Quality, Risk & Compliance Director

We're seeking someone to give the client assurance that the service is controlled, neutral, compliant and audit-ready. To own quality, risk and governance across the service, and make sure independence and segregation-of-duties controls are designed, operated and evidenced.

The role suits a finance, risk or audit leader who is used to reporting to boards and audit committees, and who can hold a live operation to its controls without slowing it down.

About the Service

A leading South African financial institution is mobilising a managed service to run its contingent workforce process end to end. The service covers the full contractor lifecycle: requisitions, supplier routing, onboarding, contractor care, renewals, timesheets and deliverables, billing control and exits. It operates for a large population of contractors and consultants placed by a panel of more than 200 recruitment suppliers.

The service is delivered by a neutral managed service provider, on the client's systems and under the client's policies. The client keeps every decision that matters: policy, budget, rates, selection, payment and settlement. The provider administers, controls, reports and improves, and treats every supplier equally.

Key Responsibilities

Quality and control

• Own the control framework, the policy and obligation register and the role-and-access matrices.
• Run control testing and report results to the client's risk and audit forums.
• Confirm that no process goes live until its controls, ownership and evidence route are in place.

Independence and neutrality

• Own the conflict register, recusal log and declarations, and the quarterly conflict reviews.
• Investigate and report breaches, and drive containment and corrective action.
• Make sure specialist teams stay inside their approved boundaries.

Risk and audit

• Maintain the risk register and report material risks and dependencies.
• Support internal and external audit with complete evidence packs.
• Report control failures and repeated exceptions through governance.

Governance

• Chair the quality and risk forum and attend service governance forums.
• Work with the Compliance and Regulatory Lead, who carries out regulatory execution day to day.

What success looks like

• No process goes live without its controls, owner and evidence route.
• Control testing completed on schedule and reported to the client's risk and audit forums.
• Conflict register, recusal log and declarations current, with quarterly reviews held.
• Audits supported with complete evidence and no unresolved repeat findings.

Boundaries of the role

Independence is central to this service. This role does not:

• accept risk or grant a policy dispensation on the client's behalf: the client accepts risk.
• override, or act in place of, a client decision on policy, budget, rates, selection, payment, settlement or risk acceptance.
• favour or disadvantage any supplier or candidate.

You must declare any current or recent relationship with the client institution or with any supplier on its panel.

Requirements

Qualifications

• Chartered Accountant (CA(SA)), or an equivalent professional qualification in risk, audit or compliance.

Experience

• At least 10 years in finance, risk, audit or governance leadership, including in a regulated environment.
• Experience designing and testing controls, including segregation of duties.
• Experience reporting to boards, audit committees or regulators.

Skills and knowledge

• Financial governance and risk management.
• Internal control design and audit management.
• Independence and conflict management.
• Executive reporting.

Systems and tools

• Governance, risk and compliance tools, financial systems, and advanced Excel.

Advantageous

• Board or audit-committee experience.

Personal attributes

• Independent judgement and the confidence to raise uncomfortable findings.
• Precision and discipline with evidence.
• Credibility with senior stakeholders and auditors.
• Practical approach to controls that protects speed of service.

Working relationships

• The Compliance and Regulatory Lead.
• The client's risk, audit and compliance forums.
• The Strategic Commercial / Chief Solution Director, who sponsors independence controls.
• All operational and specialist team leads, for control ownership.

As all iqbusiness roles require honesty in the handling of or access to cash, finances, financial systems, or confidential information; our recruitment process requires that the following background checks be completed: credit, criminal, ID, and qualification verification.

iqbusiness is committed to sustainable growth and transformation, we embrace diversity and employ previously disadvantaged individuals