Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Assurance Manager

🎯 Role Definition

The Assurance Manager is responsible for designing, executing and continuously improving the organization's assurance program — including internal audit, SOX/compliance testing, operational and financial control reviews, and third‑party risk assessments. This role leads cross-functional assurance engagements, synthesizes findings into actionable recommendations for senior leadership and the Board, drives remediation and control strengthening, and embeds continuous monitoring and data-driven assurance practices across the organization. The Assurance Manager must balance technical control testing expertise (SOX, COSO, ITGCs) with strong stakeholder management, coaching of audit teams, and a clear focus on risk-based priorities.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Senior Internal Auditor with 3–5 years of audit and controls testing experience.
SOX/Compliance Senior Analyst experienced in financial controls and documentation.
External auditor (Big 4 / mid-tier) transitioning to internal assurance.

Advancement To:

Director of Internal Audit / Director of Assurance
Head of Risk & Compliance
VP, Enterprise Risk Management / Chief Audit Executive (CAE)

Lateral Moves:

Risk Manager (Operational or Enterprise Risk)
Compliance Manager (Regulatory or Vendor Compliance)
Process Improvement / Operational Excellence Lead

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead the planning, scoping and execution of comprehensive assurance engagements (financial, operational, IT, and compliance), using a risk‑based approach to identify high‑impact control weaknesses and opportunities for improvement.
Develop and maintain annual assurance plans and multi‑year risk assessment frameworks that align with corporate strategy, regulatory obligations, and emerging enterprise risks.
Design and execute SOX (Section 404) testing programs, including scoping, control identification, walkthroughs, test design, issue documentation, remediation tracking and management reporting.
Evaluate the design and operating effectiveness of internal controls including entity-level controls (ELC), process controls, IT general controls (ITGCs) and user access controls, and provide clear judgments on control adequacy.
Coordinate with external auditors and regulators to provide requested documentation, manage audit deliverables, and reduce duplication through joint planning and reliance strategies.
Prepare clear, concise and constructive audit reports and executive summaries that quantify risk exposure, root causes, business impact and priority remediation actions for senior management and Audit Committee review.
Lead remediation efforts by partnering with process and control owners to develop corrective action plans, set realistic deadlines, monitor progress, and escalate persistent gaps to senior leadership.
Drive continuous monitoring and data analytics within assurance activities, leveraging SQL, ACL/IDEA, Power BI/Tableau, or audit automation tools to detect anomalies, trends and control exceptions.
Manage and mentor a team of assurance professionals — including recruitment, performance management, training, and career development — to build high‑performing, multidisciplinary audit capability.
Facilitate root cause analysis and process redesign workshops that convert audit findings into sustainable process improvements and control automation opportunities.
Implement and maintain assurance methodologies and frameworks (IIA standards, COSO, COBIT, ISO where applicable) to ensure consistent, high‑quality assurance deliverables across the enterprise.
Oversee third‑party and vendor assurance programs including contract compliance testing, due diligence reviews, and information security assurance when relying on external service providers.
Conduct targeted IT and application control assessments in collaboration with IT security and engineering teams, including privileged access, change management, data protection and encryption controls.
Partner with Finance, Legal, Compliance and Business Operations to interpret regulatory changes, assess control impact and update policies and procedures accordingly (e.g., SOX, GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS where relevant).
Develop and report assurance KPIs and dashboards that measure program effectiveness, remediation velocity, recurring findings and control maturity to the Audit Committee and executive leadership.
Maintain independence and objectivity in all assurance activities; ensure avoidance of conflicts of interest and adherence to professional standards and ethics.
Contribute to enterprise risk management (ERM) activities by identifying cross‑functional risks, participating in risk workshops and ensuring assurance coverage is mapped to top risks.
Lead special investigations and forensic assurance work as needed, coordinating with Legal and HR on sensitive issues and producing defensible documentation.
Manage assurance budgets, vendor contracts for co-sourcing/outsourcing arrangements and relationships with external assurance providers to optimize cost and capability.
Champion process standardization and automation of repetitive assurance activities (scripts, templates, workflows) to increase audit efficiency and scale coverage.
Present findings and influence action at the C‑Suite and board level, translating technical control issues into business terms and pragmatic risk‑based recommendations.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc assurance requests, control self‑assessments and management attestation processes across the business.
Build and maintain an assurance knowledge repository, audit program templates and playbooks to accelerate future engagements.
Deliver training and awareness sessions for control owners and business leaders on internal control responsibilities and best practices.
Participate in cross‑functional projects (ERP implementations, M&A integration, product launches) to embed controls early and mitigate implementation risk.
Assist with development and maintenance of policy documents, control matrices and process maps to improve transparency and auditability.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy by identifying key data sources for assurance, improving data quality and supporting data governance initiatives.
Collaborate with business units to translate operational risks into testable control requirements and measurable outcomes.
Participate in agile project ceremonies and provide assurance input to project risk registers and sprint planning where IT or process changes affect controls.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Strong working knowledge of SOX 404 testing methodology, control design and remediation lifecycle.
Proficiency with internal audit and control tools such as ACL, IDEA, Galvanize (formerly HighBond), Teammate, or similar audit management platforms.
Experience with data analytics and visualization tools: SQL, Python or R (basic scripts), Power BI, Tableau for testing automation and continuous monitoring.
Deep understanding of control frameworks (COSO ERM, COBIT, ISO 27001) and IIA Standards for professional internal auditing.
Practical experience assessing ITGCs, application controls, identity & access management, change management and incident management processes.
Financial statement knowledge and the ability to connect control deficiencies to financial reporting risk.
Familiarity with regulatory compliance regimes relevant to the business (GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, industry‑specific regulations).
Advanced Excel skills (pivot tables, Power Query, advanced formulas) and experience building automated testing routines or macros (VBA).
Experience managing third‑party/vendor risk and performing vendor assurance assessments.
Project management skills including scoping, resource planning, stakeholder communications and budget monitoring.

Soft Skills

Strong communicator with the ability to present complex assurance findings to executives and board members in clear, business‑centric language.
Proven leadership and people management skills: coaching, developing, and motivating audit teams.
Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills to drive remediation and control adoption across diverse business units.
Analytical thinker with meticulous attention to detail and the ability to synthesize large data sets into actionable insights.
Strategic mindset with the ability to prioritize assurance activities based on risk, cost and business impact.
High ethical standards, objectivity and independence in all assurance activities.
Problem‑solving and facilitation skills to lead cross‑functional workshops and root cause investigations.
Adaptability and resilience in fast‑moving environments and during regulatory or organizational change.
Strong time management and organizational skills, capable of managing multiple concurrent assurance engagements.
Collaborative team player with the ability to work across finance, IT, legal and operations to achieve shared risk outcomes.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Information Systems, Business Administration or a related field.

Preferred Education:

Master's degree (MSc, MAcc, MBA) or relevant advanced study.
Professional certifications such as CPA, CIA, CISA, CRISC or CISSP are highly desirable.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Accounting
Finance
Information Systems / Computer Science
Business Administration
Risk Management / Corporate Governance

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 6 – 12 years of combined experience in internal audit, external audit, SOX compliance, IT audit or risk management.

Preferred:

5+ years of progressive experience managing assurance engagements with at least 2–4 years in a people‑management role.
Experience in public accounting (Big 4) or a large corporate internal audit function.
Demonstrated history of leading SOX programs, ERM initiatives, ITGC assessments or vendor assurance programs.
Track record implementing data analytics in assurance workstreams and driving remediation to closure.