Internal Audit Senior Manager, Quality Assurance

Your Opportunity

We believe in the importance of in-office collaboration and fully intend for the selected candidate for this role to work on site in the specified location(s).

 

At Schwab, you’re empowered to make an impact on your career. Here, innovative thought meets creative problem solving, helping us challenge the status quo and transform the finance industry together.

 

The Internal Audit Department (IAD) provides independent and objective assessments to determine whether significant risks are identified and appropriately reported to the Board and Executive Management, evaluate whether risks are adequately controlled, and support governance, risk management, and internal controls through effective challenge of Management.

 

Within IAD, the Professional Practices Group (PPG) designs and implements processes, training, and tools that support auditors to meet expectations of consistency and quality. The Quality Assurance (QA) team within PPG is seeking an Internal Audit Senior Manager, Quality Assurance to support the Quality Assurance and Improvement Program (QAIP). This individual contributor role will independently evaluate and effectively challenge whether key internal audit activities conform with IAD procedures, the IIA Global Audit Standards, and applicable regulatory expectations.

 

The successful candidate will bring strong broker-dealer audit experience, deep knowledge of risk and control assessment, and a strong command of audit methodology. The role requires the ability to evaluate business process controls and the technology dependencies embedded within those controls, including automated controls and controls that rely on system-generated data.

 

What You’ll Do:

• Lead independent quality assurance reviews across internal audit activities, with an emphasis on broker-dealer business process, operational, and regulatory compliance audits, to assess conformance with internal policies and procedures, regulatory expectations, and professional standards.
• Evaluate the quality and effectiveness of audit planning, risk assessment, scoping, control identification, testing, issue identification, reporting, and issue validation.
• Assess whether audit teams identify and evaluate the full population of relevant risks and controls, including manual controls, automated controls, and controls dependent on applications, interfaces, system configurations, or system-generated data.
• Evaluate whether audit approaches appropriately integrate business and technology considerations, including the reliability, completeness, and appropriateness of system-generated information used in control performance or audit testing.
• Apply strong control judgment to assess control design, implementation, and operating effectiveness, including whether testing scope, attributes, populations, sampling, and evidence are sufficient to support audit conclusions.
• Evaluate issue identification and development, including the risk and control gap, impact, root cause, compensating controls, issue rating, and whether management action plans are responsive, sustainable, and measurable.
• Assess the effectiveness of audit coverage over priority broker-dealer risk areas, including supervisory controls; retail brokerage and other customer-impacting activities; trading and trade-related operations; regulatory compliance and reporting; and employee conduct and trade monitoring, with attention to the applications, automated processing, interfaces, and system-generated data supporting those activities.
• Identify themes, recurring gaps, and systemic improvement opportunities across QA reviews and translate them into practical enhancements to audit quality, methodology, tools, templates, and training.
• Prepare clear, impactful QA workpapers, analyses, findings, recommendations, and reporting that are well-supported and drive actionable remediation of root causes.
• Provide candid, constructive feedback and effective challenge to audit teams and leadership to strengthen risk perspectives, control evaluations, testing approaches, issue development, and adherence to methodology.
• Monitor and assess audit teams’ remediation of QA findings, including whether actions address underlying causes and reduce the likelihood of recurrence.
• Provide subject matter expertise on broker-dealer risks and controls, IT-dependent manual controls, automated controls, and audit methodology.
• Support execution and evolution of the QAIP, including targeted reviews, root-cause and thematic analysis, methodology updates, external quality assessments, regulatory exams, and strategic initiatives.
• Leverage data analytics, automation, and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, to improve the efficiency, consistency, and depth of QA activities.
• Periodically support the development and delivery of IAD methodology updates and training for internal audit team members.

What you have

• At least seven years of internal audit, risk, compliance, or regulatory experience within financial services, public accounting, or a regulatory agency, including at least three years in a management, supervisory, or audit leadership role.
• Demonstrated broker-dealer audit experience in a complex operational and regulatory environment.
• Strong working knowledge of broker-dealer business activities, risks, controls, and regulatory expectations.
• Demonstrated experience assessing several of the following priority broker-dealer risk areas: supervisory systems and controls; retail brokerage and customer-impacting processes; trading and trade-related operations; regulatory compliance and reporting; employee conduct and trade monitoring; data integrity; and risks arising from automated processing and technology dependencies.
• Demonstrated experience assessing risks and controls throughout the audit lifecycle, including risk assessment, audit planning, scoping, control identification, test design and execution, issue identification, reporting, and issue validation.
• Strong understanding of internal controls and the ability to evaluate control design, implementation, and operating effectiveness, identify control gaps, and determine whether audit evidence supports conclusions.
• Demonstrated experience evaluating IT-dependent controls, automated controls, and controls that use system-generated data, including the ability to assess relevant application, interface, configuration, access, data lineage, completeness, and accuracy considerations.
• Strong command of internal audit methodology and the IIA Global Audit Standards, with working knowledge of applicable regulatory guidance, including FRB SR 13-1 and FRB SR 03-5.
• Demonstrated ability to identify and articulate issues, including the condition, risk, control gap, impact, root cause, compensating controls, rating, and appropriateness of management action plans.
• Experience reviewing or leading audits that address both business process and supporting technology risks and controls.
• Ability to apply independent judgment, professional skepticism, and critical thinking when assessing audit quality, risk coverage, control effectiveness, and the overall assurance provided.
• Strong analytical and project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines and synthesize complex information into clear conclusions.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to deliver succinct, impactful review results, provide effective challenge, and influence positive change across all levels.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required. CIA, CPA, or similar certification preferred. Broker-dealer licenses or credentials, such as Series 7, 9/10, or 24, are a plus.
• Curiosity and willingness to use data analytics and emerging technologies, including AI, to support audit and quality assurance activities.