Manager, Internal Controls & SOX Compliance

Cornerstone Search Partners, Inc.; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Cornerstone Search Partners, Inc. seeks an experienced controls professional to build and mature a SOX program inside a stable insurance organization. From day one you will be shaping the approach, balancing risk with pragmatic changes and earning trust across the business.

You will anchor SOX 404 scoping, risk assessment and testing, partnering with external auditor KPMG. The ideal candidate has 6+ years in SOX, ITGCs and automated controls, with insurance industry experience and GAAP/NAIC SAP

Qualifications

• 6+ years in SOX compliance, internal audit or public accounting
• Hands-on ITGC and automated controls experience
• Insurance industry experience strongly preferred
• Comfortable with GAAP and NAIC SAP accounting

Responsibilities

• SOX 404 scoping, risk assessment and testing
• Insurance-specific financial processes: claims and loss reserves, premium revenue, reinsurance, investments
• ITGCs, automated controls and system interfaces across finance and claims platforms
• Direct partnership with KPMG as external auditor

Skills

SOX compliance

Internal audit

Public accounting

Stakeholder management

Education

CPA certification (preferred)

CIA or CISA (optional)

Tools

Workiva

Job description

Want to build a SOX program instead of just running someone else's?

This is a newly created role inside a stable, multi-line insurance organization. As an experienced controls professional, you'll have real room to modernize how SOX work is performed, not inherit a finished playbook.

This is not a role for someone who wants to walk in and overhaul everything in the first quarter.

It is a role for someone who knows how to build trust first, land the early wins, and bring stakeholders along before pushing for bigger change. If you've done that kind of work inside a traditional, risk-averse culture before, you'll recognize exactly what this needs.

From day one, you'll be working with:

• SOX 404 scoping, risk assessment and testing
• Insurance-specific financial processes: claims and loss reserves, premium revenue, reinsurance, investments
• ITGCs, automated controls and system interfaces across finance and claims platforms
• A recently implemented Workiva environment for controls management
• Direct partnership with KPMG as external auditor

Why this role stands out:

• It's a newly created seat, built specifically to free up VP-level bandwidth, so there's real room to grow into more strategic, senior-facing work.
• You'll report to a leader who has personally run SOX for an insurer before, so you get real technical mentorship, not a hands-off manager.
• The organization is financially conservative by design. That means steady footing, and it also means the modernization work here is real, not cosmetic. Standardizing a workflow or tightening a control actually moves the needle.
• Broad cross-functional exposure: Finance, Accounting, IT, Actuarial, Reinsurance, Investments, Legal and Operations.

Ideal background:

• 6+ years in SOX compliance, internal audit or public accounting, enough runway to lead stakeholder conversations, presentations and advisory work, not just execute testing
• Hands-on ITGC and automated controls experience
• Insurance industry experience strongly preferred
• Comfortable with both GAAP and statutory (NAIC SAP) accounting
• A track record of introducing change through buy-in, not mandate
• CPA, CIA or CISA a plus, not required

If you'd rather build the plumbing than maintain someone else's, and you have the patience and credibility to do that inside a traditional organization, this is worth a conversation.