Senior Risk & Internal Audit Manager

Location:

Base location of Holborn Store Support Centre, with a requirement to travel to all the other locations across the UK as required.

In a nutshell

Manage and deliver a portfolio of internal audits across Sainsbury's Group as per the Audit Plan. Own key relationships with senior business stakeholders up to Operating Board level, holding strategic conversations to support them in identifying and managing risks and assurance requirements. Alongside day-to-day audit management, act as the key contact for specific business divisions (for example, HR, Marketing, Finance, Technology etc.), driving continuous improvement and bringing external best practise and innovative thinking into our Internal Audit processes and methodologies. This role also includes the management and development of Risk and Audit Managers.

What you need to do

Lead the development of the half-yearly risk-based audit plan for the divisions you are responsible for and associated transformational programmes and maintain / update the cyclical audit plan. This will include working with senior divisional stakeholders to understand their risk and assurance requirements and sharing the final, approved divisional audit plan with them.

Manage the delivery of a portfolio of internal audits, with the Risk and Audit Managers, across the business to time and quality. This includes:

Leading planning discussions with business / programme stakeholders to ensure the scope of work is aligned to key business and / or programme risk areas

Managing / overseeing the delivery of fieldwork, applying judgement throughout ensuring that the breadth and depth of work performed is aligned to key risk areas. For example, this may include extending the scope of fieldwork and / or stopping fieldwork where sufficient work has been performed.

Developing practical recommendations that balance the risk identified with commercial considerations

Developing high quality deliverables. For example, Terms of Reference, audit memos, Internal Audit reports and Audit Committee deliverables.

Performing independent quality assurance of audits.

For complex, sensitive and / or strategic risk areas, deliver high quality assurance to key stakeholders.

Provide real-time support, challenge and actionable insight to management when developing and implementing new processes, including business change.

Respond to requests from business stakeholders, providing ad hoc independent audit insight and advice and coordinating support as appropriate.

Act as a single point of contact with the divisions you are responsible for. This will involve owning, building and maintaining relationships with senior business stakeholders in your areas of responsibility across Sainsbury's.

Share the divisional business knowledge with the wider Internal Audit team, escalating concerns or issues to senior team members on a timely basis.

Support the annual Group risk reporting process through leading risk activities in these divisions, including facilitating risk workshops and meetings as required, to help management identify, assess and manage key business risks.

Overseeing ongoing audit action tracking for these divisions / change programmes, ensuring the quality and accuracy of the quarterly action reporting and supporting stakeholders in driving continuous improvement.

Meet External Audit where required, to share plans and drive efficiency, as appropriate.

Deliver whistleblowing / investigations as required under the direction of senior team members.

Maintain and enhance knowledge of new and emerging audit techniques and developments to support innovation and the continuous improvement of the team.

As needed, lead specific Internal Audit improvement initiatives with support from the broader team.

Line manage Risk and Audit Managers to support them in their career and personal development; this will include delivering timely and appropriate feedback.

Manage the recruitment of Risk and Audit Managers and other more junior team members.

What you need to know

Essential:

> 7 years' audit experience, with at least 3 in Internal Audit, ideally in a corporate environment.

Developing and subsequent delivery of risk based internal audit plans.

Prior internal or external audit experience with detailed knowledge and a track record of leading audits in at least two of the following areas:

Human Resources

Marketing / Customer Insight

Climate Change / Sustainability

Supply Chain and Logistics

Property Management

Procurement

Information Security / Data Governance

Strategic change / transformation programmes, including waterfall and agile environments

Food retail or the retail sector more broadly.

Good understanding of auditing technology / information systems and supporting data flows, including how these support business operations.

Proven track record in developing and maintaining strong stakeholder relationships at different levels of seniority.

Experience of facilitating risk management discussions and workshops.

Comfortable making decisions in a complex, fast-changing environment.

Ability to demonstrate curiosity and an inquisitive questioning style, driving your personal and team development objectives.

Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

Strong analytical and report writing skills.

Strong commercial acumen and the ability to see the big picture.

Knowledge of Internal Audit trends and external developments.

Strong time management and project management skills to ensure work is delivered on time, to budget and to the expected quality.

Leadership / line management experience.

Personal accountability.

Drive, ambition, curiosity and enthusiasm.

Demonstrable ability to apply sound judgement.

Impact and ability to deliver difficult messages in a tough way.

Desirable:

Retail experience.

Enterprise / corporate risk management.

Forensic/data analytics experience.

ACCA/ACA/CIMA/CIA or equivalent qualified.

Delivery of external audits.

What you need to show - demonstration of the Sainsbury's values which is set out below:

We are trusting each other, working and winning as one team: Builds strong working relationships within the team and across the organisation whilst retaining independence.

We are making it simpler: Identifies opportunities of continuous improvement to make Internal Audit ways of working simpler whilst maintaining quality standards.

We are doing the right thing for our customers to grow sales: Identifying actionable insight through audit work, which drives change across Sainsbury's.

We are making it happen at pace: Flexes and adapts approach to deliver timely assurance while maintaining quality standards.

We are treating every pound as our own: Has a commercial awareness to ensure the business impact of audit findings are understood.

We are cheering on our progress: Recognises when colleagues have made great progress and actively acknowledges this.

What decisions I can make?

The role requires a high degree of personal accountability to deliver audits to budget, methodology and the quality standards Internal Audit prides itself on.

Scope and depth of assurance required for each audit.

Day to day time management and resource requirements for audit work.

Resources available to me

The Internal Audit team consists of approximately 25 professionals with differing technical skills, e.g. IT, information security, project assurance, business process, operational and financial controls. The team operates a matrix reporting structure due to the varied nature of the coverage across the organisation. You will be the key contact for specific business divisions for Internal Audit to drive engagement, risk ownership and awareness.

Work-life balance is important to us, so we offer our colleagues as much flexibility as possible in line with the needs of their role. We trust them to decide how, where and when they work, combining remote and collaborative working with a flexible approach to hours, giving them plenty of time and space for life outside of work whilst delivering against our business goals.

#LI-BB1