Audit Director, Enterprise Project Governance

About the role

The Internal Audit Group at American Express is seeking a Director – Project Governance, Audit Team Lead to advance and grow audit coverage across global projects of varying complexities and a developing Project Governance and Change Management Enterprise framework.

Responsibilities

• Oversee audit professionals across multiple simultaneous audit projects of all sizes and complexity across multiple business areas within and outside of local region, in unfamiliar areas, and for different audit leaders, ensuring audits are completed timely and with high quality; conduct L2 reviews
• Specialize in one or more specific lines of business, own portfolio with accountability, ownership and horizontal risk view of entire portfolio
• Collaborate with Audit Leaders to develop the annual Audit Plan, leveraging knowledge of the portfolio, banking, and industry trends to establish a risk-based Audit Plan with adequate coverage
• Support and/or lead regulatory activities and attend regulatory meetings as appropriate
• Lead delivery and execution of the annual Audit Plan for assigned audit portfolio using an integrated auditing approach that considers financial, operational, compliance, and technology risks
• Review management’s corrective action plans to address business-identified issues, audit findings and regulatory remediations
• Lead Chief Audit Executive (CAE) audit report reviews and share insights / observations
• Develop relationships with Senior Business Leaders across all business units, proactively identify changes in business environment, emerging risks, and control priorities that may impact Audit Plans, conduct effective business monitoring and guides team to adjust the audit approach accordingly; demonstrate effective challenge by providing deep subject matter knowledge industry related knowledge to support business partnership efforts
• Collaborate with Senior Managers / Managers to conduct post-audit feedback discussions with audit team members to provide actionable feedback, support development, and recognize accomplishments
• Serve as a People Leader, providing mentorship, coaching, and career development support for direct reports
• Recruit, supervise, coach, mentor, and develop audit staff to build high-performing teams, fostering continuous learning and professional growth
• Champion continuous improvement by monitoring industry trends, regulatory developments, and best practices in auditing and banking, and incorporate these insights into audit methodologies and team ways of working

Qualifications

• Minimum Qualifications: 8+ years of audit experience
• Prior experience working at a Big Four / G-SIB
• Strong written and verbal communication skills that deliver high quality, actionable and value-added feedback to management on potential issues and potential solutions to close gaps
• Effectively oversees multiple audits, projects and portfolio, setting direction, and developing team capabilities
• Guides the team in applying critical thinking to evaluate potential risks and how to translate these considerations into evidence and risk-based insights
• Guides team in applying control theory and professional auditing practices across the full audit lifecycle, including design and evaluation of control frameworks
• Stays abreast and cascades in-depth knowledge of current trends, new developments, regulations, technologies, and best practices in the auditing profession, banking industry, and area of specialization to teams, peers, and leaders