Audit & Assurance Lead — Practice Building & Scale

DropXcell; Dubai; On-site; AED 300,000 - 540,000; Full time

Job summary

Finanshels in Dubai is building a scalable, technology-enabled Audit & Assurance practice to serve a growing client base. The lead will shape the operating model, workflows and team structure, aiming for high-volume audits with strong quality control.

The ideal candidate has 5+ years of external audit experience, IFRS/ISA knowledge and UAE regulatory familiarity. This role requires a hands-on yet strategic leader capable of scaling the practice.

Qualifications

• CA/ACCA/CPA or equivalent professional qualification.
• 5+ years of external audit experience.
• Strong knowledge of IFRS and ISA.
• Understanding UAE Commercial Companies Law and UAE audit requirements.
• Eligible for UAE Approved Auditor registration where applicable.

Responsibilities

• Build scalable audit workflows and operating model for high-volume audits.
• Lead and supervise statutory audits for SMEs, startups and corporate clients.
• Establish quality-control procedures and review notes.
• Develop technology-enabled workflows and automation to reduce turnaround time.
• Train and mentor junior auditors and build onboarding processes.
• Collaborate with Tax, CFO, Compliance, Product & Technology teams.

Skills

Audit leadership

External audit

IFRS knowledge

ISA knowledge

UAE regulations

Team management

Education

CA / ACCA / CPA

Job description

Audit & Assurance Lead — Practice Building & Scale

5+ Years

Dubai

Full-Time

Audit & Assurance Lead — Practice Building & Scale

Finanshels.com is an AI-powered financial services company helping startups and SMEs across the MENA region streamline their bookkeeping, tax, compliance and CFO operations.

As we continue to scale, we are expanding our service portfolio by building a robust Audit & Assurance practice to serve our growing client base.

We are looking for an experienced Audit & Assurance Lead who can help us build a scalable, technology-enabled audit function capable of delivering high-quality audits at significant volume.

The Role

This is not a traditional audit portfolio-management role.

We are looking for an audit professional who combines strong technical knowledge with a process-oriented, technology-friendly and operational mindset.

You will work closely with Finanshels leadership to build the systems, processes, team structure and quality controls required to scale the Audit & Assurance practice from its initial stage toward 200+ audits per month, with a long-term ambition of 300–400+ audits per month.

You will be expected to be hands-on initially while helping build a team and operating model that can eventually manage the volume at scale.

Key Responsibilities

1. Build a Scalable Audit Process

• Help establish Finanshels’ Audit & Assurance practice and operating model.
• Develop standardized audit workflows, checklists, templates and working-paper structures.
• Build repeatable processes suitable for high-volume SME and mid-market audits.
• Establish clear workflows for audit planning, execution, review and completion.
• Develop a scalable pod/team-based delivery model.
• Improve audit turnaround time and team productivity.
• Create processes that allow audit volumes to scale without a proportional increase in headcount.

2. Audit Quality & Technical Leadership

• Lead and supervise statutory audits for SMEs, startups and corporate clients.
• Ensure compliance with IFRS, ISA and applicable UAE regulations.
• Review audit working papers and identify significant technical or quality issues.
• Support preparation and finalization of audit reports.
• Establish appropriate review and quality-control procedures.
• Ensure proper documentation, audit evidence, professional judgment and independence.
• Support Finanshels with UAE audit registration, licensing and regulatory requirements.
• Identify opportunities to use technology, AI and automation to improve audit delivery.
• Work with Finanshels’ product/technology teams to automate repetitive audit activities.
• Help build technology-enabled workflows for:
  • PBC/document collection
  • Audit planning
  • Data analysis
  • Transaction testing
  • Sampling
  • Reconciliations
  • Working papers
  • Review notes
  • Exception identification
  • Audit reporting
• Use data and dashboards to identify bottlenecks and improve productivity.

4. Team & Capacity Management

• Help build and manage the audit team as the practice grows.
• Allocate engagements based on team capacity, complexity and deadlines.
• Establish productivity and quality expectations for auditors and reviewers.
• Train and mentor junior auditors.
• Build standardized onboarding and training processes.
• Create a review structure that allows senior team members to focus on higher-risk engagements.

5. Practice Economics

Work with management to build a profitable and scalable audit operation.

Track and improve metrics such as:

• Audits completed per month
• Turnaround time
• Gross profit
• Quality/review findings

The objective is to increase audit capacity and revenue while maintaining strong quality and avoiding a linear increase in headcount.

6. Cross-Functional Collaboration

Work closely with Finanshels’ existing:

• Tax
• CFO
• Compliance
• Product & Technology

teams to create a seamless financial services experience for clients.

Leverage Finanshels’ existing client base to identify audit opportunities and improve audit readiness throughout the year.

Ideal Candidate Profile

Qualification

• CA / ACCA / CPA or equivalent recognized professional qualification.
• 5+ years of external audit experience.
• Strong experience with SME and/or mid-market clients.
• Strong knowledge of IFRS and ISA.
• Understanding of UAE Commercial Companies Law and UAE audit requirements.
• Eligible for or already registered as a UAE Approved Auditor with the Ministry of Economy, where applicable.

Preferred Experience

Experience in a Big 4, Top 10 international or leading regional audit firm is preferred.

However, we are particularly interested in candidates who have demonstrated the ability to:

• Manage multiple audits simultaneously.
• Build standardized audit processes.
• Lead and develop teams.
• Work with technology and automation.
• Improve productivity and turnaround time.
• Operate in a high-volume environment.
• Think commercially about revenue, cost and gross profit.

The Person We Are Looking For

You should be more than a technically strong auditor.

We are looking for someone who thinks:

“How do we deliver 20 audits?” → “How do we build a system that can deliver 200–400?”

You should be:

• Process-oriented
• Technology-friendly
• Comfortable with AI and automation
• Strong in audit methodology and technical accounting
• Comfortable managing teams
• Highly organized
• Data and KPI driven
• Commercially aware
• Hands-on
• Comfortable working in a fast-growing company
• Excited by building something rather than simply maintaining an existing practice

What Success Looks Like

First 3–6 months

• Establish standardized audit workflows.
• Build initial team structure.
• Establish quality-control and review processes.
• Create audit productivity and performance metrics.
• Identify major opportunities for automation.

6–12 months

• Build a repeatable audit delivery engine.
• Increase monthly audit capacity significantly.
• Introduce technology and automation into the audit workflow.
• Establish a strong team and reviewer structure.
• Improve turnaround time and gross profit per engagement.

12–24 months

• Help build the capacity to deliver 200+ audits/month, with a longer-term target of 300–400+ audits/month.
• Build a scalable team structure that can support this volume.
• Continue increasing automation, productivity and profitability without compromising audit quality.

Why Finanshels?

At Finanshels, you won’t simply be managing an existing audit portfolio.

You will have the opportunity to help build a new generation of Audit & Assurance delivery, combining professional audit expertise with AI, automation, standardized processes and scalable team structures.

If you are an auditor who wants to move beyond traditional audit and help build a technology-enabled audit practice at scale, we’d like to hear from you.