Internal Auditor, Principal at Ascendiun in Long Beach, CA

Internal Auditor, Principal

Location: Long Beach, CA, United States

Your Role

The Internal Audit Services team performs internal audits and advisory services to provide assurance on specific internal control objectives and emerging risk areas. The Internal Audit Principal will report to the Internal Audit Senior Director. In this role, you will be leading and managing financial, operational, and integrated audits and advisory engagements. You will also be assessing the design and effectiveness of internal controls for business processes, financial reporting and measurement activities, and related applications in accordance with laws, regulations, policies, standards, and procedures using established tools and techniques.

Our leadership model is about developing great leaders at all levels and creating opportunities for our people to grow – personally, professionally, and financially. We are looking for leaders that are energized by creative and critical thinking, building and sustaining high-performing teams, getting results the right way, and fostering continuous learning.

Your Work

In this role, you will:

• Execute the annual audit plan by independently performing audit procedures, including identifying and defining issues, developing criteria, reviewing, and analyzing evidence, and documenting management processes and procedures
• Audits entail end to end process reviews, can be cross functional and complex
• Provide expertise in internal controls including project management, business process analysis, financial control disciplines, and information technology
• Implement strategic goals established by Internal Audit Services leadership
• Support Internal Audit management is the annual risk assessment process to develop the annual audit plan
• Identify, develop, and document audit issues and recommendations using independent judgment concerning areas being reviewed
• Prepares and delivers reports and presentations to various levels of management
• Performs post-audit follow-up reviews to ensure management corrective action plans have been effectively implemented
• Provides measurable input into new products, processes, standards, and/or operational plans that impact Internal Audit Services, and proactively improves upon existing processes and systems using significant conceptualizing, reasoning, and interpretation
• Conducts extensive investigation and critical thinking to understand root causes of problems that span a wide range of difficult and unique issues across functions and/or businesses
• Manages large, complex project initiatives of strategic importance to the organization, involving large cross-functional teams
• May direct the work of other individual contributors and/or act as a cross-functional team lead
• Leverages advanced data analytics and technical expertise to analyze complex and large-scale datasets, identify risk patterns, anomalies, and control gaps, and deliver actionable, data-driven audit insights
• Utilizes AI-enabled tools and automation (e.g., generative AI, machine learning, scripting) to enhance audit testing, streamline workpaper documentation, and improve audit efficiency, coverage, and quality
• Designs and executes data-driven audit procedures, including continuous monitoring techniques and automated control testing where appropriate
• Applies structured analytical methodologies to validate completeness, accuracy, and integrity of data used in audits, ensuring reliability of conclusions
• Identifies opportunities to embed analytics and AI into repeatable audit processes and standard methodologies to scale audit impact across engagements
• Champions adoption of emerging technologies within the audit function, promoting leading practices and responsible use aligned with enterprise policies and data governance requirements

Your Knowledge and Experience

• Requires a bachelor's degree or equivalent experience
• Requires a minimum of 10 years of prior related experience
• Requires ability to communicate with executive leadership regarding matters of significant importance to the organization
• Requires understanding of internal controls and the ability to leverage this knowledge to make effective audit and advisory recommendations
• Requires internal audit and risk assessment practices and methodologies
• Requires IT general and automated technical controls concepts, application controls and end-user computing controls
• Requires working knowledge of AI tools, models and platforms including associated risks, controls, and governance consideration
• Requires one to stay updated on data and AI trends, technologies, and regulations, applying insights to audit engagements and supporting the education of data and AI risks and controls to audit teams
• Healthcare and pharmacy audit experience preferred
• Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) and/or Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) preferred
  

Hybrid

This role requires employees to be in-office based on our hybrid workplace model, balancing purposeful in-person collaboration with flexibility. For most teams, this means coming into the office two days each week. Employees living more than 50 miles from an office location will work with their manager to determine in-office time based on business need.