Associate Director, Internal Audit (Pensions Operations & Technology)
OMERS · Toronto, Canada · 2mo ago
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The Associate Director, Internal Audit provides both strategic leadership and hands-on execution across pension operations and technology-focused audit and project assurance activities. Our Pension system modernization and automation has been critical to keeping pace with the service requirements of our growing membership base and is a critical strategic objective to support our OMERS 2030 strategy. This role bridges audit delivery with advisory leadership, overseeing high-impact, risk-based audits while providing consultative guidance on governance, risk management, and control environments across both the operations and technology in Pensions. The role works closely with senior leaders across the business, technology, and second-line oversight functions, and supports the Director and IA leadership in shaping audit strategy, identifying emerging risks, and strengthening the overall risk management and control framework.
You will be responsible for:
Audit, Risk & Control Leadership & Execution:
- Lead the planning, execution, and reporting of risk-based audit engagements across financial, operational and strategic domains, primarily in Pension Operations and Technology.
- Lead project assurance engagements focused on reviewing of technology transformations and IT risk assessments, including evaluation of system development, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and application controls in multiple environments: in-house developed platforms, SaaS and “on prem” applications.
- Develop engagement objectives, audit approaches, scopes, and timelines aligned with organizational strategy, risk appetite, and regulatory expectations.
- Identify control gaps, assess root causes, validate remediation plans, and support residual risk acceptance where appropriate
Stakeholder Engagement & Advisory
- Cultivate strong relationships with senior business partners in pensions and technology to understand processes, risks, and control environments.
- Serve as a key liaison during audits and risk engagements, providing timely insights, practical recommendations, and ongoing status updates.
- Translate audit and technology risk issues into clear, business-focused language for executive and senior management audiences.
- Collaborate closely with Corporate Oversight functions (e.g., Compliance & Ethics, Enterprise Risk partners) to ensure consistent and effective risk management approaches.
Reporting, Insights & Follow-Up
- Deliver clear, balanced, and actionable audit reports ingrained with recommendations based on root cause analysis and risk assessments for senior management and Board committees.
- Partner with management to develop effective, sustainable action plans and monitor timely remediation of findings.
- Develop reporting, metrics, and dashboards to highlight control effectiveness, emerging risks, and thematic issues.
Strategic Planning & Methodology
- Assist IA leadership in identifying emerging risks, developing the annual audit plan, and optimizing audit methodologies, including agile, AI and data-driven audit approaches.
- Contribute to the development and maintenance of the audit universe and help ensure alignment with organizational strategy and goals and regulatory requirements (where applicable).
- Support the development of the annual audit plan.
- Apply and promote leading practices and regulatory frameworks (e.g., COBIT, ISO, NIST, FFIEC, PCI, ITIL, agile audit methodologies).
- Advance the use of data analytics, automation, artificial intelligence and technology-enabled audit techniques.
Leadership, Culture & Capability Building
- Mentor, coach, and develop audit professionals, building deep technical, analytical, and stakeholder management capabilities across the IA team.
- Support continuous improvement initiatives, including training, methodology enhancements, and innovation within the audit function.
- Promote risk awareness and strong control discipline across the organization through formal and informal engagement.
Required Skills & Experience
- University degree in accounting, finance, business, information technology, or a related field.
- Professional designation preferred: CPA, CIA, and CISA, CISSP or other relevant designation considered an asset.
- Significant progressive experience (typically 8+ years) in internal or external audit, technology risk or assurance.
- Experience with audit and risk analytics, reporting tools, and audit management software (e.g., TeamMate, Diligent, Resolver, ACL or equivalent).
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to assess complex, interrelated processes.
- Proven leadership and influencing skills, with comfort engaging senior executives and diverse stakeholder groups.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to present concise, executive-ready materials.
- Demonstrated ability to balance assurance, advisory, and delivery responsibilities in a fast-paced, evolving environment.
- Experience with audit and risk analytics, reporting tools, and audit management software (e.g., TeamMate, Diligent, Resolver, ACL or equivalent).
Preferred Skills & Experiences
- Pension Plan Administration Certificate (PPAC) is considered an asset.
- Working knowledge of regulatory and control frameworks such as COBIT, ISO 27001, NIST Cybersecurity Framework, ITIL, and related standards.
- Ability to interpret data queries (e.g. SQL) and leverage analytics to support data driven audit and risk insights.
- Proficiency in AI prompting would be an asset.
You may also be eligible to receive an annual Incentive Award pursuant to our Short-term Incentive plan and our Long-Term Incentive plan (if applicable), and to participate in our group benefits and retirement plans – details on these elements of compensation are included within OMERS & Oxford offer letters.
As one of Canada’s largest defined benefit pension plans, our people-first culture is at its best when our workforce reflects the communities where we live and work — and the members we proudly serve.
From hire to retire, we are an equal opportunity employer committed to an inclusive, barrier-free recruitment and selection process that extends all the way through your employee experience. This sense of belonging and connection is cultivated up, down and across our global organization thanks to our vast network of Employee Resource Groups with executive leader sponsorship, our Purpose@Work committee and employee recognition programs.
Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are used to support certain stages of the OMERS recruitment process. While AI assists us in our process, human judgment and decision-making remain central to our candidate experience.