Overview

Head of ICFR Testing (Internal Controls / Finance / Risk & Compliance) – Nottingham/London

Day rate: £700 - £900 (inside IR35)

Duration: 12 months

Start: ASAP

Hybrid: 1 day per week

Location: London/Nottingham

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage the ICFR Testing team (currently 7, growing to 14), fostering a culture of quality, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Build team capability through recruitment, mentoring, and upskilling initiatives to support the growing scope of the control environment.
• Establish clear testing methodologies, KPIs, and quality assurance mechanisms to ensure consistency and excellence across all testing activities.
• Design, implement, and oversee the end-to-end ICFR testing framework, ensuring alignment with global regulatory and compliance standards (e.g., SOX/SOC).
• Drive hands-on implementation of SOC controls and assurance processes, ensuring readiness for external attestation.
• Develop testing procedures, templates, and documentation standards from scratch, embedding best practices across business and IT control areas.
• Lead walk-throughs, control design assessments, and operating effectiveness testing for key financial, operational, and IT controls.
• Partner with internal stakeholders, external auditors, and assurance providers to ensure effective communication and coordination across testing cycles.
• Deliver timely and insightful reporting on control testing results, deficiencies, and remediation progress to senior management and audit committees.
• Support global control standardisation and harmonisation initiatives to drive efficiency and consistency across regions and business units.
• Identify opportunities to enhance automation, tooling, and analytics within the control testing process.
• Build and mature the organisation's SOC assurance and ICFR capabilities, ensuring scalability and sustainability.
• Stay abreast of emerging trends and regulatory developments in ICFR, SOC, and IT controls, proactively adapting practices as needed.

Key Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in internal controls, ICFR, SOX, or SOC assurance programs, including leadership of testing or compliance functions.
• Proven experience designing and implementing ICFR/SOC testing frameworks from scratch.
• Strong IT general controls (ITGC) and business process control testing experience.
• Prior external audit or assurance background (Big 4 or equivalent experience strongly preferred).
• Demonstrated success in rolling out SOC control programs and achieving assurance readiness.
• Experience working within global, complex organisations, preferably across multiple jurisdictions and business models.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to influence at all levels.
• Ability to work independently, manage ambiguity, and deliver high-quality results under tight timelines.