Head of Audit: CIB & NAR

Nedbank; Sandton; On-site; ZAR 2,400,000 - 3,600,000; Full time

Job summary

Nedbank is seeking a Head of Internal Audit for CIB & Africa Regions to deliver risk-based assurance across Corporate & Investment Banking, Nedbank Africa Regions, and strategic digital initiatives. The role combines strategic oversight with hands-on governance, ensuring quality, independence, and impactful stakeholder engagement.

Essential: postgraduate qualification in accounting or equivalent with a preference for CIA/CA(SA).

Qualifications

• Essential: Postgraduate degree in Accounting, Auditing, Risk, Finance or related field.
• Preferred: CIA, CA(SA), FRM, PRM, CISA or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Audit Strategy: Translate strategy into portfolio-level objectives and assurance coverage.
• Audit Planning: Lead integrated risk assessments and plan audits across portfolio.
• Audit Advisory & Influential Stakeholder Engagement: Act as senior assurance and advisory function to Executives and regulators.
• Audit Execution: Govern delivery, challenge high-risk judgements, ensure adherence to methodology and timelines.
• Risk-based Assurance Outcomes and Insights: Ensure quality and defensibility of audit conclusions across the portfolio.
• Audit Reporting: Produce concise, executive-ready reports with clear actions and risk narratives.
• Regulatory, Governance & Compliance: Ensure compliance with IIA Standards and regulatory requirements.
• People Leadership & Capability Development: Lead and develop audit team and succession planning.

Skills

Stakeholder engagement

Leadership

Risk-based auditing

Governance frameworks

Education

Postgraduate degree in Accounting/Auditing/RnRisk/Finance

Professional qualification (CIA, CA(SA), FRM, PRM, CISA or equivalent)

Job description

The Head of Internal Audit: CIB & Africa Regions (NAR) is accountable for delivering integrated, risk-based assurance across Corporate and Investment Banking, African Regions and strategic digital initiatives. The role provides executive management, governance forums and regulators with independent assurance and insight across business, technology, data and emerging risks. The role operates as a senior assurance authority, combining strategic oversight with hands-on delivery governance to ensure consistent quality, sound judgement, sustainable resourcing and influential stakeholder engagement. The role supports the broader Group Internal Audit strategy through specialist expertise, digital enablement, leadership development and impactful assurance outcomes.

Job Responsibilities

Audit Strategy

• Support the Internal Audit Executive in translating GIA strategy into portfolio-level assurance objectives aligned to Group strategy, risk appetite and regulatory expectations.
• Contribute to the development and ongoing refinement of the CIB & NAR audit strategy and assurance approach, defining assurance priorities, thematic focus areas and assurance coverage requirements.
• Maintain accountability for assurance across Corporate and Investment Banking, Nedbank Africa Regions and strategic digital initiatives within the portfolio.
• Drive integrated assurance approaches that connect business, technology, data and conduct risks.
• Support other audit portfolios and strategic initiatives as required.
• Ensure alignment to professional standards, ethical principles and audit independence requirements.

Audit Planning

• Own and maintain portfolio inputs into the audit universe, risk assessment process and rolling risk-based audit plan.
• Lead integrated business, technology and data risk assessments across the portfolio.
• Ensure audit scopes address key strategic, financial, operational, regulatory, technology and data-related risks.
• Incorporate business strategy, transformation programmes, digital initiatives and client outcomes into audit planning and conclusions.
• Ensure emerging risks are appropriately considered, including cyber risk, data governance, artificial intelligence, digital transformation and third-party technology dependencies.
• Determine and oversee data-enabled audit planning approaches, including analytics, automation and continuous assurance capabilities.
• Drive the adoption of digital tools and techniques to enhance audit coverage, efficiency and insight generation.
• Own portfolio resource and capacity planning, ensuring the appropriate balance of business, risk, technology and data skills.
• Identify capability gaps and implement sustainable solutions through hiring, talent mobility, cross-skilling, upskilling and strategic smart sourcing.

Audit Advisory & Influential Stakeholder Engagement

• Act as a senior assurance and advisory function to Executives, Risk and Compliance leaders and key stakeholders.
• Provide insight, challenge and advisory input across planning, execution and reporting without compromising independence.
• Promote proactive, value-adding engagement that enhances audit relevance and organisational impact.

Audit Execution

• Provide delivery governance and oversight across audits within the portfolio.
• Challenge high-risk judgements, audit conclusions, scope changes and delivery risks.
• Intervene directly in complex, sensitive or strategic audits where outcomes, credibility or stakeholder confidence may be at risk.
• Ensure audits are executed in accordance with GIA methodology, quality standards and agreed timelines.
• Drive the effective integration of business, digital, technology and data assurance considerations into audit execution.
• Remove delivery barriers and provide support to Senior Managers and audit teams on complex assurance matters.

Risk-based Assurance Outcomes and Insights

• Be accountable for the quality, consistency and defensibility of audit conclusions across the portfolio.
• Validate issue severity, ratings, root causes and control environment and culture impact.
• Ensure audit outcomes provide clear assurance on governance and control adequacy and effectiveness as well as risk management maturity.
• Identify and ‘connect the dots’ on systemic and cross-portfolio risk themes.

Audit Reporting

• Ensure audit reports are clear, concise, insight-driven and executive ready.
• Focus reporting on context, business impact, root cause, strategic implications and practical management actions.
• Aggregate audit outcomes into meaningful portfolio-level themes and insights.
• Support reporting to Executive Management, Board Committees, Regulators and GIA governance forums.
• Elevate reporting quality through stronger risk narratives, integrated insights and forward-looking perspectives.
• Oversee issue management, validation, closure discipline and escalation of overdue or high-risk findings.

Regulatory, Governance & Compliance

• Ensure full compliance with IIA Standards, GIA methodology and regulatory requirements.
• Support internal and external quality assurance reviews and regulatory engagements.
• Uphold audit independence, ethical conduct and professional standards.
• Maintain strong relationships with second-line functions and external audit and contribute to an optimal coordinated assurance model in PPB.

People Leadership & Capability Development

• Lead, coach and develop Audit team, Senior Managers and future Heads of Audit.
• Build sustainable capability aligned to the evolving risk landscape, digital assurance and regulatory demands.
• Establish strong succession pipelines aligned to the GIA talent strategy.
• Set and manage clear performance expectations aligned to audit quality, delivery discipline, ethics and culture.

Essential Qualifications

Essential: Postgraduate degree (e.g. Honours or higher) in Accounting, Auditing, Risk, Finance, Financial Mathematics or a related field.

Preferred: Professional qualification (e.g. CIA, CA(SA), FRM, PRM, CISA or equivalent).

Minimum Experience Level

Essential: Minimum 10 years' experience in internal audit, risk, assurance or control functions within banking or financial services; Demonstrated leadership of complex assurance portfolios; Executive, Board and regulator engagement experience; Experience in investment banking and technology assurance/ technology risk and strategic execution risk.

Preferred: Deep expertise in Corporate and Investment Banking; Experience auditing digital platforms, cloud technologies, data environments or strategic transformation initiatives; Experience leading integrated business and technology audits; Multi-country or international banking experience.

Technical / Professional Knowledge

• Aligning Performance for Success
• Decision Making
• Delegation and Empowerment
• Execution
• Facilitating Change
• Inspiring Others

Nedbank Ltd Reg No 1951/000009/06.
Authorised financial services and registered credit provider (NCRCP16).