750+ Legal & Compliance Jobs in Washington, DC

Government wage data shows a very high ceiling but a wide spread: the Washington metro legal occupation family had a $175,070 median annual wage and $189,490 mean in 2025; lawyers’ median was $195,190, while paralegals’ median was $81,590. Posted salary ranges in the local sample center on about $130k to $186k, with a broader 25th-75th band of about $90k to $250k.

Full September 2026 market report

Advertised pay

Across the 555 openings that disclose pay, the advertised range midpoint runs $92,500 at the 25th percentile, $152,500 at the median and $207,500 at the 75th. These are advertised ranges, not earned pay.

Active openings as of October 15, 2026

Senior roles | Entry level | Remote | Posted this week

Live from the Callings.ai index of over 13 million postings, refreshed hourly and re-checked here nightly. Roles that close are dropped at the next refresh.

Showing 30 of 250+ openings.

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What our analysts see this month

Competitive market | next 3-6 months

This is a competitive but still workable market over the next 3-6 months. Washington-area unemployment was 3.8% in August 2026, and the local sample still showed more than 1,100 Legal, Compliance & Risk postings across more than 550 companies, but metro nonfarm employment was down -1.9610% year over year and professional and business services was down -2.1022%, which points to selective hiring rather than broad expansion. Demand is strongest where you can show a clear specialty—recent D.C. hiring has clustered around antitrust, investigations, national security, healthcare transactions, complex commercial outsourcing, and public-policy-adjacent work. The upside is high pay, but access is uneven: the market skews mid-career, mostly on-site or hybrid, and remote openings are scarce.

Best positioned: Candidates with the best odds right now are mid-career lawyers, compliance managers, or contracts and regulatory specialists who can market one defined practice lane and show D.C.-relevant subject-matter depth.

Main caution: Do not mistake Washington's reputation for a universally open market; only about 10% of local postings are entry level, and paralegal and legal assistant employment nationally is projected to show little or no change over 2024-2034.

From the September 2026 market report

Who is hiring here

Counted across all 759 openings in this market. 10 of the employers below are hiring for more than one role right now.

1. Joinleyla: 64 open roles
2. Amazon: 15 open roles
3. Offices-to-go: 13 open roles
4. Amentum Holdings, Inc.: 9 open roles
5. CACI International Inc.: 9 open roles
6. Dcbar: 9 open roles
7. Stattorney: 9 open roles
8. Capital One Group: 8 open roles
9. DC Department of Human Resources: 8 open roles
10. KBR, Inc.: 8 open roles

Where the openings are

• Washington: 383
• Baltimore: 63
• Arlington: 39
• McLean: 30
• Fairfax: 28
• New York: 16
• Alexandria: 15
• Reston: 12

Work arrangement

on-site 458 (62%), hybrid 237 (32%), remote 46 (6%)

Where the demand is

BLS data shows legal occupations accounted for 2.2% of metro employment in May 2025, and the metro legal occupational group counted 68,280 jobs on the annual 2025 measure. The current posting sample showed more than 1,100 openings across more than 550 companies, and hiring was fragmented rather than concentrated in a few dominant employers. By industry, activity is concentrated in legal services (about 30%), law practice (about 15%), legal (about 15%), software development (about 15%), and government and public sector (about 5%). The freshest demand signals are specialty-led rather than broad-based. September and early-October D.C. hiring announcements centered on antitrust, white-collar and public-policy work, insurance defense, national security, congressional investigations, food and drug, healthcare transactions, and complex commercial outsourcing. Entry seekers should notice the other side of that same pattern: only about 10% of local postings are entry level, while about 80% sit at mid or senior levels.

• Law firms and specialty practices (high): This is the deepest opportunity pool, especially for antitrust, investigations, litigation-related, regulatory, and transactions work highlighted in recent D.C. firm hiring.
• In-house, software, and contract-heavy employers (moderate): Software development accounts for about 15% of the local posting mix, and the recurring skill signals include contract negotiation, project management, risk management, and regulatory compliance.
• Government and policy-adjacent work (moderate): Government and public sector is a smaller slice of the posting mix at about 5%, but public-policy principals and congressional investigations hiring show that D.C.-specific policy and oversight experience still matters.
• True entry-level legal support (limited): The market is thinner here because only about 10% of postings are entry level, and paralegal growth nationally is projected to be flat overall.

Where to focus: Focus first on specialty-led teams where your background already matches the substance—antitrust and regulatory, investigations, contracts and commercial, healthcare, or policy-adjacent work—then widen to in-house and software employers using the same vocabulary.

Roles worth searching next

• Public policy or government affairs analyst: Recent D.C. hiring included public-policy principals and policy-linked law-firm expansion, so candidates with legal or regulatory writing skills can sometimes bridge into policy-facing work.
• CLM or legal-operations program manager: Contract lifecycle management implementation, project management, contract negotiation, and regulatory compliance all map well from this market into operations-led roles.
• eDiscovery or litigation support manager: eDiscovery, legal research, case management, and legal writing sit close enough to litigation workflows to make this a practical bridge role.
• Corporate governance or board operations manager: Corporate governance and AI governance are rising priorities in legal-adjacent employer skill demand, especially for in-house settings.

What postings ask for

• Legal research (table_stakes | immediate): It is the most-requested hard skill in the local posting sample, making it a basic screen for many support and analysis roles. Who: Entry-level candidates, paralegals, and career switchers trying to prove legal readiness.
• Regulatory compliance (table_stakes | immediate): It appears repeatedly in local skill demand and travels across law firms, in-house teams, and policy-adjacent employers. Who: Compliance professionals, contracts specialists, and switchers from regulated industries.
• Case management (table_stakes | immediate): It is one of the most-requested local hard skills, which makes it especially useful for paralegal and litigation-support paths. Who: Entry-level legal support candidates and litigation-adjacent job seekers.
• Contract negotiation and CLM implementation (differentiator | near-term): Contract negotiation shows up in local demand, and Robert Half flags contract lifecycle management implementation as a specialized skill tied to compensation strength. Who: Mid-career contracts managers, legal operations candidates, and in-house applicants.
• AI-assisted legal research and AI governance (premium | near-term): Robert Half says 67% of employers offer higher pay for relevant AI skills in legal roles, and 64% of 309 respondents in a 2026 compliance survey ranked AI governance and oversight among the most critical future skills. Who: In-house counsel, compliance managers, governance professionals, and career switchers from tech or risk.
• Corporate governance (premium | near-term): It is one of the specialized skills Robert Half associates with stronger legal compensation and fits D.C.'s in-house and oversight-heavy employer mix. Who: In-house counsel, board-support professionals, and governance operations candidates.

Questions about this market

What do Legal, Compliance & Risk roles pay in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV?

Government wage data shows a very high ceiling but a wide spread: the Washington metro legal occupation family had a $175,070 median annual wage and $189,490 mean in 2025; lawyers’ median was $195,190, while paralegals’ median was $81,590. Posted salary ranges in the local sample center on about $130k to $186k, with a broader 25th-75th band of about $90k to $250k. This is a premium-pay market, but much of the premium comes from attorney-heavy and senior-heavy roles rather than typical compliance support jobs. Washington home prices were still up +1.7% year over year, so high nominal pay does not automatically translate into easy affordability.

Where is demand for Legal, Compliance & Risk roles in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV concentrated?

BLS data shows legal occupations accounted for 2.2% of metro employment in May 2025, and the metro legal occupational group counted 68,280 jobs on the annual 2025 measure. The current posting sample showed more than 1,100 openings across more than 550 companies, and hiring was fragmented rather than concentrated in a few dominant employers. By industry, activity is concentrated in legal services (about 30%), law practice (about 15%), legal (about 15%), software development (about 15%), and government and public sector (about 5%). The freshest demand signals are specialty-led rather than broad-based. September and early-October D.C. hiring announcements centered on antitrust, white-collar and public-policy work, insurance defense, national security, congressional investigations, food and drug, healthcare transactions, and complex commercial outsourcing. Entry seekers should notice the other side of that same pattern: only about 10% of local postings are entry level, while about 80% sit at mid or senior levels.

Which employers are hiring the most Legal, Compliance & Risk talent in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV?

Recent postings show the most activity from Joinleyla (50 postings), Amazon (20 postings). See the full market report for the complete employer landscape.

Can Legal, Compliance & Risk roles in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV be done remotely?

Of recent postings, 5% are remote and 35% hybrid, with 60% on-site. Use the Remote filter above to see only remote openings.

How current are these listings?

Openings come from the Callings.ai live index of over 13 million jobs, refreshed hourly. This page searches postings from the last 30 days; run the search yourself to filter by anything else in plain language.

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