Associate Director – Interne Kontrollsysteme und Assurance (m/w/d)

In this role you will establish and lead a new Internal Controls & Assurance function to protect and optimize the enterprise's control environment. You will own the control framework and governance, drive the annual assurance cycle, and provide evidence-based assurance to the Managing Board. You’ll lead a growing team, collaborate with governance and risk functions, and shape a scalable, automated assurance process. This position offers strategic influence in a listed, complex environment and direct exposure to executive leadership.

• Work from Home up to 20 days/year in the EU
• Kindergarten grant
• Mental health support from nilo
• Personal development and training opportunities
• Deutschland Ticket mobility
• Team events and celebrations

• Establish and lead the IC&A function, defining mandate, governance, operating model, priorities and team capabilities
• Develop and manage the IC&A team, decide on specialist or co-sourced support, improve scalability, automation and quality of assurance
• Own and maintain enterprise Internal Control Framework linking risks, processes, controls, evidence and assurance
• Define control taxonomy, evidence standards, design-assessment criteria, testing methodology, sampling and deficiency framework
• Oversee risk-to-control mapping and expand framework to Finance, Technology, HR, Operations, Pharmacy, Quality, Compliance, Privacy, Security, Sustainability and other areas
• Set annual assurance scope and plan based on risk, maturity, regulatory requirements and management priorities
• Review and approve control-design conclusions and deficiency judgments; ensure consistency and evidence-based rationale
• Challenge senior leaders on control design, ownership, remediation, and remediation actions when needed
• Own management reporting on control environment, including dashboards and the annual Management Assurance Report to the Managing Board
• Lead senior engagement with business leadership, control coordinators, ERM, Internal Audit and External Audit with clear line of responsibility across first, second and third lines

• Extensive experience in internal controls, risk assurance, internal audit, SOX/ICFR or equivalent
• Track record of establishing or maturing an enterprise control framework across multiple domains
• Advanced knowledge of control design, testing, evidence evaluation, deficiency governance
• Sound judgment in evaluating deficiencies and challenging executives
• Strong understanding of the Three Lines Model
• Proven leadership and communication skills with executive/Board-level reporting
• Experience in listed, regulated, international or complex environments
• CIA preferred; CPA/ACCA/CISA or equivalent welcome
• Familiarity with COSO/SOX and external audit; hands-on use of GRC platforms like AuditBoard/Optro; AI-enabled approaches a plus
• Experience in healthcare, pharmacy, e-commerce, logistics or data-intensive environments a plus
• Fluent in English; German a plus

• leadership
• clear written communication
• stakeholder management
• Internal Controls & Assurance
• SOX/ICFR
• GRC platforms (AuditBoard/Optro)