board members on ethical standards, compliance requirements, and reporting mechanisms.
- Create engaging annual compliance and ethics awareness campaigns, educational materials and communication strategies to reinforce compliance culture.
- Provide guidance and support to team members on ethical dilemmas and compliance-related issues.
- Monitor training and education effectiveness and adjust based on emerging risks.
Data, Reporting and Investigations (15%)
- Oversee and manage the ACS confidential hotline and other effective, confidential and accessible mechanisms for reporting of potential ethics and compliance concerns.
- Manage and enhance an internal investigations program, including oversight of case management and ensuring investigations are conducted consistently, effectively and timely.
- Direct and support compliance and ethics investigations and coordinate responses to external government inquiries, as needed.
- Design and oversee compliance and ethics-related data collection and reporting/dashboarding (including KPIs, dashboards and metrics) to analyze trends and key performance indicators and provide data-driven insights to evaluate program effectiveness and identify areas for improvement. (e.g., hotline activity, training completion, audit findings).
- Prepare and present regular reports on ethics and compliance program performance, activities, investigations, and any identified issues to senior leadership
Cross-Functional Leadership (5%)
- Partner with Legal, Risk Management, HR, Finance, IT, and Internal Audit to ensure coordinated compliance efforts.
- Support regulatory inquiries, audits, and investigations.
- Represent compliance in enterprise initiatives, including digital transformation and data governance.
- Perform other duties, as assigned.
EXPERIENCE/QUALIFICATIONS:
- Minimum Degree Required: Bachelor's Degree
- Preferred Degree: Master's Degree or Juris Doctorate Degree
- Certificate(s) or License(s): Professional compliance certification is highly preferred (e.g., Certified Compliance & Ethics Professional – CCEP)
- Years of experience: At least 6-10 years of experience in ethics and compliance, or a combination of compliance and legal experience, preferably with a focus on non-profit or similar mission-driven organizations.
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITY:
- Knowledge of relevant compliance regulations and standards, including compliance frameworks, and preferably knowledge of non-profit laws and regulations, fundraising laws, grant management, federal and state tax laws, privacy and data security laws, and financial reporting.
- Proven experience in developing, implementing and continuously improving compliance programs, policies and procedures, creating and conducting effective training, cultivating a compliance culture, and investigating ethical violations.
- Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to motivate, influence and collaborate with senior leadership, team members, and external stakeholders and make complex concepts easier to understand.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to identify underlying issues in complex situations or areas for improvement in controls, systems and processes, and resolve problems creatively and effectively with practical recommendations.
- Expertise analyzing multiple data sets and the ability to identify and summarize data trends and generate meaningful insights for stakeholders while still seeing the big picture.
- Excellent organizational and project management skills, and detail oriented with the ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously and meet deadlines.
- Strong leadership skills and ability to implement strategies and meet goals with limited supervision, with sound judgment to balance risks in ambiguous and complex situations and escalate matters appropriately.
- A high degree of integrity, professionalism, and discretion in handling sensitive information.
- Flexibility to work independently and in team based collaborative environments.
- Experience with Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and working with GRC platforms, data tools and document repositories.
TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS:
- Periodic travel required for meetings, trainings, conferences, investigations etc. Approximately 5-15% travel per year.
PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:
The starting rate is $130,000 to $140,000. The final candidate's relevant experience/skills will be considered before an offer is extended. Actual starting pay will vary based on non-discriminatory factors including, but not limited to, geographic location, experience, skills, specialty, and education.
ACS provides staff a generous paid time off policy; medical, dental, retirement benefits, wellness programs, and professional development programs to enhance staff skills. Further details on our benefits can be found on our careers site at: jobs.cancer.org/benefits. We are a proud equal opportunity employer.
