Internal Audit Manager

The Team
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.

The opportunity
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

What you bring

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…