GRC Lead: Controls Modernization & Tech Risk (Banking)

Cognizant; Madison (WI); On-site; USD 137,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical/Dental/Vision/Life Insurance

Paid holidays plus Paid Time Off

401(k) plan and contributions

Long-term/Short-term Disability

Paid Parental Leave

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Job summary

Cognizant is seeking an experienced GRC Lead to drive assessment, rationalization, and modernization of technology operational controls in a large financial services environment. The role requires deep expertise in technology risk, IT audit, control design, and operational risk, with hands‑on experience in regulated banking settings.

You will lead workshops, validate control effectiveness, and translate findings into actionable modernization strategies.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in Technology Risk, IT Audit, Governance Risk & Compliance (GRC), Internal Controls, Operational Risk, or Controls Transformation.
• Strong hands‑on experience assessing and improving technology operational controls within banking or financial services organizations.
• Proven experience conducting control assessments, evidence reviews, risk‑to‑control mapping, and control effectiveness evaluations.
• Experience rationalizing control inventories and documenting control disposition decisions with supporting rationale and stakeholder validation.
• Strong understanding of control design principles, audit readiness requirements, control ownership, governance models, and risk management frameworks.
• Knowledge of industry standards and frameworks including FFIEC, COBIT, NIST, ITGC, and operational risk management practices.
• Experience facilitating workshops, conducting stakeholder interviews, and translating discussions into structured risk and control findings.
• Familiarity with automation opportunity assessments and control modernization initiatives.
• Strong analytical, documentation, presentation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience working with GRC platforms such as ServiceNow GRC, Archer, MetricStream, OpenPages, or similar tools is preferred.
• Professional certifications such as CISA, CRISC, CIA, CGEIT, CISSP, or ISO 27001 Lead Auditor are highly desirable.

Responsibilities

• Lead the assessment and rationalization of technology operational controls, validating control design, effectiveness, ownership, risk alignment, and evidence requirements.
• Review control inventories and conduct detailed evaluations to identify control gaps, overlap, duplication, obsolete controls, and optimization opportunities.
• Facilitate workshops and working sessions with control owners, technology teams, risk functions, compliance stakeholders, and governance groups.
• Develop and document recommendations to retain, consolidate, enhance, or retire controls based on risk coverage, efficiency, and business value.
• Update and refine control definitions, ownership models, scope statements, execution frequencies, and evidence expectations.
• Ensure control recommendations align with industry frameworks and regulatory expectations, including FFIEC, COBIT, and enterprise risk management standards.
• Identify opportunities for automation across control execution, evidence collection, testing, monitoring, and compliance activities.
• Develop assessment findings, control rationalization matrices, refreshed control sets, automation recommendations, and roadmap inputs.
• Support stakeholder validation activities and ensure recommendations are traceable, evidence‑based, and aligned with business objectives.
• Perform quality reviews of control documentation, assessment outputs, and consultant deliverables to ensure consistency and accuracy.
• Contribute to executive summaries, governance presentations, and findings reports used to support future‑state control transformation initiatives.
• Partner with delivery leadership and stakeholders to drive risk reduction, audit readiness, and control modernization outcomes.

Skills

Technology Risk

IT Audit

GRC

Operational Risk

Controls Transformation

Tools

ServiceNow GRC

Archer

MetricStream

OpenPages

Job description

Cognizant is seeking an experienced GRC Lead to drive assessment, rationalization, and modernization of technology operational controls in a large financial services environment. The role requires deep expertise in technology risk, IT audit, control design, and operational risk, with hands‑on experience in regulated banking settings.

You will lead workshops, validate control effectiveness, and translate findings into actionable modernization strategies.