Commercial Senior Audit Manager - Public Interest

Location: Birmingham

Alternatively, Grant Thornton

At Grant Thornton we do things differently - looking to the future, driving ambitious growth and pioneering positive change in our industry. Providing audit, tax and advisory services, we empower clients through strategic insight, curiosity, and genuine partnership. And we empower our people with real opportunity, an inclusive culture and work life balance. A true alternative.

With over 5,000 people in the UK, and a presence in 150 global markets, we're on an ambitious journey, from great to exceptional, and we need the best people to help us achieve our potential. And with that comes the opportunity to help redefine what our industry looks like, and what you want from your career.

Job Description:

Senior Manager, Public Interest (PI) Audit

Grant Thornton UK LLP | Audit | Birmingham

Within our Audit practice, we're very keen to support and hire those who have had career breaks or time away from Audit, who would like to return to a busy, flexible auditing role. Our vacancies for qualified Auditors are all open to supporting the up-skilling and re-integration of returners to our business.

A look into the role

The PI Audit Senior Manager holds delegated authority across a portfolio of the firm's largest and most scrutinised audit engagements, operating with a level of autonomy that approaches partner responsibility on all but the most contentious matters. The role carries accountability for audit quality, client relationship strength, financial performance and people leadership across the whole portfolio, not just a single engagement. Alongside delivery, the Senior Manager is expected to actively grow the PI practice across Birmingham and the wider Midlands, through business development and building the firm's market profile, and to develop the pipeline of Managers coming through beneath them.

Here are some things you can expect from this role:

Key Responsibilities

Audit quality and technical delivery

• Owns the design and oversight of audit strategies across a portfolio of PI engagements, ensuring consistent compliance with ISAs (UK), the firm's methodology and PI-specific regulatory requirements.
• Acts as the final review point before Engagement Lead and quality reviews, exercising senior professional judgement on complex and contentious matters and escalating to the partner only where genuinely needed.
• Is the go-to technical reference point for the practice on PI-specific matters, and owns independence and ethical compliance across the portfolio.

Client and stakeholder management

• Acts as the senior day-to-day relationship holder for Group FCs and Finance Directors, often representing the firm independently of the Engagement Lead.
• Leads presentation of audit findings to Audit Committees and owns proactive management of client expectations on timetable, deliverables and fees.
• Actively contributes to new business activity for the PI practice, including tender and pitch input.

People leadership

• Leads and develops a team of Managers, Assistant Managers and Associates across multiple engagements, holding formal line management responsibility for Assistant Managers.
• Takes a lead role in resource planning and the wider talent agenda for the Birmingham office.

Financial and commercial management

• Owns budget and profitability across the portfolio, leading fee negotiations independently where overruns or scope changes arise.
• Owns the growth strategy for the PI portfolio and the wider Audit practice in the Midlands.

Project management and delivery

• Plans and oversees delivery across multiple concurrent PI audit cycles, coordinating specialist input at portfolio scale.
• Reviews all client deliverables across the portfolio for technical accuracy and consistency of quality and messaging.

Risk, ethics and professional standards

• Role models the firm's risk management policies and acts with integrity and in line with the firm's values in all dealings, including when representing the firm in the partner's absence.
• Maintains professional competence through mandatory training, applied consistently across the portfolio.

Skills and Attributes for Success

• High-Profile Contact: The senior relationship holder for Group FCs and Finance Directors, often representing the firm independently of the Engagement Lead.
• Leadership Skills: Experience leading and developing a multi-grade team across a portfolio of engagements, including formal line management responsibility.
• Business Development and Commercial Ownership: Experience owning budget and profitability at portfolio level, leading fee negotiations independently, and contributing to new business activity including tender and pitch input.

Qualifications and Experience

• Fully qualified as a chartered accountant (e.g. ACA, ACCA, CA, ICAS, ICAEW or international equivalent).
• Experience planning, leading and delivering major external audit and assurance engagements in a senior managerial capacity, ideally at portfolio level.
• Experience of formal line management and contributing to business development activity within an audit practice.

Knowing you're right for us

We're interested in professionals with a genuine creative vision and the confidence to make it happen. You can expect plenty of autonomy in this role, so we look for people who will take initiative and seek out opportunities to improve our current relationships and processes. If you're serious about auditing and ready to take on some of our clients' most complex issues, this role is for you.

Knowing we're right for you

Embracing uniqueness, the culture at Grant Thornton thrives on the contributions of all our people, we never settle for what is easy, we look beyond to deliver the right thing, for everyone. Building an inclusive culture, where we value difference and respect our colleagues, helps our people to perform at the best of their ability and realise their potential.

Our open and accessible culture means you'll interact with leaders who are interested in you and everything you bring to our firm. The things that set you apart, we value them. That's why we give you the freedom to bring your whole self to work and pursue your passions inside and outside of work.

Beyond the job

Life is more than work. The things you do, and the people you're with outside of work matter, that's why we're happy to look at flexible working options for all our roles, and we'll always do our best to keep your work and life in balance.

The impact you can make here will go far beyond your day job. From secondments, to fundraising for local charities, or investing in entrepreneurs in the developing world, you'll be giving back to society. It's that drive to do the right thing that runs through our every move, grounded in our firm's values, purposefully driven, actively curious and candid but kind.

We're looking for people who want to contribute, spark fresh ideas and go beyond expectations. People who want to be able to proudly do what's right, for the firm, our clients, our people and themselves. It's how it should be.

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