Untitled

Properties

title: AI Governance Lead
family: governance
maturity: growing
owns: Operationalizes an enterprise AI governance program, owning policy, risk assessment across the AI lifecycle, vendor review, and regulatory readiness (NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 42001, EU AI Act).
skills: [AI risk frameworks (NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 42001)][EU AI Act and GDPR compliance][AI policy and documentation authoring][third-party/vendor AI risk assessment][executive reporting and stakeholder alignment][change management for governance adoption]
pay: low: 184000
high: 219000
currency: USD
basis: base
seniority: lead
distinctFrom: Unlike a general GRC or privacy officer, this role governs probabilistic AI systems specifically (model risk, evals, agent behavior) against AI-specific regulation, and increasingly reports risk directly to executive leadership.
source: Axial Search AI governance salaries analysis (median $169,000; senior-IC P25-P75 $184K-$219K)
notes: Pay refreshed 2026-08-22: Axial Search's analysis was updated (insights page 'Updated: August 4, 2026') and now covers 1,997 US postings since January 2026 (was 146). The previously cited middle-80% band ($156K-$219K, median $158,750) is no longer published; the current headline is 'The median AI governance salary is $169,000.' The companion salaries page's percentile table gives IC (Senior) P25-P75 of $184,000-$219,000, IC (Mid) P25-P75 of $135,000-$235,000, and Manager P25-P75 of $212,000-$265,000 (median $244,000); the full posted range runs from $66,000 (P5, junior IC) to $330,000 (P95, C-suite). Pay band set to the senior-IC P25-P75 as the closest match to this lead-level entry; flagged approximate because the band is a percentile slice of posted ranges, not offers. Director and VP roles reach higher.

Provenance

Source: https://axialsearch.com/insights/ai-governance-salaries/

Properties

title

AI Governance Lead

family

governance

maturity

growing

owns

Operationalizes an enterprise AI governance program, owning policy, risk assessment across the AI lifecycle, vendor review, and regulatory readiness (NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 42001, EU AI Act).

skills

[AI risk frameworks (NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 42001)][EU AI Act and GDPR compliance][AI policy and documentation authoring][third-party/vendor AI risk assessment][executive reporting and stakeholder alignment][change management for governance adoption]

pay

low: 184000

high: 219000

currency: USD

basis: base

seniority

lead

distinctFrom

Unlike a general GRC or privacy officer, this role governs probabilistic AI systems specifically (model risk, evals, agent behavior) against AI-specific regulation, and increasingly reports risk directly to executive leadership.

source

Axial Search AI governance salaries analysis (median $169,000; senior-IC P25-P75 $184K-$219K)

notes

Pay refreshed 2026-08-22: Axial Search's analysis was updated (insights page 'Updated: August 4, 2026') and now covers 1,997 US postings since January 2026 (was 146). The previously cited middle-80% band ($156K-$219K, median $158,750) is no longer published; the current headline is 'The median AI governance salary is $169,000.' The companion salaries page's percentile table gives IC (Senior) P25-P75 of $184,000-$219,000, IC (Mid) P25-P75 of $135,000-$235,000, and Manager P25-P75 of $212,000-$265,000 (median $244,000); the full posted range runs from $66,000 (P5, junior IC) to $330,000 (P95, C-suite). Pay band set to the senior-IC P25-P75 as the closest match to this lead-level entry; flagged approximate because the band is a percentile slice of posted ranges, not offers. Director and VP roles reach higher.