Re-advert: Senior Specialist Business Assurance at South African Airways (SAA)

Job Purpose    

• The Senior Specialist: Business Assurance  is responsible for leading and driving the development and execution of the three-year internal audit plan, in accordance with Internal Audit Standards and the International Professional Practices Framework (IPPF) in order to provide assurance on the status of internal controls across the south African Airways Group and related subsidiaries.

Principal Accountabilities    

• Contribute to the design of the Internal Audit Strategy taking into account specialist expertise, best practice, benchmarking and market standards etc. and ensure strategy is implemented and integrated within areas of responsibility
• Provide input into the SAA Auditing operational plan
• Liaise with internal stakeholders to discuss needs and propose audits to build stakeholder requirements into department plans
• Determines policies, processes, action plans and systems to support implementation of the strategy
• Identify and drive initiatives to support profitability and cost containment in the Internal Audit division 
• Assist with the budget development in alignment with the overall corporate requirements and strategic objectives 
• Report on internal control issues and risks to the Chief Internal Auditor and relevant stakeholders 
• Engage in trend analysis, benchmarking, research, best practice to support optimisation of department/ division 
• Manages programmes and projects to contribute to the optimisation of the Internal Audit division 
• Oversee quick win optimisation projects in the organisation where a need has been identified through defining methodologies, resource allocation, driving deliverables and reporting 
• Engage in a portfolio of audits to support the implementation of the Airline’s auditing plan and strategy 
• Proactively implement the auditing plan by defining audit scope, audit program and audit test procedures for portfolio of audits 
• Assist with ensuring that annual audit plans have contingencies built in, to provide unexpected audits to clients as they may surface 
• Manage process improvement projects from conception to completion, ensuring the intended objective is met within the required timeframes specified in the project plan  
• Implement  auditing processes in compliance with internal audit policies 
• Compile, plan and report on working audit papers 
• Review audit working papers on a regular basis
• Provide input into policies and procedures to ensure required legislative and regulatory standards are maintained 
• Ensure regular quality assurance exercises are conducted across subsidiaries to ensure that minimum standards are adhered to and compliance with the relevant policies and procedures
• Identify and implement initiatives to ensure minimum quality standards are maintained 
• Minimise the exposure to legislative contravention by assisting with designing and enforcing policies and procedures in full support of legislative requirements  
• Manage stakeholder expectations through maintaining appropriate communication channels, providing best practice specialist input and ensuring satisfaction with service delivery 
• Identify stakeholders synergistic to Auditing initiatives and provide advice and interpretation to any stakeholder as requested 
• Utilise feedback from all relevant professionals to ensure continuous alignment and optimisation of auditing processes 
• Provide a holistic consultancy service to the Airline 
• Plan and conduct audits as per internal audit methodology, ensuring compliance with laws, regulations, policies and procedures 

Qualifications & Experience    

• Bachelor’s degree in Risk Management/ Audit/ Finance/ Commerce or other relevant to the audit profession at NQF level 7
• Postgraduate Diploma or Honors degree in Accounting/ Auditing/ Finance/ Governance
• Chartered Accountant (CA (SA))/ Certified Internal Auditor (CIA)/ Certification in Risk Management Assurance (CRMA)/ Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) or equivalent will be an advantage
• Minimum 8 - 10 years’ experience in an Internal Audit environment of which 5 years in a Senior Management role
• Work experience in a large organisation coupled with experience leading large or multiple teams
• Public Sector Assurance or Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) experience in the transport/logistics industry will be an advantage

Knowledge and Skills    

• Organisational Governance, Risk Management and Governance
• Understanding of relevant business Strategy, Frameworks and Methodologies, including relevant laws and regulations
• Internal Audit Management
• Leading Internal Audit engagements
• Project Management
• New generation Audit Technologies
• Internal Audit Smart Data Analytics
• Continuous Controls Monitoring
• Decision Making 
• Coaching and mentoring
• Problem Solving
• Organisational Strategic Planning and Management
• Strategic Thinking and Leadership
• Change Management and Leadership
• Business and process optimisation
• Negotiation, Conflict Management and Resolution
• Verbal and Written Communication
• Developing self
• Financial Management
• Budgeting
• Stakeholder management
• Attributes    
• Leads crucial conversations 
• Coaches and mentors 
• Leads Audit projects 
• Facilitates transformation and change 
• Drives innovation 
• Implementation aligned the organization to vision 
• Delivers value 
• Leverages team diversity 
• Role models behaviours and values
• Strong work ethic
• Acts with integrity
• Reliable and dependable
• High level of discretion and confidentiality to handle sensitive information in a professional and appropriate manner
• Resilience
• Adaptable

Deadline:12th November,2025