Technical, Quality & Governance in Ashford

Salary: Up to £55,000 dependent on experience + excellent benefits

Permanent | Full Time | 35 hours per week

Flexible start/finish times: 8am–4pm / 9am–5pm / 10am–6pm

Free parking | Immediately accessible from Ashford International Station

Our client, a highly respected international trade association, is seeking an experienced Technical, Quality & Governance Professional to join its Head Office team in Ashford, Kent.

This is an excellent opportunity for a technically minded quality professional to take a key role in the governance, development and continuous improvement of a well-established global audit programme.

Sitting across Quality and Corporate Membership Services, you will work with an international network of experienced auditors, helping to ensure the consistent interpretation and application of technical standards, policies and procedures across the organisation.

This is not a traditional internal audit role. It would particularly suit someone from a technical, certification, quality assurance, standards, professional body or regulated environment who enjoys interpreting complex requirements, improving policy and procedure, analysing audit outcomes and working collaboratively with technical specialists.

A recognised Lead Auditor qualification with strong ISO 9001 knowledge is essential.

The Role

Working closely with the Quality Manager, you will provide technical and quality oversight of the organisation's internal and third-party audit programme.

A major focus will be ensuring that audits are undertaken consistently and professionally across an international auditor network. You will review audit reports and findings, provide constructive technical challenge, interpret standards and procedures, identify trends and use audit intelligence to strengthen policy, governance and quality across the organisation.

You will also contribute to the development of technical procedures, guidance and audit methodology, support auditor development and help ensure the organisation's quality framework continues to evolve as the international membership grows.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide technical and quality oversight of a global internal and third-party audit programme.
• Ensure audits are undertaken consistently in accordance with organisational governance, policies, procedures and relevant ISO standards.
• Review audit reports, evidence and findings, providing constructive challenge and identifying where amendments or further clarification are required.
• Support consistent interpretation and application of technical standards, policies and audit requirements across an international auditor network.
• Coordinate global audit activity and provide guidance on technical and audit-related queries.
• Support and monitor auditor objectives, quality and performance.
• Undertake internal audits and clearly document findings and recommendations.
• Analyse audit outcomes to identify emerging risks, recurring themes and opportunities for improvement.
• Produce concise reports and briefings highlighting trends, concerns, risks and recommendations.
• Collate, analyse and present audit performance data and metrics.
• Develop and maintain audit policies, procedures, technical guidance, documentation and bulletins.
• Manage feedback and follow-up processes to ensure findings and corrective actions are appropriately resolved.
• Identify significant quality, technical or governance issues and elevate these appropriately.
• Promote continuous improvement across the audit function and wider organisation.
• Support the recruitment, onboarding, training and ongoing development of auditors.
• Provide guidance and training to auditors and colleagues on audit methodology and best practice.
• Contribute to research and improvement projects relating to audit systems, methodology, software and reporting.
• Support wider technical, quality and governance projects as required.

About You

You will be an experienced quality, audit, certification or technical assurance professional who combines strong technical judgement with the ability to work collaboratively with experienced specialists.

You don't necessarily need to come from an identical organisation. We are particularly interested in candidates from certification bodies, professional or membership organisations, standards organisations, regulators, engineering or technical bodies, and other quality-led or highly regulated environments.

You will need:

• A recognised professional Lead Auditor qualification – essential.
• Strong working knowledge of ISO 9001 – essential.
• A minimum of three years' experience working at Lead Auditor or equivalent level.
• Strong knowledge of internal and third-party audit methodologies.
• Experience of audit planning, scheduling, report writing and classification of audit outcomes.
• Experience reviewing audit reports and providing constructive challenge on findings and evidence.
• Experience working with, coordinating or developing auditors or other technical specialists.
• Strong Quality Management Systems knowledge.
• The ability to interpret and apply technical standards, policies and procedures.
• Experience producing or improving quality procedures, guidance or audit methodology.
• Strong analytical skills, including identifying trends and presenting audit data and metrics.
• Experience of continuous improvement.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills and the credibility to influence experienced professionals.
• Strong written communication skills and the ability to translate complex technical information into clear guidance and recommendations.
• Experience delivering training, guidance or professional development.
• Working knowledge of ISO 19011.
• Strong IT skills, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Experience of ISO 17024, ISO 17021 and/or ISO 45001 would be highly advantageous, as would experience working with external quality assurance agencies, certification bodies, professional bodies or collaborative partners.

A recognised Internal Auditor qualification is also required. Membership of a relevant professional body such as CQI/IRCA would be advantageous.

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