Compliance Lead
Compliance Manager, GRC Lead, Risk Manager
You're accountable for proving least privilege, but you don't control the systems.
The pain you're feeling
- Access reviews are checkbox exercises, not real risk management
- You can't get a clear answer on who has access to what, or why
- Audit findings keep coming back to fragmented access control
- You're dependent on engineering teams who have other priorities
Your first 30 days
Map requirements to capabilities
Where does the policy say you need fine-grained access control, decision logging, or explainability? Document the regulatory requirements.
Document the gaps
Identify what you can and can't prove to an auditor—not technically, but in terms of evidence and confidence.
Find your ally
This isn't a problem you can solve alone. Partner with security or architecture leadership who can champion the technical work.
Frame the business risk
What's the cost of an audit finding? A breach with no explainability? A customer lost because you can't meet their access requirements?
Questions to ask internally
- Can we demonstrate least privilege for our most sensitive systems?
- How long does it take to produce access evidence for an audit?
- Do we have decision logs that show *why* access was granted or denied?
Traps to avoid
- Accepting "we have roles" as an answer—roles without governance are just labels
- Letting this stay in the "IT problem" bucket—it's a business risk issue
- Waiting for the next audit finding to push for change
When to go deeper
When you've identified the gaps and need help framing the business case, or when you're evaluating solutions against compliance-specific requirements.