Vice President, Group SOx Assurance

Join Barclays as Vice President, Group SOx Assurance where you'll play a pivotal role in managing Barclays Group level and BX (Barclays Execution) processes for design and operating effectiveness testing of SOx controls, including Significant Unusual Transactions and assessment of SUADs (Summary of Unadjusted Audit Differences). You will be responsible for providing assurance testing for the Entity Level Controls for Barclays ; leading the Group SOx Scoping Activity and SOx Methodology Annual Refresh and align with the overall Barclays Control Framework, COSO (Committee of Sponsoring Organizations) and ERMF (Enterprise Fraud Risk Management). Your role will have the opportunity to work closely with the external auditors in India and globally, from a Group SOx perspective. This is a people leader role, and you’re expected to lead the Group team in India and functionally responsible for the UK Group team, front-ending the overall Controls Finance engagement for Barclays Execution (BX) Services.

To be successful in this role, you should have:

• Financial Services industry experience preferably from audit or assurance background in Group/ Head Office/ Corporate Finance areas.

• Group Reporting and Consolidation experience in Financial Reporting areas.

• Understanding of minimum standards for Assurance, SOx and control issues reporting.

• Effective written and oral communication skills, with an ability to present credibly to senior stakeholders.

• Good stakeholder and people management skills.

Some other highly valued skills may include:

• Formal accounting qualification like Chartered Accountant and certification like CIA (Certified Internal Audit) is preferred.

• Controllership experience.

• Extensive working knowledge of operational risk & control processes and practices, including experience in their application across functions.

You may be assessed on the key critical skills relevant for success in role, such as risk and controls, change and transformation, business acumen strategic thinking and digital and technology, as well as job-specific technical skills.

This role is based in our Chennai / Noida office.

Purpose of the role

To partner with the bank, to provide independent insurance on control processes and advise on improvements to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of the bank’s internal controls framework.  

Accountabilities

• Collaboration across the bank to maintain a satisfactory, robust, and efficient control environment through the execution of ad-hoc assessments and testing on the design and operational effectiveness of the internal controls, aligned to control policies and standards.
• Development of detailed test plans and procedures to identify weaknesses in internal controls and other initiatives aligned to the bank’s control framework to mitigate any potential risks and issues, prioritised by its severity to disrupt bank operations, potential losses, and reputational impact.
• Communication of key findings and observations to the relevant stakeholders and business units to improve overall control efficiency and provide corrective actions to senior managers. Collaboration with other control professionals to resolve complex issues and ensure consistent testing methodologies across the bank.
• Development of a knowledge centre containing detailed documentation of control assessments, testing on design and operational effectiveness of procedures, findings, and the distribution of material on internal controls to train and upskill colleagues within the bank.

Vice President Expectations

• To contribute or set strategy, drive requirements and make recommendations for change. Plan resources, budgets, and policies; manage and maintain policies/ processes; deliver continuous improvements and escalate breaches of policies/procedures..
• If managing a team, they define jobs and responsibilities, planning for the department’s future needs and operations, counselling employees on performance and contributing to employee pay decisions/changes. They may also lead a number of specialists to influence the operations of a department, in alignment with strategic as well as tactical priorities, while balancing short and long term goals and ensuring that budgets and schedules meet corporate requirements..
• If the position has leadership responsibilities, People Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others..
• OR for an individual contributor, they will be a subject matter expert within own discipline and will guide technical direction. They will lead collaborative, multi-year assignments and guide team members through structured assignments, identify the need for the inclusion of other areas of specialisation to complete assignments. They will train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions..
• Advise key stakeholders, including functional leadership teams and senior management on functional and cross functional areas of impact and alignment.
• Manage and mitigate risks through assessment, in support of the control and governance agenda.
• Demonstrate leadership and accountability for managing risk and strengthening controls in relation to the work your team does.
• Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of the organisation functions to contribute to achieving the goals of the business.
• Collaborate with other areas of work, for business aligned support areas to keep up to speed with business activity and the business strategies.
• Create solutions based on sophisticated analytical thought comparing and selecting complex alternatives. In-depth analysis with interpretative thinking will be required to define problems and develop innovative solutions.
• Adopt and include the outcomes of extensive research in problem solving processes.
• Seek out, build and maintain trusting relationships and partnerships with internal and external stakeholders in order to accomplish key business objectives, using influencing and negotiating skills to achieve outcomes.

All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.