Compliance Associate

About Betterment

Betterment is a leading, technology-driven financial services company that offers investing, savings and retirement solutions for retail investors and investment advisors as well as financial wellness solutions, including a 401(k) for small and medium-sized businesses. Our team is passionate about our mission, to empower people to build wealth with confidence and ease.  We’re headquartered in NYC and offer hybrid NY-based positions (four days/ week in-office, with no required office days during the summer and winter holidays).

About the Role

You're a natural systems thinker who gets energized by turning complex, ambiguous requirements into something clean and usable. In this role, you'll sit at the intersection of regulatory compliance and operational execution — taking dense regulatory frameworks and translating them into workflows, procedures, and documentation that the rest of the business can actually act on.

This isn't just a "keep the lights on" compliance role. You'll be building and maintaining the structural backbone of Betterment's compliance programs — designing how processes work, not just following them.

This role is based out of our NYC office, with in-office attendance required Monday through Thursday. Salary range is disclosed per NYC requirements; actual compensation varies based on experience and performance. 

This role is based out of our NYC office. Below we've reflected the base salary range for this position. Actual salaries may vary depending on factors including but not limited to location, experience, and performance. The range listed is just one component of Betterment’s total compensation package for employees. 

• New York City: $90,000 - $105,000

A Day in the Life:

• Translate SEC and FINRA regulatory requirements into clear, actionable compliance workflows and process documentation
• Design and maintain compliance program infrastructure — building and managing workflows in tools like Jira and Claude to track, route, and execute compliance processes at scale
• Build and maintain procedures, process maps, and control documentation that are accurate, readable, and built to scale
• Identify where compliance processes break down or create friction, and propose structured solutions
• Partner with teams across the business to implement compliance requirements in ways that are practical and well-understood
• Support day-to-day program management across a range of compliance workstreams, keeping processes moving

What We’re Looking For:

• 1–2 years of experience in compliance, operations, program management, or a related field
• A systems-oriented mindset — you naturally want to understand how things work end-to-end, and you notice when something's missing or misaligned
• Strong documentation instincts: you write clearly, organize logically, and leave processes better than you found them
• Comfort with ambiguity — you can take a messy regulatory requirement or undefined workflow and find the through-line
• Attention to detail without losing sight of the bigger picture
• Ability to work across business units and communicate compliance requirements without the jargon
• Curiosity about how technical systems and process flows are built, and a willingness to roll up your sleeves on the structural elements of program design

Join a team built on these core values

We change lives

Be a part of a community of innovators working to transform financial outcomes for real people. Your work will make an impact, always laddering up to our mission; to empower people to build wealth with confidence and ease.

We set audacious goals

We set them for the company, our customers, and ourselves, and we won’t stop until we reach them. We don’t just show up; we give our all, then celebrate our wins.

We value all perspectives

When we collaborate, we're at our best. We believe diverse perspectives lead to better outcomes and strive to uphold our supportive and inclusive community.

We simplify financial services

We’re financial services pioneers, always finding new ways to improve, optimize, and enhance. Constant improvement is in our DNA.

Our Commitment to Your Total Well-being:

• We offer a competitive suite of benefits, including medical, dental, and vision coverage; life and AD&D insurance; short- and long-term disability; infertility support and WPATH-aligned transgender health benefits; an Employee Assistance Program (EAP); transit benefits and FSA and HSA options
• Ownership: Equity for all employees, including new hire and refresher grants.
• Time: Flexible paid time off, paid parental leave, and a fully paid four-week sabbatical in your sixth year.
• Growth: Company-paid professional coaching for all employees.
• Wealth: Day-one 401(k) match plus matching on qualified student loan payments.

What happens next

We’ll take a few weeks to review all applications. If we’d like to spend more time with you, we’ll reach out to arrange next steps, which will include 3-4 sets of meetings with your future colleagues.

In the interview process, we’ll look to learn more about your skills, experiences, capabilities, and motivators. Many of our questions will be aimed at understanding how you might operate here at Betterment. Depending on the role, we may ask you to complete a case study exercise or technical assessments, as we want to collect a robust set of data points to better inform our decisions.

On average, it takes us around 3-5 weeks to make a hiring decision, depending on your availability and sense of urgency. As a best practice, we aim to interview at least 2-3 final round candidates before making a hiring decision. Please note that, as we usually receive an overwhelming number of  applications for open positions, we’re unable to offer individual feedback during the interview process. 

We recognize that interviewing for a new role is a big deal. We appreciate you considering Betterment as the next step in your career, and our Recruiting Team is here to support and advocate for you through the interview process!

Betterment is dedicated to providing accommodations to candidates upon request. If you need accommodations at any point throughout the interview process, please reach out to your recruiter. 

Please note that in any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.

Come join us! 

We’re an equal opportunity employer and comply with all applicable federal, state, and local fair employment practices laws. We strictly prohibit and do not tolerate discrimination against employees, applicants, or any other covered persons because of race, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, ethnicity, sex, gender (including gender nonconformity and status as a transgender or transsexual individual), sexual orientation, marital status, age, physical or mental disability, citizenship, past, current or prospective service in the uniformed services, predisposing genetic characteristic, domestic violence victim status, arrest records, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state or local law.