Internal Audit Manager

About the job

Our Team:

Through the execution of a wide range of assignments, Sanofi Internal Audit (SIA) is supporting the change of the company, while bringing independent and objective assurance to Sanofi’s ExCom and Audit Committee. Our multicultural team of approximately 70 people is comprised of diverse expertise and educational backgrounds.

We operate primarily from 3 locations, Bridgewater. (US), Paris (France) and Singapore, which allow our people to work on transversal assignments for all activities and functions, and the possibility to contribute to projects that span worldwide. Additionally, to best serve our APAC region, we’re currently evolving our presence, by adding a fourth location in Shanghai (China).

Our operational structure is aligned to be stakeholder focused and SIA is organized around areas of expertise: Commercial Operations, R&D, Manufacturing and Supply, Corporate Functions, Supplier Contract Audit and Digital & IT, and is supported by Audit Operations and Digital Transformation activities.

We handle all auditing activities, such as:

• Executing the yearly Audit Plan and ensuring it progresses against agreed milestones and identified risks

• Running the internal audit assignments, including drafting the final reports, based on which Sanofi executive management defines action plans to remediate findings.

• Monitoring the progress of management’s action plans, to ensure that audit findings are addressed, and the associated risks are appropriately mitigated.

Role summary:

You will support the overall operations and planning of risk-based audits and/ or advisory assignments primarily in China and APAC region with opportunities for participation in global assignments.

In the context of an assignment, you will play the role of an audit team member or an audit team leader depending on your knowledge of the business, management skills and other development consideration. An audit supervisor will be responsible for the overall review of each assignment to ensure the identified risk areas have been sufficiently addressed, and the audit team leader is responsible for the daily/ overall organization and completion of the audit. The audit supervisor may or may not be your functional reporting manager depending on the type and location of the assignment.

The position will also involve other ad-hoc requirements and projects as they arise (e.g., training, continuous improvement, etc.).

Main responsibilities:

• Work collaboratively with audit teams and/ or co-source audit resources to perform planned operational, compliance and integrated-IT audits across different functions and sites. Each assignment typically lasts between 6 to 7 weeks with 3 to 4 weeks of preparation phase, followed by 3 weeks of on-site fieldwork. Key responsibilities during the assignment are as follow:

Audit preparation

• Get familiar with the audit scope, through various measure such as (not exhaustive): training, reviewing corporate guidelines, interviews of global or regional process owners, data analysis, and reviewing issues identified in past audit assignment.

• Get familiar with the business environment, the organization and relevant performance measures to be able to put areas for improvement into perspective.

• Based on your knowledge and risk assessment, develop effective audit test steps to be conducted on the field.

Audit fieldwork

• Develop a deep knowledge of the actual process and identify areas for improvement to better manage the associated risk. This will require asking relevant questions to process participants, data deep-dive, identification of trends and vouching of documents to identify inconsistencies and complete the relevant testing strategy.

• Provide the audit team leader with timely update of your progress and when significant information is identified.

• When you identify areas for improvement, be prepared to have open discussion within the team to investigate the root cause(s) and develop perspective on possible action plans which are practical, clear, and easy to understand.

• You will have to debrief process owners, convince them and work with them on how to concretely improve the process.

• Draft audit recommendations in a concise and impactful manner which is easy for individuals not familiar with the process (and who will receive the report) to understand the risk and/ or lost opportunities identified.

Audit wrap-up

• Complete audit work papers and ensure that documentation is sufficient to justify the tests performed and audit findings identified.

• Formalize assignment feedback with the team leader and audit supervisor and discuss development opportunities with your functional manager.

During the different phases of the audit, you will be coached by the audit team leader who will help you to develop the most relevant and reliable audit approach. Since the time available will be limited, you will have to constantly manage your priorities within short timeline.

Periodically, you may also be involved in the follow-up on the action plans agreed with and committed by the audited organization.

Why Join Us?

This role is an exceptional training ground for future executives, which provides unique opportunities to:  

• Learn the different activities of Sanofi and the pharmaceutical business environment

• Gain exposure to diverse audit assignments, ranging from Commercial Operations, Industrial Affairs, to specific thematic audits (i.e., 3rd party management (R&D, Digital, …), Sales Force Management, Culture Review, etc.)

• Increased visibility and network across different stakeholders, including Senior Management

• Work in a multi-cultural team environment and identify value-added recommendations to drive business process change

• Acquire project and team management skills

The next step for this role is to either:

Assume a management role within Internal Audit; or Move to a broad spectrum of positions including Finance, Compliance, Supply Chain, Procurement, etc.

About you

Education and Work Experience

• University majors/ minors: Pharmacist, Accounting, Finance, Biology or Engineering.

• International exposure and/ or experience working with a diverse team preferred.

• Experience in pharmaceutical/ healthcare industry is preferred but not mandatory.

• Member of a professional body (i.e., CPA, CA, CIA, CISA, CFE or equivalent) preferred.

• SAP knowledge and strong Excel/Word/PowerPoint skills would be an asset; Data Analytics experience preferred.

• Excellent spoken and written English is essential. Mandarin is a plus.

Professional Skills and Attributes

• Minimum of 7 years prior public accounting or internal/external audit experience, internal control, Business Support Finance or life-sciences business acumen (R&D, Medical, Industrial Affairs, Market Access, etc.)

• Ability to work transversally and within a highly matrix environment.

• Self-driven and proactive with a willing attitude to learn and patience to guide inexperienced team members.

• Inquisitive and persuasive with a global mindset and able to recognize and respond to diverse thinking styles, learning styles and cultural sensitivities.

• Strong project management and communication skills. Effective in prioritizing work and following through on commitments.

• Maintain the highest standards of ethics and integrity as well as respect for confidentiality of sensitive matters.

• Operate with a collaborative mindset.

• Acute attention to detail with strong qualitative and quantitative analytical skills; Ability to take large volumes of complex data and/ or information and present it in a clear and concise manner.