Senior Assistant, Audit Independence, Quality, Risk & Security Services, (DISCoE) in Cardiff

The Quality, Risk and Security (QRS) community is an overarching identity for all of the professionals who manage quality and risk for Deloitte. It comprises: Deloitte Business Security (DBS), National Quality and Risk Management (NQRM) and Service Line Quality and Risk Management teams (including Switzerland) and is led by a dedicated partner who sits on the firm's Executive.

Within QRS, we use our skills and experience across a variety of disciplines to support a risk intelligent culture at Deloitte, enabling our partners and practitioners to deliver high quality services to their clients, minimising the administrative burden on our people, and acting as custodians of firm risk, security, ethics and reputation.

The Deloitte Independence Support Centre of Excellence (DISCoE) plays an important role in helping Deloitte protect audit independence. In the context of audit and assurance work, independence means being free from any conditions or relationships that could threaten the objectivity or integrity of the firm, or the individuals conducting the engagement. This applies to both the client and Deloitte, and is a regulatory requirement for all audit and assurance work.

Maintaining independence helps ensure that audit and assurance work is not compromised, protecting both its integrity and how it is perceived by the public. It is vital for building confidence in audit reports, as regulators, investors, shareholders and other third parties must be able to trust the findings.

Your opportunity: In this role, you will support some of the firm's key audit clients by helping to monitor, assess, and document non-audit services and business relationships. You will help determine whether these services and relationships are permitted under relevant independence rules before they are approved. You will also provide guidance on broader policy queries, including entertainment, gifts and donations, supporting teams across the UK and Swiss member firms and ensuring alignment with firm policies.

You will work closely with client service teams across the firm, providing practical guidance on independence requirements and helping them understand what is needed to meet Deloitte's policies and regulatory obligations. This may include analysing independence rules, preparing documentation, supporting regulatory responses, monitoring quality control processes, and identifying opportunities to improve how we work.

The role offers regular exposure to senior stakeholders across the firm, including senior partners, teams across Deloitte EMEA, and the wider Deloitte global network. You will also collaborate with other Quality, Risk & Security teams, including Firm Independence, Business Relationships, Ethics, and Conflicts.

As regulatory expectations continue to increase, this role offers an opportunity to develop specialist knowledge in auditor independence while making a visible contribution to protecting the firm, our clients, and the public interest.

Responsibilities:

• Provide guidance to partners and professional staff on queries related to entertainment, gifts and donations, with support from senior team members.
• Review and assess queries, consulting with senior stakeholders where required (e.g. Ethics, COOs, service line leaders).
• Identify potential policy or regulatory breaches and elevate issues to management.
• Review service requests (in SRM) and prepare supporting documentation to ensure compliance with independence rules prior to service approval.
• Liaise with client teams to monitor billing, reconcile invoices, and maintain accurate records and tracking documentation.
• Provide ongoing advice to professional staff on independence and audit-related queries.
• Contribute to reporting, including audit committee materials.
• Support the timely completion and closure of service requests.
• Support projects and continuous improvement initiatives within DISCoE.
• Complete regulatory documentation and monitoring activities (e.g. FRC, PCAOB requirements).
• Work with internal teams to ensure systems and corporate data (e.g. corporate entity trees) are kept up to date.

Connect to your skills and professional experience:

You're a natural at building strong relationships. Someone who can effectively communicate and manage expectations with senior and diverse stakeholders across the firm, ensuring seamless collaboration and clear understanding. Work within an inclusive team culture where people are recognised for their contribution. You thrive on delivering excellence under pressure. With strong workflow management and organisational skills, you consistently deliver high-quality outputs within agreed timescales, demonstrating meticulous attention to detail even when working to tight deadlines. You are self-motivated and proactive, always seeking to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

Essentials:

• Strong communication and presentation skills, with the ability to manage relationships with senior stakeholders across the firm.
• Able to deliver high-quality outputs under time pressure and within agreed business Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
• Highly organised with strong analytical, consultative, and decision-making skills.
• Strong report writing skills with excellent attention to detail, working accurately under tight deadlines.
• Confidence with Microsoft products and general application usage, including using AI tools where appropriate.
• Self-motivated with a positive attitude and demonstrates good judgement on when to work in-office to collaborate, learn, and connect with colleagues.

Desirables:

• An audit, compliance, risk, legal or Independence background.
• Previous knowledge of independence regulations.

Our hybrid working policy: You will be based in Cardiff with hybrid working. At Deloitte we understand the importance of balancing your career alongside your home life. That's why we'll support you to work flexibly through our hybrid working policy. Depending on the requirements of your role, you'll have the opportunity to work in your local office, virtual collaboration spaces, client sites and remotely.

Our commitment to you: Making an impact is more than just what we do: it's why we're here. So we work hard to create an environment where you can experience a purpose you believe in, the freedom to be you, and the capacity to go further than ever before. We want you. The true you. Your own strengths, perspective and personality. So we're nurturing a culture where everyone belongs, feels supported and heard, and is empowered to make a valuable, personal contribution.