Director – Financial Risk & Internal Controls (Consultant)

Director – Financial Risk & Internal Controls (Consultant)
Location: Fully Remote
Eligible Candidate Locations: New York, Virginia, Maryland, Washington, DC, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, or Texas
Hours: Eastern Time Zone
Engagement: 6+ Month Consulting Assignment
Industry: Professional Services / Financial Services
Position Overview
We are partnering with a large, nationally recognized professional services and advisory organization seeking an experienced Director – Financial Risk & Internal Controls for a fully remote consulting engagement supporting a large financial services client.
This is a senior leadership and subject matter expert role responsible for leading complex initiatives across internal controls, financial risk management, audit readiness, governance, and financial-process improvement.
The Director will work directly with senior and executive-level client stakeholders, provide strategic and technical guidance, oversee complex workstreams, identify and resolve control and risk issues, and help drive improvements across the client's financial control environment.
The ideal candidate will bring 10+ years of progressive experience, including significant experience leading financial risk, internal controls, audit, or advisory initiatives within banking or financial services.
Key Responsibilities
Serve as a Director-level subject matter expert across financial risk, internal controls, ICOFR, audit readiness, and governance
Lead complex client engagements and workstreams with limited oversight
Provide strategic guidance to senior and executive client leadership
Lead annual internal control planning, scoping, and risk-assessment activities
Oversee and evaluate Internal Controls over Financial Reporting (ICOFR)
Lead end-to-end walkthroughs of complex financial and operational processes
Oversee assessments of control design and operating effectiveness
Identify significant control gaps, deficiencies, emerging risks, and opportunities for improvement
Advise leadership on remediation strategies and corrective-action plans
Lead financial statement audit liaison and audit-readiness initiatives
Partner with internal and external auditors to resolve findings, documentation requests, and complex control matters
Lead Entity-Level Control (ELC) assessments and broader risk and control evaluations
Evaluate financial risk-management frameworks, governance practices, and control environments
Interpret new financial or accounting guidance and assess potential business and controls implications
Develop recommendations to strengthen financial processes, policies, procedures, governance, and controls
Prepare and present executive-level presentations, memos, issue papers, briefings, and recommendations
Facilitate meetings with senior stakeholders and drive complex issues through resolution
Oversee project deliverables and ensure quality, accuracy, and consistency of client-facing work
Provide technical guidance, review, and mentorship to consultants and other project team members
Manage competing priorities, deadlines, stakeholder expectations, and project risks
Contribute to broader consulting methodologies, training, thought leadership, and firm initiatives
Required Qualifications
Bachelor's degree
10+ years of progressive experience in financial risk, internal controls, audit, accounting advisory, financial management, or a related discipline
Significant experience within banking or financial services
Demonstrated experience operating at a senior manager, director, or equivalent advisory level
Deep understanding of ICOFR, internal controls, financial statement risk, audit, governance, and financial risk management
Experience leading complex risk and control assessments
Experience identifying and evaluating control deficiencies and overseeing remediation
Demonstrated ability to independently lead complex client engagements or major workstreams
Strong understanding of the relationship between financial reporting, business processes, risk, and internal controls
Experience advising senior management and executive stakeholders
Ability to translate complex risk and control issues into clear, actionable recommendations
Strong executive presence and client-facing communication skills
Excellent written communication and ability to produce polished executive-level deliverables
Experience overseeing, reviewing, and mentoring project team members
Strong analytical, critical-thinking, and problem-solving capabilities
Ability to operate effectively within a fast-paced consulting environment
Must currently reside in NY, VA, MD, DC, NC, SC, GA, FL, or TX
Preferred Experience
Bachelor's or Master's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or related field
CPA, CIA, CISA, or comparable professional certification
Significant banking or financial services risk experience
Big 4, large public accounting, or major consulting/advisory experience
ICOFR / SOX program leadership
Internal audit leadership
Operational risk
Financial risk management
Entity-Level Controls
Enterprise risk and control assessments
Financial statement audit and audit readiness
Audit findings and remediation
Corrective-action planning
Controls transformation and optimization
Process improvement
Experience leading consulting teams and reviewing complex deliverables
Experience advising executives within highly regulated organizations
Ideal Candidate Profile
The ideal candidate is a Director-level financial risk and internal controls leader with 10–15+ years of progressive experience and significant exposure to the financial services industry.
This person should be capable of stepping into a complex client environment and quickly establishing credibility with senior leadership. They should bring the technical depth to evaluate sophisticated financial processes and control environments while also having the executive presence necessary to advise leadership, challenge existing processes, communicate risk, and drive remediation efforts.
This is not a hands-on controls testing role alone. The Director should be able to oversee the work, identify the larger risk implications, provide technical direction to the project team, and translate findings into practical recommendations for executive stakeholders.
Strong profiles will likely come from banking, financial services, Big 4/public accounting, risk advisory, internal audit, SOX/ICOFR leadership, operational risk, financial controls, or financial risk consulting.
Work Arrangement
This position is 100% remote, but candidates must currently reside in:
New York | Virginia | Maryland | Washington, DC | North Carolina | South Carolina | Georgia | Florida | Texas
The engagement is expected to run for 6+ months, with work performed primarily during Eastern Time business hours.

Work arrangement
Yes