Internal Controls Senior Manager

Department: Finance Management

Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: Brazil/Sao Paulo

Reporting To: Group Financial Controller & Head of Internal Controls

Description

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of Internal Controls professionals.
• Act as a trusted advisor to business and functional leaders on governance, risk, and internal control matters.
• Collaborate with business stakeholders to embed effective controls into new processes, systems, and transformation initiatives.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with senior business leaders, Finance, Operations, IT, HR, Legal, and Compliance teams across the Group.
• Facilitate regular engagement meetings with Regional and Functional Leadership teams to discuss key control risks, improvement opportunities, and emerging concerns.
• Provide guidance on control design for new business activities, acquisitions, system implementations, and process changes.
• Promote a culture of accountability, risk awareness, and control ownership across the organization.
• Support Executive Leadership, Audit Committee, and Board reporting preparation.
• Lead fraud risk awareness initiatives across the Group and assess the effectiveness of controls to prevent, detect, and respond to fraud risks.
• Lead and coordinate the Group's J-SOX compliance programme, including risk assessment, control testing, deficiency evaluation, remediation oversight, and management reporting.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for Local Finance teams, Internal Audit, and External Audit on matters relating to internal controls and business processes across the Group.
• Analyse trends in control deficiencies and identify opportunities to strengthen the control environment and drive continuous improvement.
• Monitor management's progress against agreed action plans arising from internal controls reviews, internal audit, and external audit findings.
• Lead the continuous enhancement of the Group Internal Control Framework, including maintaining the Internal Controls Manual and delivering training and awareness programmes across the Group.
• Lead assessments of user access management and Segregation of Duties (SoD) risks in ERP, and ensure appropriate controls exist over the provisioning, modification, and revocation of system access.
• Support incident investigations and coordinate remediation activities to ensure root causes are addressed and lessons learned are implemented across the Group.
• Monitor regulatory developments, emerging risks, and industry best practices, ensuring their impact on the internal control environment is assessed and addressed.

Skills, Knowledge & Expertise

• Qualified Accountant (ACA, ACCA or equivalent) or Internal Auditor; or
• Qualified by Experience (QBE) Internal Control professional.  

• 8-12+ years of management experience in Internal Controls, Internal Audit, Risk Management, Finance Controls, or Compliance.
• J-SOX or US-SOX experience or similar.
• Experience managing SOX or equivalent Internal Controls programs in a multinational organization
• Strong understanding of COSO Internal Control Framework and risk management principles. 
• Experience working with senior stakeholders and cross-functional leadership teams. 
• Demonstrated people leadership experience managing diverse teams. 
• Fluent English language skills. Additional language skills would be an advantage.
• Excellent written, verbal, presentation, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Ability to evaluate issues objectively, document and verbally present conclusions logically.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint skills.
• Ability to analyze data efficiently and effectively with excel and / or data analytical tools, and present results in a well-structured and concise format
• Ability to work with external consultants, internal and external auditors effectively
• Ability to work to deadlines and different time-zones.
• Ability to multi-task and work with regularly varying and developing priorities.