US Risk Manager Job Description:Skills, Responsibilities, and Salary Trends

37% of organizations across the world experienced disruptions to their business operations that impacted their supply chain processes due to other vulnerabilities in the last year. This leads to impacting finances and disrupting operations in businesses. Given the high level of impact that organizations face due to the risks, they need to take precautionary measures to prevent them from happening again (or make sure they don't happen again in the first place). Risk management is an area that helps companies properly assess, assess, monitor and mitigate their risks.

SummaryWhat is a Risk Manager?Skills Required by a Risk ManagerRoles and Responsibilities of a Risk ManagerSalary TrendsCompanies Hiring Risk ManagerLast Thoughts

Risk management is increasingly in demand. Organizations adopt various risk management policies, principles and strategies to ensure that their valuable assets are protected and maintain all of their regulatory compliance requirements. A survey conducted by the Project Management Institute revealed that 27% of companies always use risk management strategies in their project, while 35% of organizations use them often. This growing demand for applicable risk management has given rise to the position of a risk manager in popularity.

This article discusses what a risk manager is, the skills required to become an effective risk manager, their roles and responsibilities, salary trends for risk managers, etc.

What is a Risk Manager?

A risk manager is, in short, someone who is in charge of risk management. This involves several factors. He may be responsible for managing organizational and business risks, as well as project risks. Risk management for an organization can include a variety of different activities for businesses. These may include managing a team of risk professionals responsible for assessing the risks to an organization, understanding the risk appetite of the business, and coming up with different solutions and strategies to resolve issues. /P>

Risk managers must have experience in working in the management position as well as an undergraduate degree. Depending on the industry they work for, they must be experts in their field. Although not required, it is strongly recommended that risk managers obtain a risk management certification or a PMP certification in the United States to gain more expertise in the field and manage their work more effectively.

Skills required by a risk manager

Risk managers need to develop several technical and soft skills for their role. Technical expertise can be obtained by completing various certifications in IT security and governance and risk management, as well as their training. Some of the skills required for a risk manager are:

• An undergraduate or graduate degree in the field of management, business studies, risk management, law, finance, statistics or engineering
• Strong communication skills
• Professional experience as a project manager
• Leadership Skills
• Presentation Abilities
• Analytical Skills
• Attention to detail
• Collaborative Skills
• Tech Skills
• Extensive knowledge of MS Office
• A clear understanding of the organization's business objectives
• Work experience with management and risk management
• Research Skills
• Knowledge of compliance, laws and regulations
• Expertise in handling sensitive information
• Team Management Skills
• The ability to adapt to changing situations
• Can work in stressful situations
• Adaptable in nature
• Skills in building and executing strategies

Roles and responsibilities of a risk manager

The role of risk manager comes with many responsibilities. Some of the aspects of the business that a risk manager is considered responsible for are:

• Create accurate risk assessments for the project or organization as a whole
• Develop an end-to-end risk management strategy and implement it
• Create reports to assess the impact of risk if it occurs
• Understanding and assessing the different risks
• Manage the organization's risk appetite
• Create budgets and financial plans in line with risk appetite and business risk assessment
• Creation of regular risk reports for the company and stakeholders
• Explain different types of risks and vulnerabilities to different stakeholders
• Work with the insurance team to develop a risk management plan
• Create a detailed plan to ensure business continuity should risks arise
• Implement all security measures across the company to minimize risk. This may include security measures to ensure the physical security of all company assets and resources, as well as security measures to ensure the security of all digital and cloud assets of the organization
• Ensure that the organization maintains regulatory compliance in all aspects to avoid losses to the business in the form of fines
• Work with the audit team and create regular compliance reports
• Keep records of all risk management processes and policies in the organization
• Implement all risk management strategies in a project or company-wide and update regularly to keep strategies relevant
• Raise awareness of all project team members and all members of the organization
• Troubleshoot all issues and resolve them in the most efficient way possible
• Working with teams to eliminate all types of corporate liability

Salary Trends

The average risk manager salary is estimated to be over $115,047 each year. If risk managers are certified, they have a chance to get a raise in salary and grow and advance in their career opportunities.

Companies Recruiting Risk Manager

Some of the industries that require the role of a risk manager to implement and execute risk management strategies are:

• Health Industry
• Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard or PCI-DSS Industry
• Energy and Utilities Industry
• The banking industry
• Financial sector
• Asset Management
• Computer industry
• Software Development
• Transport Industry
• Securities Industry
• Cybersecurity Industry

The industries mentioned above have the absolute need for risk management strategies. Many other fields and industries have businesses that require an effective risk manager, such as retail, advertising, marketing, digital currencies, etc. Any organization that works with any form of risk should ideally work towards developing a risk management strategy.

Suppose companies cannot work with full-time risk managers. In this case, they may also periodically engage risk managers on a project basis to ensure that all of their operations and systems are compliant and that the strategies they have in place are sound.

Last thoughts

A risk manager is someone responsible for ensuring that the business is compliant and secure in terms of internal and external threats. This is a big responsibility, which is why organizations opt for trained professionals with expertise and experience to manage their risks.

Risk management and governance certifications can help working professionals upskill and create more work opportunities. For organizations, a risk management certification can provide the assurance they need to ensure that all their processes, projects, applications and systems remain protected against all types of risks.