Security questionnaires can fall in a grey area between security, compliance, and risk management. This article explores how companies typically assign responsibility for them.

By TrustKite Team on July 12, 2025

Who's responsible for security questionnaires, anyway?

Security questionnaires are now a standard part of the B2B sales process, especially in industries where trust and data protection are critical. If your company sells software or services to mid-sized or enterprise customers, you’ve likely encountered them: long Excel documents or portal-based forms asking detailed questions about your security practices, policies, infrastructure, and sometimes even your roadmap.

But when a questionnaire lands in your inbox, the immediate question becomes: Who owns this?

The answer depends heavily on your company’s size and maturity.

In Early-Stage Startups

In small startups, security questionnaires often land with whoever is closest to the customer — usually someone in sales or customer success. That person may escalate questions internally, pinging the CTO, a security-minded engineer, or someone wearing a compliance hat. In many cases, the founders themselves are the ones answering.

The downside? Fragmented answers, slow response times, and an inconsistent security story across customers.

In Growth-Stage Companies

As companies grow and close larger deals, the responsibility typically shifts toward a dedicated function — either in security, compliance, or risk management. Some companies establish a Security Trust or GRC (Governance, Risk, and Compliance) team. This team becomes responsible not just for completing questionnaires, but for maintaining the evidence, policies, certifications, and processes needed to respond efficiently.

When compliance frameworks like SOC 2, ISO 27001, or HIPAA come into play, these teams often integrate tools and processes to automate parts of the response process.

In Enterprises

In large enterprises, security questionnaires are often managed centrally, with dedicated tools, workflows, and approval chains. It’s not uncommon to see:

Ownership is distributed, but coordinated — often via a ticketing system or trust platform that tracks ownership, deadlines, and response history.

What’s the Best Practice?

There’s no single right answer, but here are common traits of companies that handle questionnaires well:

  1. Clear ownership — even if multiple people contribute, there’s one role or team responsible for coordination and final sign-off.
  2. Up-to-date documentation — a knowledge base or repository of past answers, certifications, and evidence.
  3. Automation tools — platforms like Vanta, TrustCloud, Drata, or custom internal systems to speed up response times.
  4. Security-as-sales-enabler mindset — teams that view security not as a blocker, but as a competitive advantage in the sales process.

Conclusion

Security questionnaires are more than just paperwork — they’re a window into how your company presents its trustworthiness. While the responsibility for completing them may start off fuzzy, mature organizations clarify ownership over time and invest in tooling and processes to streamline the response.

Whether it sits under security, compliance, or a dedicated trust team, what matters most is that someone owns it — and has the support and context to do it well.

TrustKite helps you answer security questionnaires with AI that understands your policies, evidence, and certifications—while you stay in full control.