Lead Consultant - IT Quality Manager - SOx

Lead Consultant - IT Quality Manager - SOx

Career Level: E

Introduction to role:

Are you ready to develop the quality standard for SOx across a global technology landscape and unlock agility, confidence and clarity in how we operate? Do you enjoy the intersection of technology, audit, and lean automation, turning complex controls into simple, scalable, digital practices that stand up to scrutiny and deliver business value?

In this role, you will steer the management alongside the implementation of our annual IT SOx testing and financial audit readiness. You will ensure our systems and services consistently meet the highest bar for build and operating efficiency. You will collaborate with control owners, vendors, and external auditors to simplify, automate, and improve continuously. This enables our people to move faster with confidence and supports our organization in delivering life-changing medicines.

Your impact will be felt across the enterprise as you standardize and digitize key processes. You will set a higher standard for control building and cultivate a data-driven compliance setup. Join a team that embraces creative problem-solving backed by the resources to deliver—and turn quality into a strategicadvantage!

Accountabilities:

• Annual IT SOx Testing Delivery: Lead and play an active role in the annual plan and execution of testing, providing a clear line of sight from controls to financial reporting integrity and audit reliance.
• Design Effectiveness Reviews: Facilitate and support meticulous reviews so risks and controls are identified, evidenced and documented in the control register/IRM with clarity and completeness.
• Control Design Excellence: Simplify and strengthen IT SOx controls, embedding standards and data principles to enable scalability and repeatability.
• Continuous Monitoring and Digitisation: Apply Lean thinking and automation to monitor, improve and digitize processes, reducing cycle times and error rates.
• Digital Ways of Working: Standardize and simplify testing through automation and collaboration tools that create consistency across teams and geographies.
• Test Execution and Quality Assurance: Implement periodic test scripts, document outcomes, and lead peer reviews to ensure completeness, accuracy and high-quality data throughout.
• Issue Management and Remediation: Ensure issues are documented, communicated and remediated; drive impact assessments and track to closure to mitigate risk at pace.
• Reliance-Based Testing Oversight: Serve as the lead review and sign-off point for reliance-based control testing, aligning with external auditor expectations.
• Project Lifecycle Control Integration: Ensure effective safeguards are built and embedded across the project development lifecycle to “build in” compliance from day one.
• Evidence Evaluation and Judgement: Apply analytical judgment to interpret control intent and evidence, concluding on operating effectiveness with clarity.
• Customer and Auditor Engagement: Establish effective working partnerships with control owners, third-party suppliers and external auditors to ensure audit readiness and smooth execution.
• External Audit Support: Lead and support walk-throughs of IT SOx controls and work in close coordination with external audit teams based on mutually agreed processes.
• Risk Identification and Reporting: Identify IT quality and compliance risks and lead resolution, reporting and customer concerns to maintain a strong control environment.
• Collaboration and Information Exchange: Work with peers, lead auditors and leadership on requests for advice and mentorship; chip in with team improvement initiatives and documentation.
• Training and Awareness: Support the creation and rollout of SOx training, education and awareness to uplift capability and consistency across the organization.
• SOx Projects and Services Enablement: Partner across the technology quality community to land new SOx projects or services successfully and sustainably.
• Lean and Data Principles: Advance Lean and apply FAIR/GRAD data principles to underpin reliable, reusable and accessible SOx data.
• Performance Improvement via Automation: Use insights and trends to deliver measurable improvements in compliance performance through Lean and automation.
• Data Quality and Reporting: Drive accountability for the completeness, accuracy and currency of SOx-related data through effective monitoring, tracking and reporting.
• Planning: Apply specialist knowledge to create strategy and operational plans for compliance activities that enable the organization to scale with confidence.

Essential Skills/Experience:

• Work as part of the Global Testing Team to actively participate in the operational delivery of the Annual IT SOx testing/financial audit through assessing the compliance of our SOx applications and services
• Lead/Support internal Design Effectiveness Reviews to ensure risks and controls are clearly identified and documented in the Control Register/IRM
• Drive excellence and simplification in the design of our IT SOx controls ensuring adherence to standards and data principles
• Responsible for the continuous monitoring, improvement and digitisation through applying LEAN thinking and techniques, and exploiting tools and automation
• Support the delivery of digital ways of working and automation to standardise and simplify key SOx testing processes
• Implement periodic test scripts, documenting the results, and peer review/lead audit others testing ensuring completeness and accuracy of data throughout
• Ensure testing issues are documented, communicated, remediated and monitored to ensure all control failures are fully impact assessed
• Responsible for the Lead Audit review and sign-off of reliance-based control testing
• Responsible for ensuring effective controls are designed and introduced through the Project Development lifecycle
• Utilise your experience and analytical skills to understand the intent of the control and to interpret the evidence before concluding if the controls are operating effectively and documented correctly
• Develop strong working relationships with Control Owners, 3rd Party Suppliers and External Auditors to support them with their day-to-day aspects of formal/informal control testing and audit readiness/activities
• Lead/Support external auditor walk-throughs of IT SOx Controls
• Provide support during audits working directly with external audit teams through agreed ways of working, collaboration tools etc.
• Accountable for identifying IT Quality, Compliance risks and issues and leading all aspects of resolution and reporting for the IT SOx systems
• Collaborate with Peers/Lead Auditor/QM LT on requests for external auditor advice/mentorship
• Play a pivotal role towards team activities (e.g. improvement initiatives, team administration and documentation/SOPs, assisting in other areas of testing where required)
• Supports the creation and roll out of SOx training, education and awareness campaigns for IT
• Working with the broader IT Quality Management team in support of successful delivery of new SOx projects or services
• Supports the SOx Business Process owner to drive the Lean maturity activities
• Support SOx compliance by applying data principles such as FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable)
• Drive and deliver improvements in our Compliance performance through Lean and automation to continuously improve Quality Management services utilising insights and trends
• Improve Compliance scores by driving accountability for the completeness, accuracy and currency of SOx related data through effective monitoring, tracking and reporting
• Apply specialist knowledge to support enterprise level thinking and operational planning around how to lead compliance activities in the IT organisation

Desirable Skills/Experience:

• Professional certifications such as CISA, CRISC, CIA, ITIL or Lean Six Sigma
• Experience with GRC/IRM tooling and control registers (e.g., ServiceNow IRM, Archer) and collaboration platforms
• Background in external or internal audit, including leading auditor walk-throughs and reliance-based testing
• Experience designing and testing IT general controls across on-prem and cloud environments (e.g., Azure, AWS), identity and access management, change management and operations
• Hands-on use of automation and analytics to handle SOx testing (e.g., scripting, SQL, Power BI) and drive continuous monitoring
• Strong customer management and social skills across control owners, suppliers and auditors in a global, matrixed environment
• Experience in highly regulated or life sciences organizations and familiarity with FAIR/GRAD data principles

When we put unexpected teams in the same room, we ignite innovative thinking with the power to encourage life-changing medicines. In-person working gives us the platform we need to connect, work at pace and challenge perceptions. That's why we work, on average, a minimum of three days per week from the office. But that doesn't mean we're not flexible. We balance the expectation of being in the office while respecting individual flexibility. Join us in our unique and high-reaching world.

Why AstraZeneca:

Here, quality and innovation sit side by side to power real-world impact for patients. You will join a technology community that brings a diverse set of minds together to tackle enterprise-scale problems with data, automation and tech platforms—and backs experimentation with investment and support. We blend ambition with understanding, encourage curiosity every day, and create space for you to design and own solutions that set a higher standard on compliance while accelerating how fast science reaches those who need it. Your expertise will help shape a data-led future where robust controls enable speed, trust and bold ideas to excel.

Call to Action:

If you’re ready to lead a global SOx quality agenda that safeguards trust and unlocks faster progress for patients, we’d love to hear how you will make your mark.

Date Posted

Closing Date

AstraZeneca embraces diversity and equality of opportunity.  We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse team representing all backgrounds, with as wide a range of perspectives as possible, and harnessing industry-leading skills.  We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.  We welcome and consider applications to join our team from all qualified candidates, regardless of their characteristics.  We comply with all applicable laws and regulations on non-discrimination in employment (and recruitment), as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements.