Senior Lead, Technology Risk & Controls - SOX / SOC Programs

Northern Trust; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 140,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Retirement benefits (401k)

Health and welfare benefits

Paid time off

Parental and caregiver leave

Life & accident insurance

Discretionary bonus program

Job summary

Northern Trust is seeking a technology risk leader to oversee SOX and SOC control programs across a global technology environment. You will partner with Technology leadership, Compliance, Internal Audit, External Audit, and 2LOD to ensure control design, implementation, monitoring, and improvement.

You will drive governance, audit readiness, and regulatory compliance as the subject matter expert for ITGCs and associated controls, across IAM, cloud governance, SDLC, and more.

Qualifications

• Deep expertise in SOX, SOC 1, and SOC 2 compliance programs within complex technology environments.
• Significant experience executing risk assessments, control effectiveness assessments, and residual risk evaluations.
• Extensive experience with ITGCs across identities, cloud governance, change management, SDLC, and infrastructure controls.

Responsibilities

• Represent the Technology organization as liaison for global SOX and SOC report issuance, ensuring governance, audit readiness, and regulatory compliance.
• Serve as SME for ITGCs including Access Management, Privileged Access, Change Management, SDLC, IPE, Technology Operations, and Cloud/Infrastructure controls.
• Drive remediation initiatives, root-cause analyses, and sustainable control implementations across the technology environment.
• Lead interactions with External Auditors, Internal Audit, Compliance, and 2LOD risk management functions.

Skills

SOX & SOC leadership

ITGCs expertise

Risk assessments & remediation

Executive communication

COSO/COBIT/NIST familiarity

Tools

Archer

ServiceNow

AuditBoard

Power BI

Job description

Role Overview

You will join Northern Trust's Technology Risk and Control team as a leader responsible for overseeing the Technology SOX and SOC (SOC 1 / SOC 2) control programs across a global technology environment. This role partners closely with Technology leadership, Control Officers, Compliance, Internal Audit, External Audit, and Second Line of Defense (2LOD) partners to ensure the design, implementation, monitoring, and continuous improvement of technology controls supporting regulatory, financial reporting, and client assurance requirements.

What You Will Do

Represent the Technology organization as liaison for the global SOX and SOC report issuance, ensuring effective governance, control execution, audit readiness, and regulatory compliance. Serve as the subject matter expert for Information Technology General Controls (ITGCs), including Access Management, Privileged Access Management, Change Management, System Development Lifecycle (SDLC), Information Produced by the Entity (IPE), Technology Operations, Automated Controls, and Cloud and Infrastructure Controls.

Why It Might Be a Fit

You will drive enterprise-wide control excellence, lead interactions with external auditors, oversee complex remediation initiatives, and influence risk-informed decision-making across the global technology organization. You will be part of a dedicated and high-performing team committed to strengthening control awareness, operational resilience, and risk governance throughout Northern Trust's technology environments.

Requirements

• Deep expertise in SOX, SOC 1, and SOC 2 compliance programs within complex technology environments.
• Significant experience executing risk assessments, control effectiveness assessments, inherent risk evaluations, and residual risk assessments.
• Significant experience evaluating and testing controls across technology domains including Identity and Access Management, Cloud Governance, Change Management, Software Development Lifecycle, Cybersecurity Operations, Vendor Risk Management, Technology Governance, Infrastructure and Platform Services, Information Security, and IT Asset Management.
• Excellent executive presentation skills, including preparation and delivery of materials for senior leadership, governance committees, and regulatory audiences.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to influence and challenge senior stakeholders.
• Significant experience developing and implementing Technology Risk and Control Frameworks, Risk and Control Matrices, and control monitoring programs.
• Extensive experience managing relationships with External Auditors, Internal Audit, Compliance, and 2LOD Risk Management functions.
• Proven ability to lead large-scale remediation initiatives, including root cause analysis, corrective action planning, and sustainable control implementation.
• Strong understanding of industry frameworks and standards including COSO, COBIT, NIST, SOX, SOC 1, and SOC 2.
• Experience leveraging governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) platforms and workflow tools such as Archer, ServiceNow, AuditBoard, Power BI, or equivalent technologies.

Benefits

• Retirement benefits (401k and pension)
• Health and welfare benefits (medical, dental, vision, spending accounts and disability)
• Paid time off
• Parental and caregiver leave
• Life & accident insurance
• Discretionary bonus program that may include an equity component