Contract Senior Associate, Internal Audit

Schellman is a Top 50 CPA firm and a leading provider of attestation and compliance services. Our professional services focus on security and privacy audits, assessments, and certifications.  Schellman has become one of the largest cybersecurity assessment firms in the United States without providing any traditional accounting services.  We are an accredited multi-framework ISO Certification Body for security, privacy, business continuity, and quality; a globally licensed PCI Qualified Security Assessor and a top provider to clients serving the federal DoD space as a leading FedRAMP 3PAO and the first assessment firm authorized as a CMMC C3PAO. Our specialty and expertise remain in providing best in class Cybersecurity and IT Audits and Attestations. Our culture, approach with clients, and dedication to our values has led us to consistently be a Great Places to Work certified company and rated as a Best Firms to Work For by Accounting Today and a Glassdoor Best Places to Work. We deeply appreciate our employees, as shown by our first core value – People Come First. This is demonstrated in our culture, benefits, and how we handle business. Come see what makes Schellman special!

JOB SUMMARY  

The Contract Internal Audit Senior Associate role represents their team and department by owning specific processes, tasks, or activities within a portfolio of Financial and Operational audits. They display specialized skills within one or several domains, making them well suited to execute the day-to-day delivery of those audits from start to end. A Contract Senior Associate is not a people manager, but may help coordinate the work of Associates assigned to their engagements, and serves as a trusted, hands-on resource for the audit team. A Contract Senior Associate delivers high quality audit work within their assigned scope in a timely manner, aligning with department goals.

Key responsibilities include executing a portfolio of Financial and Operational audits, enhancing audit effectiveness through programs and tools, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement. This role collaborates with audit team members and stakeholders across the business to provide guidance on risk management and compliance while ensuring audits are conducted efficiently and effectively. The Contract Internal Audit Senior Associate role reports to a people manager at the Manager level.

Essential Functions:

• Provide regular updates to the internal team on audit progress and outcomes, providing timely status and escalations to inform decision-making.
• Stay abreast of new and emerging regulations and trends that impact controls and ensure timely incorporation into audit planning and execution.
• Comply with Schellman's code of ethics and professional conduct, methodologies, policies, and procedures.
• Adhere to the professional and regulatory standards relevant to assigned service line specialization(s).
• Promote Schellman's company culture and exemplify Schellman's values.
• Establish high quality relationships and rapport with client personnel.
• Manage client expectations to ensure expectations are exceeded.
• Complete assigned duties in a timely manner and with a high attention to detail.
• Collaborate with fellow project team members in a productive and timely manner throughout the life cycle of each project.
• Adhere to project schedules and keep fellow project team members apprised of the progress of assigned tasks.
• Escalate issues internally in a proper and timely manner.
• Use discretion and decorum in the timing, form, and content of all client communications.
• Book travel reservations in a timely manner and in accordance with Schellman's travel and expense policies and procedures, where applicable.
• Perform the essential functions of other service delivery positions when qualified and called upon to do so.
• Attend project kick-off and closing meetings.
• Execute assigned testing procedures, perform detailed analysis, reach conclusions, document results in accordance with company standards, and suggest ideas for improvements, where applicable.
• Draft project deliverables.
• Serve as a contact for clients' basic questions regarding an engagement.
• Develop an expert knowledge of professional and regulatory standards relevant to assigned service line specialization(s).

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Work with ambiguity: effectively manage change and operate without the full picture with the ability to handle risk and uncertainty.
• Problem solver: probes and uses proven methods and resources to solve difficult problems and challenges and can get to the root cause and drive solutions.
• Conflict management: can read tough situations and navigate conflicts professionally.
• Critical thinking: ability to breakdown complex ideas or information into smaller components to examine their individual parts and implications with the ability to identify relevant information and assessing the validity and making judgments based on details and logical reasoning. Thinks critically when deciding the best course of action, anticipating outcomes, risks, or implications.
• Culture Carrier: empowers team members and embodies Schellman's core values.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with others to achieve common goals.
• Comprehensive understanding of audit methodologies, risk assessments, and internal control frameworks. Experience leveraging technology and using data to drive insights and actions within the audit process.
• Demonstrate business acumen and strong interpersonal and communication skills to build trust and effective relationships with stakeholders, while effectively synthesizing and conveying complex audit topics to stakeholders and internal audit team members.
• Strong listening, verbal, written, and presentation communication skills.
• Effective project management skills. Ability to effectively manage projects on time and on budget and identify and manage challenges.
• Strong analytical skills, with the ability to distill large volumes of complex information into clear and concise presentations. Ability to offer solutions that improve processes and mitigate risks.
• Capability to work with a team in a fast-paced environment to meet strict deadlines while managing multiple priorities.
• Passion for continuous improvement in operations and processes.

Education, Work Experience and Certifications

• Bachelor's degree required in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field. Relevant certifications (e.g., CPA, CIA), or progress toward certification, is preferred.
• Minimum of 3-5 years of experience in internal or external audit, risk management, or a related field, with a demonstrated ability to execute audit engagements independently and foster a culture of accountability and continuous improvement. Experience in public accounting and a balance of internal audit and banking experience is highly preferred.

Schellman is an equal opportunity employer (EOE) and strongly supports diversity in the workplace; therefore, providing equal employment opportunities to applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, or any other legally protected basis, including arrest and conviction records, in accordance with applicable law. Schellman uses E-Verify in our hiring process.
 

At Schellman, we strive to provide a flexible and balanced environment and therefore offer the opportunity to work remotely, unless otherwise stated in the job requirements. Connecting, collaborating and continuous education are also highly valued and therefore we require some travel annually for our Internal Service Delivery roles, which can include in-person training, team meet-ups, and strategy meetings. Service Delivery team members will also be required to travel based on business and client needs.