ONGOING ENGAGEMENT // EMBEDDED PRINCIPAL
The Embedded Principal.
Compliance leadership on retainer. We hold the program, sit in the audit, and answer the security questionnaire, at a fraction of a full-time hire.
WHAT IT IS
A compliance principal on your team, not a vendor on your calendar.
A monthly retainer where we own the compliance program the way an internal leader would. We run the control calendar, keep evidence current, handle vendor and customer security reviews, and represent you to auditors. You get a named principal who knows your environment, not a rotating support queue.
WHO IT’S FOR
Teams who need the function, not the headcount.
You have a certification and now have to keep it alive.
Security questionnaires are landing on an engineer who should be shipping.
You need someone accountable in the room when the auditor asks.
A full-time compliance hire is a year or two away from making sense.
WHY IT MAKES SENSE
Compliance is a standing function with uneven demand.
The work never stops, but it does not fill a full-time seat either.
Some months are an audit. Most months are upkeep.
A retainer sizes the expertise to the actual curve instead of paying a salary against the peak.
You pay for the hours the program actually needs, and you are not carrying a salary through the quiet quarters between audits.
The cost matches the lift
Evidence and controls stay current month to month, so fieldwork is a review instead of a reconstruction.
Nothing goes stale
One named principal owns the outcome. Compliance stops landing on whichever engineer is closest to the questionnaire.
Someone is accountable
SCOPE OF THE SEAT
What the retainer covers.
Control operation
The monthly and quarterly control calendar runs on schedule, with evidence captured as it happens.
Evidence operation
Your platform stays current between audits, so fieldwork does not become a scramble.
Audit representation
We handle auditor requests, walkthroughs, and follow-ups directly. You stay out of the back and forth.
Questionnaires and reviews
Customer security reviews and vendor assessments answered by someone who knows the environment.
Risk and vendor register
Risks tracked, rated, and reviewed on a real cadence, not reconstructed the week before an audit.
Framework expansion
When a deal requires a new framework, we map the overlap and scope only the delta.
THREE LEVELS OF OWNERSHIP
Pick the expertise your current state needs.
STARTUP
Starting at
$1,400
per month // 8-10 hours
Strategic alignment and maintenance for early-stage teams holding a single framework.
- Monthly control and evidence review
- Security questionnaire support
- Quarterly posture report
GROWTH
Starting at
$2,100
per month // 12-16 hours
Active audit support, platform scaling, and vendor reviews for teams in or near an audit cycle.
- Everything in Startup
- Auditor liaison through fieldwork
- Vendor and subprocessor reviews
- Risk register ownership
SCALE
Starting at
$3,150
per month // 18-24 hours
Programmatic ownership for teams carrying multiple frameworks or enterprise contract load.
- Everything in Growth
- Multi-framework control mapping
- Enterprise deal desk support
- Board and investor reporting
Retainers begin after a Compliance Snapshot, or after any Runway engagement.
Three-month minimum, then month to month.
SCOPE OF THE SEAT
What the retainer replaces.
Full-time Hire
Savings: $145k / year
A dedicated compliance lead you have to recruit, onboard, and keep busy between audit cycles.
The right call once your program outgrows a retainer, and expensive before that.
Traditional Consultant
Savings: Varying project fee, then silence
A gap assessment, a deliverable, and an exit before anything is implemented.
You still own the remediation and the audit, and you still answer the questionnaires.
What you get instead.
Embedded Principal
Starting at $16.8k / year
The same function, sized to the work actually in front of you. A named principal who knows your environment, available the week you need them and not billed the weeks you do not.
Tell us what your program looks like today and we’ll scope the right tier. We respond within one business day.