Audit Specialist - Advisor - Edinburgh

Please note this is a 1-year FTC opportunity.

At Aberdeen, our ambition is to be the UK’s leading Wealth & Investments group. Strengthening talent and culture is one of our strategic priorities. We strive to make Aberdeen a great place to work so that we can attract and retain the industry’s best talent. Our people put our stakeholders at the heart of everything they do by helping us to make a positive difference to the lives of our clients, customers, colleagues, shareholders, and society. We are focused on growing our direct and advised wealth platforms and repositioning our specialist asset management business to meet client demand. We are committed to providing excellent client service, supported by leading technology and talent.

Aberdeen comprises three businesses, interactive investor (ii), Investments, and Adviser, each of which focuses on meeting and adapting to our clients’ evolving needs: interactive investor, the UK’s second largest direct-to-consumer investment platform, enables individuals in the UK to plan, save, and invest in the way that works for them. Our Adviser business provides financial planning solutions and technology for UK financial advisers, enabling them to create value for their customers. Our Investments business is a specialist asset manager that focuses on areas where we have both strength and scale to capitalise on the key themes shaping the market, through either public markets or alternative asset classes.

About the Department

The Internal Audit team are futurists and believe everyone should have a future they can look forward to. That means supporting our clients, customers, and shareholders in achieving prosperity, whilst providing an engaging and rich experience for our people. We are a key function in one of the world’s largest investment companies, our mission is to support Aberdeen in maximising sustainable, high-quality returns for our clients, customers and shareholders whilst effectively managing the risks faced by the business. We are a highly ambitious function who seek to innovate. We will help you grow by recognising and leveraging your strengths and potential, supporting your personal development. In return, we will ask you for your energy, enthusiasm, and the drive to deliver the results we aim to achieve.

About the Role

The Internal Audit Specialist plays a key role in driving audit delivery across the Adviser audit team. While each Specialist is aligned to a specific business or functions team, allowing for deep operational insight, the role is also designed to be adaptable. Specialists will be called upon to contribute / assist with audit delivery in different areas as needed, ensuring development opportunities, a well-rounded perspective, and a consistent audit approach across the various audit teams. This Internal Audit Specialist will service our platform-based Adviser business, working closely with and providing full audit support to one of our Internal Audit Managers to plan and execute audits.

Key Responsibilities

• Support the development of the audit plan through researching appropriate universe entity, inputting your knowledge from stakeholder engagements and other insight meetings and proposing audit ideas.
• Support Audit Manager/Senior Manager and Heads of Audit in developing and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders to enhance business area knowledge and to promote best audit practice across the Group. Where appropriate, this may include attending governance committees and forums.
• Responsible for detailed planning, scoping & performance of audit work to support delivery of Audit Plan. Where appropriate, the Audit Specialist may perform the Audit Lead role on audits.
• Ensure issues identified are analysed to determine the root cause and findings reported on with related follow-up undertaken on a timely basis to ensure effective delivery.
• Documentation of audit delivery work meets methodology and quality requirements. Ensure timely completion of work and escalation of issues and risks.
• Audit findings are articulated and communicated effectively to Senior Business Management in a clear, constructive, and accurate manner (in conjunction with Audit Manager/Senior Manager on complex audits).
• Complete issue validation to the expected standards, in line with methodology and in a timely manner, reporting back where the business has not closed issues adequately and identifying where further work is required.
• Act as a role model for IA’s vision, culture, strategy, and plan in line with organisational goals delivering difficult messages to the business when required.
• Support delivery of Aberdeen’s strategy by focusing IA's work on the highest risk areas, providing support for less experienced colleagues to do this.
• Support other audit delivery teams helping to deliver audits on time and to the expected quality. Engage with the Internal Audit colleagues and promote innovative ideas and ways of working.

About the Candidate

The ideal candidate will possess the following:

• A good understanding of Internal Audit standards and working practices.
• A Certified Accountant (CA) or Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) qualification, or significant practical industry experience.
• Good written and oral communication skills in a 1:1 and group environment.
• Good stakeholder engagement skills and a genuine ability to influence and communicate effectively at all levels.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Committed employer. If you have a disability and would like to apply to one of our UK roles under the Disability Confident Scheme, please notify us by completing the relevant section in our candidate questionnaire. One of our team will reach out to support you through your application process.

Our benefits

There’s more to working life than coming home with a good salary. We have an environment where you can learn, get involved and be supported. When you join us, your reward will be one of the best around. This includes 40 days’ annual leave, a 16% employer pension contribution, a discretionary performance-based bonus (where applicable), private healthcare and a range of flexible benefits – including gym discounts, season ticket loans and access to an employee discount portal.

Our business

Enabling our clients to be better investors drives everything we do. Our business is structured around three distinct areas – our vectors of growth – focused on our clients’ changing needs.

An inclusive way of working

Whatever way you like to work, if you have the talent and commitment to join our team, we’d like to hear from you. At Aberdeen we’ve adopted a ‘blended working’ approach. This approach combines the benefits of face-to-face collaboration, coaching and connecting in our offices with the flexibility of working from home. It enables colleagues to find a balance that works for their roles, their teams, our clients and our business.

An inclusive culture, where diverse perspectives drive our actions, is at the core of who we are and what we do. If you need assistance with your application, or a reasonable adjustment to your interview arrangements – for example, because you are neurodivergent, or have a physical, sensory, cognitive, mental, visible or invisible disability – please let us know and we’ll be happy to help.

We’re committed to providing an inclusive workplace where all forms of difference are valued and which is free from any form of unfair or unlawful treatment. We define diversity in its broadest sense – this includes but is not limited to our diversity of educational and professional backgrounds, experience, cognitive and neurodiversity, age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, religion or belief and ethnicity and geographical provenance. We support a culture that values meritocracy, fairness and transparency and welcomes enquiries from everyone. If you need assistance or an adjustment due to a disability please let us know as part of your application and we will assist.