Audit Consultant – Technology Infrastructure and Operations

Overview:

• We are seeking a highly motivated and experienced candidate to join our team in the role of Audit Consultant focused on the Technology Infrastructure and Operations space.  This senior level individual contributor role is crucial in leading and executing complex technology audits across M&T’s diverse product and platform ecosystem across the areas of Technology Engineering, Operations, Governance, Risk Management, and Architecture.  You will play a key role in providing assurance over M&T’s technology risks, cloud and colocation environments, and emerging technologies such as AI.   This role requires a strong understanding of technology risk management and internal controls. You will be responsible for leading teams, managing stakeholder relationships, and driving impactful audit results.

Primary Responsibilities:

Successful Audit Plan Completion

• Stay abreast of best practices, industry developments, and changing or emerging risks and consult with the audit teams to ensure their coverage as appropriate in assigned audits.
• Participate in the execution of audit procedures, particularly those which are highly visible and complex in nature, in a risk-focused manner while maintaining independence and adhering to department and professional industry standards. 
• Analyze audit findings, particularly those that require complex judgment or sophisticated analytical thought, and propose creative and pragmatic solutions to the audit team for consideration in the final audit report.
• Drive audit teams in the planning and execution of validation procedures for Internal Audit and Regulatory issues that require subject matter expertise.
• Organize and complete work within established budgets and time frames with minimal direction from audit management.
• Incorporate the use of data analytics throughout all phases of the audit process.
• Inform and clearly demonstrate support for the department’s strategic objectives.

Leadership, Decision Making, and Communication

• Possess strong management and interpersonal skills, make sound decisions independently, exhibiting initiative and intuitive thinking.
• Proactively communicate with senior management members of the audit team and line of business senior and executive regarding the status of audits and potential issues identified.
• Build strong partnerships with business stakeholders and audit team members.
• Demonstrates strong judgment, political astuteness, and sensitivity to cultural commitment. 

Developing Others

• Coach and mentor junior audit team members through knowledge sharing, tailoring the approach based upon their skills and experience.

Other Responsibilities

• Adhere to applicable compliance/operational risk controls in accordance with Company or regulatory standards and policies.
• Promote an environment that supports belonging and reflects the M&T Bank brand.
• Maintain M&T internal control standards, including timely implementation of internal and external audit points together with any issues raised by external regulators, as applicable.
• Complete other related duties as assigned.

Scope of Responsibilities:

• This role operates independently within a matrix reporting environment and is responsible for the timely delivery of high quality, value-added audit reports for a variety of high-risk technology areas, including ITIL service delivery disciplines, API governance, mainframe platform technology, cloud computing (Azure, etc.), DevOps CI/CD pipelines, software defined infrastructure management, and emerging technologies such as AI/ML, while meeting the requirements of the Audit Committee, regulatory expectations, and professional auditing standards.
• This position directly communicates with Senior, Middle and Line Management and External Auditors.  Builds strong partnerships with business stakeholders and other audit team members. 
• This role also requires periodic interaction with external regulatory agencies.

Supervisory/ Managerial Responsibilities:

• May provide coaching opportunities for certain audit professionals but is not responsible for performance management, compensation planning, or other similar duties.

Education and Experience Required:

• Bachelor’s degree, preferably in Accounting, Business, Finance, Technology, Cybersecurity, or other related technical field and 7 years of relevant experience, inclusive of 2 years of work leadership experience. In lieu of degree, a combined minimum of 11 years higher education and/or work experience including 7 years of relevant work experience and 2 years of work leadership experience.
• Demonstrates strong judgment, political astuteness, and sensitivity to cultural commitment.
• Working knowledge and experience in auditing compute, database, network and storage infrastructure risks, technology governance and risk management concepts, modern software engineering practices, mainframe technology, and IT service management disciplines. 
• Working knowledge and experience in conducting audits of controls in cloud-based environments (notably Microsoft Azure) or assessing cloud architecture.
• Understanding of regulatory requirements/expectations as they relate to technology and cybersecurity risks in the financial services industry.
• Possesses strong project management and interpersonal skills, makes sound decisions, exhibiting initiative and critical thinking.
• Effective negotiation skills, a proactive and 'no surprises' approach in communicating issues and strength in sustaining independent views.
• This individual must be an articulate and effective communicator, both orally and in writing, with an energetic, charismatic, and approachable style.

Education and Experience Preferred:

• MBA or Master’s degree in an appropriate field preferred.
• Related certifications (CISA, CISSP or similar).
• Financial Services Industry experience preferred.