Internal Audit Lead

Location: Remote Centric with travel to Hartselle, AL periodically

Key Responsibilities

Systems and process controls

• Review key business processes and systems (order to cash, procure to pay, payroll, financial close) for control gaps, errors, and access issues.
• Evaluate user access, segregation of duties, and change management in core systems.
• Document risks and controls in process narratives and risk and control matrices.

Automation and process improvement

• Partner with finance, operations, and IT to replace manual processes with automated, system-enforced controls.
• Use data analytics, such as Excel, SQL, or BI tools, to move from sample testing toward continuous monitoring.
• Advise on controls and audit trails when new systems and processes are selected and implemented.

Audit program and public-readiness

• Build a risk-based annual audit plan and an audit methodology, including work papers, templates, and reporting standards.
• Write clear audit reports with root causes and practical recommendations, and present them to leadership.
• Track management action plans through remediation and report status on a regular schedule.
• Coordinate with external auditors and, when needed, outside specialists on IT or testing.

Revenue assurance

• Reconcile contracts, orders, billing, and cash receipts to find unbilled, under-billed, mispriced, or uncollected revenue.
• Test pricing, discounts, credits, and write-offs against approved policy, and investigate unusual patterns.
• Quantify leakage, recommend fixes, and track recovery to closure.

Time-keeping and labor integrity

• Test timesheets and billable-hour records against supporting evidence such as schedules, project records, system logs, and approvals.
• Identify patterns of time padding, unapproved overtime, and policy violations, and handle findings fairly and discreetly.
• Recommend controls and system settings that improve accuracy, such as approval workflows, edit locks, and exception reports.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, business, or information systems.
• 4 to 5 years of experience in internal audit, external audit, or controls and compliance, ideally across financial and operational areas.
• Hands-on experience testing controls, building work papers, and writing audit reports.
• Working knowledge of internal control frameworks, such as COSO, and of revenue, payroll, and procure-to-pay processes.
• Strong analytical skills, with advanced Excel and the ability to analyze large data sets to find anomalies.
• Ability to deliver difficult findings with tact, and to work with leaders and employees at all levels.
• Integrity, discretion, and sound judgment, including with sensitive matters such as time-keeping and employee conduct.
• Self-starter comfortable working independently and setting priorities in a fast-growing environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• CPA or actively pursuing one.
• Big 4 or public accounting background, or experience at a high-growth or pre-IPO company.
• Experience with SOX 404 documentation and testing, or with a company preparing for an audit or IPO.
• Experience with SQL, Power BI, Tableau, or audit analytics tools.
• Experience with ERP, billing, and timekeeping or payroll systems, and with process automation.