Associate Director, Internal Assurance (Advisory Services)

Job Category

Job Profile

Job Title

Department

Compensation Range

The Compensation Range is the span between the minimum and maximum base salary for a position. The midpoint of the range is approximately halfway between the minimum and the maximum and represents an employee that possesses full job knowledge qualifications and experience for the the normal course employees will be hired transferred or promoted between the minimum and midpoint of the salary range for a job.

Posting End Date

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the Posting End Date.

Job End Date

At UBC we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research innovation and learning for all faculty staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career.

Job Summary
The Associate Director Internal Assurance (Advisory Services) performs a senior leadership and mentorship role within the Internal Assurance practice area of Enterprise Risk and Assurance (ERA). The role is a key member of the Enterprise Risk and Assurance (ERA) core leadership team working collaboratively with the Chief Enterprise Risk and Assurance Officer (CERAO) Director Internal Assurance Associate Director Internal Assurance (Audit and Investigations) and Director of Enterprise Risk Management to provide integrated independent and objective advisory services that support the Universitys strategic objectives and manage institutional risks.

This role contributes to the development and implementation of Internal Assurance (IA)s vision and strategy. This role is responsible for the delivery of independent risk-based advisory services ensuring alignment with IIA Global Standards. The Associate Director leads the development and application of advisory methodologies manages complex engagements and provides strategic insights to strengthen internal controls mitigate risks and enhance institutional integrity. The Associate Director also collaborates with stakeholders including the Enterprise Risk Management team and serves as a trusted advisor to university leadership. The role leads and mentors a high-performing team of advisory professionals including Senior Managers and Senior Advisors and represents ERA on key university committees. This position regularly represents the department interacting with the UBC senior leadership institutional leaders and other internal and external stakeholders attending Executive Leadership and Audit Committee meetings as required.

Organizational Status
The Office of Enterprise Risk and Assurance (ERA) is organized in a hierarchy designed to reflect the approval and review requirements of the International Professional Practices Framework (IPPF) of the professions standards-setting organization the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA). These standards were recently updated in 2024.

These standards require formal review and approval of all IA activities including annual planning reporting and the execution of engagements. The requirements associated with these primary activities are best supported by a hierarchy that reflects the competencies required at each stage of review and approval.

The Chief Audit Executive or CAE (the Chief Enterprise Risk and Assurance Officer or CERAO) is accountable to the Chair of the Audit Committee functionally and the Vice President Finance and Operations administratively for the quality of the Internal Assurance function and its activities including the planning and the execution of engagements and performs the final Quality Assurance (QA) step. This role has additional accountabilities including setting ERAs overall vision and strategy and the direction for the Internal Assurance function as well as advocating for the provision of essential conditions for the practice of internal auditing including resource planning and budgeting. The CERAO may delegate certain approvals to the Director Internal Assurance.

The Director Internal Assurance (IA) reports to the CERAO. This role develops and executes the overall vision and strategy for the collective Internal Assurance function (Audit and Advisory) provides approvals and Quality Assurance (QA) (as delegated from the CERAO) ensures consistency across the function and compliance with the IIA standards. This role is also responsible for periodic planning and reporting of internal assurance activities to Senior and Executive Leadership and the Audit Committee of the Board.

The Associate Director Internal Assurance (Advisory Services) reports to the Director Internal Assurance. This role defines the advisory methodology employed across all advisory engagements providing overall leadership and review over all engagements including file consistency completeness and accuracy as well as logic models employed in arriving at observations and conclusions. The Director relies on the Associate Director for final QA over these components of the engagement. This role is also integral to planning and reporting activities.

The Senior Manager Advisory will report to the Associate Director Advisory. This role has primary responsibility for planning and execution of engagements. They provide leadership and supervision over multiple engagements with different IA teams and provide primary resource allocation and quality control. They are also involved in planning and reporting from a support perspective.

Senior Advisors and Advisors report to the Associate Director but may be supervised and mentored by the Senior Managers and perform primary fieldwork data analysis and report writing under varying levels of supervision by the Senior Manager and Associate Director.

Work Performed

• Responsible for delivery and maintenance of robust advisory methodologies aligned with the IIA Global Standards and ERAs strategic vision to guide advisory activities.

• Responsible with ERA management for the development of the Annual Internal Assurance Plan.

• Responsible for delivering all advisory engagements.

  • Reviews all key engagement documentationincluding engagement letters work plans fieldwork reports or any other material needed for the advisory engagement.

• Responsible for the advisory related content of regular executive and Audit Committee reporting.

• Supports the Director of Internal Assurance by providing informed advice on continuous improvement initiatives and contributing to regular status reporting .

• Hires coaches mentors and develops a high-performing team of advisory professionals fostering a culture of excellence inclusion and continuous improvement.

• Responsible for the development and maintenance of the ERA Technology Strategy.

• Leads and provides direction to the data analytics team to leverage technology and data-driven insights in audit and investigative work.

• Collaborates with the ERM team to align assurance activities with institutional risk priorities and strategic goals and provide support for ERM activities as appropriate.

• Engages as a trusted advisor to academic and administrative leadership including the senior leadership and builds strong relationships to help strengthen internal controls and risk management capabilities at all levels across the university.

• Represents ERA on strategic committees and cross-functional initiatives providing expertise advice insight and foresight

• Promotes cross-functional knowledge sharing and professional development to build internal assurance capacity university-wide.

• Collaborates with other risk compliance assurance and advisory functions across the university as appropriate to build strategic relationships and synergies.

• Oversees the execution of other ERA related activities (e.g. Audit and Investigations Enterprise Risk Management) as required.

Consequence of Error/Judgement

Significant levels of professional judgment must be exercised in this role. Lack of good judgment errors in or incorrect work could result in:

• Misleading risk or internal control assessments causing understatement of risk providing management and the Audit Committee with false comfort and potentially exposing UBC to increased financial and non-financial risk (no limit).

• Misleading risk or internal control assessments causing overstatement of risk potentially causing UBC to overcontrol and waste resources.

• Failure to exercise judgment in dealing with sensitive and confidential matters could adversely influence the outcome of investigations and negatively impact the reputation of ERA and the University.

• Legal and labor relations implications.

Supervision Received

• Reports to the Director Internal Assurance

• On occasion may receive project-specific direction from the CERAO and/or Director of Enterprise Risk Management

Supervision Given
Leads and oversees the work of a small team of internal assurance professionals and team members which may include Senior Managers Senior Internal Auditors and student employees.

Minimum Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline. Completion of the CPA accounting program (CA CGA or CMA) or other recognized designation in accounting risk management or assurance. Minimum of ten years of related experience or the equivalent combination of education and experience..

Willingness to respect diverse perspectives including perspectives in conflict with ones own. Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing ones own awareness knowledge and skills related to equity diversity and inclusion n

Preferred Qualifications

• Graduate degree or additional certifications (e.g. PMP CRISC CGEIT CIA CRM CRMA CISA CFE data analytics)

• Related experience in internal assurance with focus on advisory in areas such as academic financial reputational operational and strategic risk are preferred. Management consulting experience is an asset.

• Previous team leadership experience and working in an integrated risk and audit environment

• Strong knowledge of the IIA Global Standards and leading-edge internal assurance practices tools and techniques.

• Strong knowledge of governance risk and control standards and frameworks (e.g. COSO NIST COBIT) with the ability to think critically and design tailored practical and actionable solutions that help advance institutional resilience and integrity.

• Demonstrated experience in the following areas:

  • Business Process transformation (large complex projects) including experience with understanding and translating complex business requirements in a fast-paced environment.

  • Data Analytics and GRC (technology perspective)

  • IT governance and IT risk management

  • Emerging technologies IoT AI RPA

• Progressive forward-looking risk-based approach with a willingness to fully embrace leading edge practices.

• Ability to establish a strategic direction and subsequently outline initiatives and develop priorities in support of that vision.

• Demonstrated ability to successfully lead inspire and mentor diverse high-performing teams towards the strategic goals of the ERA leadership team that support the organizations vision.

• Strategic thinker and problem solver and the ability to see the bigger picture.

• Experience developing communicating executing and sustaining strategic initiatives.

• Extensive experience working in a dynamic project-based environment with emphasis on timelines and value realization.

• Proven ability to lead improvement initiatives within complex decentralized organizations (e.g. public sector or higher education).

• Understands and can work effectively in the context of the culture and traditions of a public university and can engender the confidence and respect of faculty staff and students.

• Ability to develop effective and collaborative relationships with organizational leaders the Executive Team and the Assurance Committee that demonstrate professionalism and independence.

• Ability to understand the risk appetite of an organization and to prioritize and react appropriately based on risk and value.

• Ability to deal with sensitive and confidential issues using well-developed discretion and judgement.

• Ability to maintain confidentiality of information and communicate only appropriate information to individuals at the appropriate time.

• Innovative dynamic and adaptive.

• Courageous and collaborative.

• Strong planning and organizational skills are important.

• Strong verbal and written communication skills are important.

Equity and diversity are essential to academic excellence. An open and diverse community fosters the inclusion of voices that have been underrepresented or discouraged. We encourage applications from members of groups that have been marginalized on any grounds enumerated under the B.C. Human Rights Code including sex sexual orientation gender identity or expression racialization disability political belief religion marital or family status age and/or status as a First Nation Metis Inuit or Indigenous person.