Internal Audit & SOX Program Sr Manager at Avant in Chicago, IL

Avant champions every customer on their financial journey and moves financial lives forward. We provide personal loans, credit cards, and financial products that help middle-income Americans access the financial tools they deserve.

Avant is seeking an Internal Audit & SOX Program Manager to lead the day-to-day execution, maturation, and scale-up of our internal audit and SOX compliance program. This role will be responsible for building and operating a best-in-class controls environment that supports our bank partners, regulatory obligations, executive leadership, and the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee of the Board.

This individual will own the internal audit roadmap and plan, SOX program administration, testing calendar, remediation governance, and IPO readiness initiatives across business process, financial reporting, and IT general controls. The ideal candidate combines strong audit and SOX expertise with operational rigor, cross-functional leadership, and the ability to build scalable programs in a fast-moving fintech environment.

This role sits in Finance and reports to the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee of the Board.

Why this role matters:

Avant operates within a highly regulated financial ecosystem where our bank partners, regulators, and our Board expect a mature and reliable control environment. As the company continues to scale, this role will be instrumental in strengthening governance, formalizing SOX compliance capabilities, and preparing the organization for future public company expectations. This role sits at the center of Finance, Risk, Compliance, Technology, and Executive Leadership and will directly influence how Avant operationalizes accountability, transparency, and risk management at scale.

What you do at Avant:

• Own and build the SOX and internal audit program. Lead the design, implementation, and ongoing administration of Avant’s SOX compliance and internal audit program, including governance structures, risk assessment methodologies, controls documentation standards, testing procedures, issue management processes, and reporting frameworks.
• Drive SOX and control program maturity. Partner cross-functionally with Finance, Accounting, Engineering, Compliance, Legal, and Enterprise Risk to strengthen the company’s internal control environment and build scalable processes aligned to public-company operating and compliance standards, including SOX 302 and 404 requirements.
• Own the annual audit and controls plan. Develop and maintain a risk-based audit and controls testing plan covering financial reporting, operational processes, IT controls, cybersecurity, and third-party risk. Continuously reassess risks and adjust priorities as the business evolves.
• Lead the controls testing and SOX execution end to end. Oversee walkthroughs, control testing, deficiency evaluation, issue remediation tracking, management reporting, and evidence retention across both manual and automated controls. Coordinate with external auditors and advisory partners as needed.
• Lead and execute audits. Develop audit scopes, risk assessments, test plans and reporting deliverables. Oversee fieldwork alongside audit analysts or co-sourced partners and produce clear, actionable findings for leadership.
• Operationally manage the program. Run the audit and SOX program with strong project management discipline, including milestones, RACI ownership, stakeholder communications, dependency management, and status reporting across multiple concurrent workstreams.
• Partner across the organization. Work closely with Finance, Accounting, Engineering, Product, Compliance, Enterprise Risk, and control owners to align on control design, testing coordination, remediation activities, and documentation requirements while minimizing disruption to the business.
• Drive remediation and continuous improvement. Track issues from identification through validated remediation and closure. Escalate aging or high-risk findings appropriately and help teams strengthen controls sustainably rather than tactically.
• Report to executive leadership and the Board. Prepare quarterly reporting materials for executive leadership and the Audit, Risk, and Compliance Committee of the Board summarizing audit progress, SOX readiness, testing outcomes, key risks, remediation status, and emerging control themes.
• Build scalable infrastructure and governance. Enhance audit playbooks, SOX narratives, risk-control matrices, GRC tooling, testing methodologies, analytics capabilities, and reporting automation to improve program efficiency and effectiveness over time.

Why you’re a fit at Avant:

• 8+ years of experience in internal audit, external audit, SOX compliance, or internal controls, including experience supporting public companies.
• Strong working knowledge of COSO 2013, SOX 302 and 404, PCAOB AS 2201, ITGC frameworks, and risk-based auditing methodologies.
• Experience building, scaling, or materially enhancing a SOX compliance program, internal audit function, or public-company controls environment.
• Demonstrated experience managing multiple concurrent audits, testing cycles, and remediation workstreams in a deadline-driven environment.
• Strong project and program management capabilities with the ability to drive accountability across cross-functional stakeholders.
• Experience coordinating with external auditors, consultants, regulators, and executive leadership.
• Active CPA, CIA, or CISA, or comparable credential preferred. Candidates actively pursuing certification will also be considered.
• Experience in financial services, fintech, banking, lending, payments, or another regulated industry.
• Strong analytical skills with experience leveraging Excel, SQL, Databricks, or similar tools to support data-driven testing approaches.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience presenting findings and status updates to executive leadership or Board-level audiences.
• Ability to operate independently in a fast-paced environment, evolving priorities and ambiguity.
• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Information Systems, or a related field.

Nice to have qualifications:

• Hands-on experience implementing or administering GRC platforms such as Workiva, LogicGate, AuditBoard, or ServiceNow GRC.
• Familiarity with cloud environments and modern engineering practices , including AWS, GCP, Azure, CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure as code.
• Understanding of consumer finance regulatory frameworks including TILA, ECOA, UDAAP, FCRA, GLBA.

This role is based on our downtown Chicago Office, located in the Merchandise Mart. We highly value collaboration and our hybrid schedule (M, T, Th in-office) enables flexibility to balance work and individual priorities.

Compensation Range:

The base salary range for this job is USD $150,000 - USD $210,000/ Year

Employees new to Avant typically come in below the midpoint of the pay range. The compensation range is based on the level outlined in the job posting, and compensation decisions are dependent on each applicant's experience, skills and abilities.

[If an outstanding applicant's experience and skill level is above or below the qualifications outlined in the job posting, we reserve the right to make an offer at a different level than the one listed in this job posting, which may have a different compensation range.]

This role is eligible for additional incentives, including an annual bonus. These rewards are allocated based on level, impact and performance in the role.

Our benefits include:

• Choice of great Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance Plan options
• 401(k) match
• Flexible Time Off
• Flexible Work Environment - (i.e. Mon/Tues/Thurs in-person)
• Generous Paid Parental Leave, Adoption Assistance and Post-parental leave ramp-up program
• Lunch Allowance (Fooda) and In-office Snacks
• Summer Fridays
• Fun In-Office and Virtual Social Events
• And who doesn’t love the swag

Check out ourAvant Blog!

We believe that a diverse set of backgrounds and experiences helps us create the most innovative solutions for our customers. We invite you to apply to our positions even if you do not meet 100% of the qualifications listed in the description. If you’re passionate about our mission and aligned to our values, we hope you’ll come contribute to our awesome culture.

Why Avant is the place for you:

At Avant, we believe our values make a difference:

Authenticity. We show up to work as our whole selves and make sure others can too.

Collaboration. We can only succeed when we do so as a team.

Problem-Solving. The harder the problem, the more satisfying the solution.

Customer. We are all owners of the customer experience.

Initiative. Plan. Adapt. Get Sh!t Done.

We believe that great ideas come from anyone and anywhere, that everyone is an owner who drives change, and that we have more fun when we work together. We're problem solvers who love collaborating with intelligent and highly-motivated people to reshape the face of digital banking. Avant offers terrific perks and benefits, fun social events with employees who actually like hanging out together, and a flexible growth environment where trying your hand at new projects and being the active owner of your career path is encouraged and supported.

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