Audit Manager in Cowbridge

Audit and Assurance Services is a division of NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (NWSSP). We deliver professional internal audit, assurance and consulting service across the NHS in Wales, consisting of 12 Health Boards/Trusts, and a number of Special Health Authorities, operating with a budget in excess of 8bn.

A continuously changing and evolving risk landscape, particularly following the Covid pandemic, means that the NHS in Wales faces new and unfamiliar challenges. While the NHS is often ready to respond to these challenges, the support provided by internal audit helps give Chief Executives and Boards the assurance that their risk management, control processes and governance arrangements are ready to meet these demands and support the delivery of quality patient services.

We have 60 skilled staff delivering over 400 reviews annually, across all organisations that form NHS Wales, supporting organisational governance and improvement. You should be an individual with the attributes to thrive as an internal auditor in this challenging, varied, and complex environment. As a self-motivated individual, you should embrace our vision of delivering excellence and value for money.

Main duties of the job:

• The Internal Audit Manager role within the Specialist Services Unit provides the opportunity to work across a range of NHS Wales organisations and be responsible for supporting the development and delivery of audits plans and managing a portfolio of project and estates assurance audit assignments.
• Delivering complex high-level reviews of risks, strategies, and governance structures, Quality & Safety Arrangements, financial management and service provision within directorates.

We believe this is a great opportunity for the right candidate, and the recent external quality assessment of our service by the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors demonstrates that we are delivering a quality service to all of our clients. We work in probably the most high-profile public service in Wales, and this is a great time to join NHS Wales.

The ability to speak Welsh is desirable for this post; Welsh and/or English speakers are equally welcome to apply.

About us:

At NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership we expect everyone to embrace our values of Listening and Learning, Working Together, Taking Responsibility and Innovating. Our organisation encourages an agile working approach and we pride ourselves on being a learning organisation motivated by continuous improvement. We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace that values equality, diversity and inclusion, focussing on the wellbeing and belonging of our people. Excellent customer service is something we strive for, for both our internal and external customers. Offering a comprehensive benefits package, there is something for everyone.

Job responsibilities:

• You will be able to find a full Job description and Person Specification attached within the supporting documents or please click Apply now to view in Trac.

Person Specification:

• Essential: Relevant professional qualification (CCAB qualified accountant or MIIA qualified auditor) with post qualification experience or equivalent knowledge and competence.
• Evidence of appropriate continuing professional development.
• Highly specialist knowledge of: a) Public Sector Internal Audit Standards b) Risk Management and Assurance Frameworks c) Corporate Governance d) Controls Assurance e) Control Frameworks f) Stewardship & Probity g) Healthcare Standards.
• Desirable: Knowledge of healthcare, NHS finance, Capital Project Development and Estates Assurance requirements.

• Essential: Extensive experience of internal audit, public sector audit and/or NHS experience.
• Audit Management Experience including management of junior staff.
• Experience of auditing across a range of different clients.
• Experience of staff training.
• Producing complex audit reports including making recommendations for enhancements to procedure and controls.
• Advanced specialised knowledge and experience of internal audit and risk management.
• A proven track record of dealing with complicated situations and the delivery of challenging objectives.
• Knowledge of various contract forms e.g. NEC, JCT, ICE, MIM and their application.
• Experience of working with NHS Infrastructure and Investment requirements through all stages of project/programme development.
• Presentation of complex and potentially sensitive information where management are resistant to findings.

• Essential: Ability to plan, control and carry out audit assignments.
• Production of complex audit plans and assignment briefs.
• Ability to identify systems weaknesses and to use initiative/internal control knowledge to provide management with practical solutions.
• Ability to work to professional standards under circumstances of stress/pressure.
• Excellent report writing skills, supervisory and communication skills.
• Excellent IT software and keyboard skills.
• Excellent persuasion/negotiation skills.
• Highly developed analytical, interpretational and comparative skills capable of dealing with highly complex and sensitive information.
• Ability to work autonomously and equally effectively as part of a multi-disciplinary team.
• Demonstrable ability to work on multiple complex tasks simultaneously and produce high quality work within tight deadlines and within resource constraints.
• IT literate with practical computer application skills covering Microsoft products including Excel and Word.
• Demonstrable project management skills including work planning, organisation and prioritisation.
• Ability to think innovatively and develop new ways of working, continuously striving to improve systems and performance.
• Ability to communicate with all staff groups and have good presentational, interviewing and interpersonal skills.
• Highly committed and self-motivated, with high professional standards.
• Effective team building skills.
• Ability to influence key stakeholders.
• Possess strategic vision.
• Emotionally resilient and able to respond to difficult circumstances.
• Ability to work under pressure and under own initiative.
• Ability to plan and prioritise workload for yourself and your team.
• Need for intense concentration over a sustained period of time when multi-tasking.
• Ability to work flexibly.
• Ability to interact with patients and the general public.

• Essential: Deliver excellent customer service to our internal and external customers, helping us to maintain the customer service excellence standard.
• Ability to travel extensively between organisations and sites for meetings.