Internal Audit Manager

Payward's Audit & Risk function operates as an Integrated Assurance organization, bringing together Internal Audit and Enterprise Risk Management under a unified risk oversight strategy. The function spans Internal Audit, SOX Compliance, and Enterprise Risk Management across multiple regulated entities and jurisdictions. Internal Audit partners with co-sourced providers, maintains direct reporting lines to the Global and Local Audit Committees, and is building in-house assurance capability at the pace of a business that is acquiring and integrating new businesses across the globe.

You’ll partner with Internal Audit leadership to run risk-based operational audits across the business, evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of controls across governance, regulatory, financial, and operational risk - with an immediate priority on post-acquisition integration as the business grows through acquisition. It’s a global, multi-jurisdiction mandate, entity and region agnostic, and you’ll direct specialist support wherever deep-technical depth is needed.

If you want operational audit work with genuine breadth and immediate, high-visibility impact, this is it.

Responsibilities span the following areas:

Operational & integration audit leadership

• Lead risk-based operational audits across the business - governance, regulatory, financial, and operational processes - and help shape coverage across the audit plan

• As the current priority, lead post-acquisition integration audits - readiness, onboarding of acquired entities into the control environment, and the design and operating effectiveness of controls in acquired businesses

• Assess integration and change risk across governance, regulatory licensing and change-of-control conditions, finance and operations, data migration, key-person retention, and conduct and culture

• Perform risk assessments to identify key areas of exposure and prioritize audit coverage across the plan and the acquisition pipeline

• Direct co-sourced specialist (SME) support for deep-technical areas, retaining Internal Audit ownership of judgment and conclusions

• Lead AI-enabled auditing - apply generative AI, agentic workflows, and data analytics across the audit lifecycle to expand coverage and efficiency, while retaining human ownership of judgment and conclusions

Engagement & issue management

• Lead multiple audit engagements concurrently, managing planning, fieldwork, and reporting end-to-end

• Document audit findings, including control gaps and root cause, and draft clear, well-supported work papers and reports

• Track and validate remediation of identified issues, escalating delays or gaps to Internal Audit leadership

• Contribute to the continuous improvement of audit methodologies and frameworks, and ensure conformance with the IIA Global Internal Audit Standards and the function's quality assurance requirements

• Lead engagement teams, including staffing and coordinating co-sourced specialists, and mentor junior auditors to ensure quality and timely delivery across audits

Stakeholder engagement & reporting

• Partner with stakeholders across the business, Compliance, Legal, Risk, Finance, and Engineering teams to communicate audit results and advise on control improvements, while maintaining audit independence

• Monitor the audit plan, the acquisition pipeline, and evolving regulatory expectations across the jurisdictions relevant to Payward's business

• Partner with other Internal Audit managers and co-sourced specialists to ensure coordinated coverage across the audit plan

• 8+ years of experience in internal audit, risk management, or regulatory examination within financial services, fintech, or crypto

• Strong generalist audit background -- proven ability to plan…