Director – Internal Controls and Financial SOX Compliance

The Director of Internal Controls and Financial SOX Compliance is a senior-level position responsible, which oversees Twist’s Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance program, ensuring all internal controls over financial reporting (ICFR) are designed, implemented, and maintained to meet regulatory requirements. This role will report directly to the Chief Accounting Officer. Key duties include leading a team of SOX compliance professionals, assessing control risks, driving and tracking SOX remediation initiatives, and communicating compliance status to senior management and external auditors. This role will collaborate closely with Internal Audit. 

Key Responsibilities:

• Act as a hands-on leader and SOX compliance subject matter expert who works with cross-functional process owners, IT, and accounting to help achieve ongoing design, review control documentation, and remediation of controls for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance
• Lead and manage a team of SOX compliance professionals, including analysts, third-party service providers, and subject matter experts 
• Provide strategic thinking, thought leadership, and guidance on identifying gaps in key controls and design a proactive risk assessment
• Plan and manage direct activities of the team to align governance programs with the organization’s objectives and execute roadmaps
• Provide guidance, assessment, and oversight on the governance of Change Management and System Access Controls and provide recommendations on the next level of maturity strategy/roadmap and standards 
• Work with Internal Audit on the completion of a comprehensive risk assessment, documentation, risk mitigation guidance, and related reporting for key enterprise initiatives, across various technologies, platforms, and environments including those relative to business technology integrations
• Partner with control owners to perform management assessment of risk over internal controls and identify opportunities for control improvement and design of new controls
• Collaborate with Internal Audit on the assessment of internal controls to finalize and track remediation of identified control gaps
• Act as a change agent, influencer, cross-functional leader, and collaborator to drive and facilitate ongoing SOX and compliance training programs for IT process and control owners
• Maintain and enhance SOX controls documentation to ensure they reflect the current environment and comply with SOX requirements, including testing documentation and systems diagrams
• Proactively participate and guide the team in planning, prioritizing, and delivering system enhancements and maintain documentation concerning planning, status, testing results, and other reporting needs
• Work with internal audit to conduct risk-based audits to determine soundness, adequacy, and application of key and controls, including identifying control weaknesses, exceptions, and deficiencies in operations
• Monitor business changes and update SOX controls accordingly to maintain compliance with evolving regulations. 
• Implement process improvements to streamline SOX compliance activities and enhance efficiency 
• Partner with IT control owners on implementation of new systems and design of new controls
• Conduct and/or manage special projects and ad hoc requests to support the senior leadership team and other duties as assigned. 

Required Skills and Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Business Administration, Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related discipline

• Hands-on SOX experience, including successful remediation of compliance deficiencies and material weaknesses with similar size public companies
• 10+ years of relevant work experience, with a combination of public accounting experience focused on SOX compliance and/or corporate SOX experience in a similar-size public company, with a minimum of 5 years of experience in technology or support of technology
• Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or equivalent accounting certification preferred
• Deep understanding of SOX regulations and internal control frameworks, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the 2013 COSO framework, NIST, COBIT, SOC, DCAM, and SEC guidance for management’s assessment of internal controls over financial reporting
• Critical thinking, analytical, leadership, planning, project management, and organizational skills
• Proven ability to build relationships and influence and motivate teams to ensure that the work activities are established, understood, supported, and completed in a timely manner
• Proficient in Microsoft Office suite applications