Director, Internal Assurance at Airtel Nigeria

Airtel Nigeria (Airtel Networks Limited) is a leading telecommunications services provider in Nigeria headquartered in Lagos, the commercial nerve-centre of Nigeria. The telco ranks amongst the top four mobile service providers in terms of subscribers with a customer base of more than 39.8 million. The company's product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce and enterprise services.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Director, Internal Assurance

Location: Lagos
Job Type: Full-time · Director

Purpose of the Job (Brief)

• The function is responsible for enhancing the overall state of internal control and governance standards in Airtel Nigeria.
• The role aims to provide assurance to senior management and the Board and Audit Committee on compliance to laid down processes and mitigation of key risks.

Key Accountabilities
Improve The Internal Control Environment Through Active Engagement With Senior Management and Management:

• Conduct periodic meetings with Functional Chiefs, CFO, CCO, CEO and other stakeholders to address the key audit issues and monitor the implementation status of management’s action plans.
• Review control mitigation plans of Functions and ensure adequate and prioritized management attention on remediating known issues and preventing recurrences.
• Ensure that audit issues are well understood by all levels of management and staff and that learning on fraud and control issues are shared amongst relevant stakeholders to prevent recurrences.
• Guide the various function heads on implementation of high priority issues.

Audit Management:

• Ensure audit planning is carried out so that resources in terms of quality and numbers, is in line with the requirement.
• Maintain high engagement levels with the outsourced Internal Audit partners to ensure that the audit plan is delivered with the desired quality and within the agreed timelines
• Ensure tracking and timely closure of the audit issues in a sustainable manner.
• Ensure partners have established plans to drive the priorities of the internal audit activity, consistent with the organization's objectives.
• Effective engagement with Internal Assurance Subject Matter Experts in India to ensure audit quality.

Drive Quality in Audit Reviews:

• Implement a system of tracking key project activities that impact on delivery of the audit plan.
• Implement a system of capturing and tracking audit issues per timelines agreed with respective functional heads/ chiefs, flagging and escalation of delays in implementation of improvement opportunities.
• Conduct regular review of the audit work done by outsourced audit partners to validate quality of audit work and reporting.
• Identify any necessary changes to the audit methodology and ensure implementation in a timely manner.
• Ensure quantification of losses / impact arising from lack of / ineffective controls.

Partner Management:

• Provide continuous feedback to partner (internal audit service providers) on quality of audit work and deployment of resources.
• Ensure training of partner staff in order that they are able to deliver the best quality
• Provide proposals for improvement and support the implementation of changes.
• Ensure there is a clear line of communication between the partner and Airtel to facilitate issue resolution in an effective and timely manner.
• Continuous communication with the teams during the period of the engagement.

Internal Audit reporting - Reporting to the Board Audit Committee:

• Maintain a calendar for the board audit committee meetings.
• Consolidate internal assurance related information for reporting to the board on a quarterly basis.
• Co-ordinate receipt and dispatch of all necessary internal assurance documentation and communication.
• Ensure all levels of review prior to dispatch of board papers.
• Periodic reporting to the Director Internal Assurance Africa on the status of reviews.
• Preparation of all reports required for presentation to Board Audit Committee.
• Periodic reporting on implementation of improvement opportunities noted in reviews.

Support / Drive Enterprise Risk Management:

• Act as secretary to the risk management committee of the Company
• Work with key stakeholders to ensure deployment and management of comprehensive enterprise risk management framework
• Ensure on-going dialogue with stakeholders and internally within the team to identify potential risks to ensure identification, assessment and development of mitigation plans for key risks.
• Identify good business practices and ensure these are shared with management for implementation.
• Drive programmes that promote risk and control awareness across the company.
• Keep abreast of regional and international trends and identify new and emerging risks in the business and / or industry.
• Provide guidance to other functions on risk management and compliance.
• Periodic reporting on risk management to the Board Audit Committee.

People Management - Coach, Mentor and Manage Audit Resources (Internal Team as well as Partner’s Staff) Based in Nigeria:

• Continuous development of staff (including partner staff).
• Ensure ongoing reassessment of skill sets required and supplement through recruitment or outsourcing.
• Drive initiatives to address employee concerns (if any).
• Ensure adequate progress on staff training & development, leveraging on resources from Bharti Airtel India and SingTel, as well as external service providers.
• Strengthen staff engagement for a high performance Internal Assurance function
• Attract and develop talent for the IA function.

Process assessment & Improvement:

• Understanding the operational nuances of the business in Nigeria. Interacting with senior members of the business and having the ability to challenge established processes identify gaps and ensure that the gaps are addressed.
• Keeping abreast of changes in the business, operational and competitive landscape. Activities will include:

Risk assessments and identification of key risks in the business.

• Promoting an internal culture driven by ethics.
• Driving audits to highlight and address these risks.
• Recommend solutions that are pragmatic, cost effective and sustainable.
• Engaging management to dedicate resources and attention towards prioritised and systemic risk and control issues.

Education & Experience

• Graduate Degrees in Business related field or Engineering
• MBA in Finance or Business Management
• Professional qualification: Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) and Chartered Accountant (ACA, ACCA)
• Minimum of 15 years relevant experience out of which at least 8 years should be in Internal Audit / Risk Management / Compliance at a Senior Management level in Telecom / Service industry.

Skills & Competencies:

• Excellent written & oral communication skills
• Strong inter-personal skills and the ability to work in a team
• Ability to manage a team (in house and partner teams)
• Good analytical skills
• Goal oriented, focused, energetic, and enthusiastic.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply