Internal Audit Manager

Trident Consulting is seeking a " Internal Audit Manager for one of our client in " Bay Area, CA A global leader in business and technology services.

Title : Internal Audit Manager

Rate : $105/hr on w2

Location : Bay Area, CA

Location preference - ideally the candidate is located in the Bay Are and be in office at SFHQ 1 day/week (flexible on the day of the week.)

Job Summary

• We are looking for an Internal Audit Manager to support the Director of Internal Audit, who leads two closely connected programs: the company's ongoing SOX testing program and a forward-looking SOX readiness workstream that evaluates new products, system implementations, and significant business changes before they go live.
• This is not a program-leadership role the Director and existing team own the programs themselves. Instead, this role is brought in to help design and stand up structure and governance around a handful of key initiatives that cut across both programs: things like a consistent intake and prioritization process for readiness reviews, a clearer reporting/status cadence, or a standardized set of templates and checkpoints that both teams currently lack or apply inconsistently.
• Beyond SOX, the role also supports the Director's broader work across Internal Audit most notably, bringing structure to the department's AI-related initiatives (e.g., piloting AI tools for testing or documentation, evaluating use cases, coordinating with other teams on responsible use).
• The scope will also flex to cover other initiatives and ad hoc priorities as they come up, so this person should be comfortable picking up new, loosely defined efforts and quickly figuring out how to organize them.
• The ideal candidate is someone who's good at bringing order to ambiguous, cross-functional work mapping out how something should run, documenting it, and helping it stick without needing to own or run the underlying programs day to day.

What You'll Do

Structure & Governance for Key SOX Initiatives

• Partner with the Director to identify a small set of high-priority initiatives where the testing and readiness programs would benefit from clearer structure, process, or governance.
• Help design intake, prioritization, and tracking processes for example, how new system implementations or product launches enter the readiness pipeline and get triaged.
• Develop templates, checklists, and RACI frameworks (e.g., control impact assessments, go-live readiness checkpoints) that can be reused consistently across initiatives.
• Help establish a lightweight reporting and status cadence that gives the Director and stakeholders visibility into progress on these initiatives without adding heavy overhead.
• Document processes and decisions as they're established, so governance structures are clear and repeatable rather than living in individual people's heads.

AI Initiatives Across Internal Audit

• Help organize and track the department's AI-related initiatives pilots, tool evaluations, use cases so they're visible and coordinated rather than scattered across individual efforts.
• Support the development of lightweight governance around AI use in audit work (e.g., intake for new use cases, documentation of what's been tried, basic risk/responsible-use considerations).
• Coordinate with stakeholders inside and outside Internal Audit on AI-related efforts, and help synthesize findings or recommendations for the Director.
• Help identify and prioritize which AI initiatives are worth pursuing further versus parking.

General Support & Ad Hoc Initiatives

• Take on other initiatives and activities as they arise, bringing the same structure-first approach: understanding the goal, mapping out a workable process, and documenting it.
• Act as a flexible extra set of hands for the Director on whatever is the current priority, whether that's a one-off project, a piece of research, or help preparing for an important meeting or decision.

Cross-Functional Support

• Coordinate with stakeholders across engineering, product, finance transformation, and the SOX team to gather input and buy-in on new processes and structures.
• Help prepare materials (status updates, process documentation, summaries) that the Director can use in leadership or Audit Committee conversations.
• Track open items and follow-ups related to the specific initiatives in scope, flagging risks or delays to the Director.

Continuous Improvement

• Identify gaps or inconsistencies in how programs and initiatives currently coordinate, and propose practical fixes.
• Pilot new templates or processes on a small scale before recommending broader rollout.
• Incorporate feedback from the Director and team to refine governance structures over time.

What You'll Bring

• 7+ years of experience in internal audit, SOX compliance, risk/controls, program management, or a chief-of-staff role supporting an audit, finance, or compliance function.
• Demonstrated ability to build structure and process from scratch in ambiguous, cross-functional environments not just operate within an existing framework.
• Comfort working across a mix of structured (SOX) and less-defined (AI initiatives, ad hoc projects) workstreams at the same time.
• Familiarity with SOX/COSO concepts and internal controls; direct SOX testing experience is a plus but not required if process/governance design experience is strong.
• Interest in or exposure to AI tools and use cases is a plus this person doesn't need deep technical AI expertise, but should be comfortable helping organize and evaluate AI-related efforts.
• Experience with GRC platforms (e.g., Optro, Archer, or similar) or comparable project/workflow tracking tools.
• Strong written communication skills, including experience documenting processes and preparing materials for leadership audiences.
• Good stakeholder management skills able to work credibly with engineering and product teams as well as finance and audit colleagues.
• Comfortable juggling a small portfolio of focused initiatives rather than owning broad day-to-day program operations.
• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, Information Systems, or related field.