IT Audit Director Cyber, AI and Cloud

Job Title: IT Audit Director – Cyber, AI and Cloud
Location: Reston, Virginia / Washington, DC
Work Arrangement: Hybrid – Minimum 3 days/week in office
Employment Type: Full Time

The IT Audit Director – Cyber, AI and Cloud will lead complex, hands-on IT audits focused on cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure, resiliency, and related technologies within our complex technology environment.

This is a hands-on leadership role within a small team. The Director will own audits from planning through execution and reporting, including technical testing, walkthroughs, risk assessment, audit reporting, and presentation of findings to management. The role also provides coaching and mentoring to audit staff and contributes to annual audit planning and emerging-risk perspectives.

The ideal candidate combines substantial IT audit experience with deep technical expertise and can communicate effectively with technical business and technology leaders.

Key Responsibilities
IT Audit Leadership & Execution

• Lead and own complex IT audits from planning through final reporting.
• Direct audits covering:
  • Cybersecurity
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Cloud infrastructure
  • Technology resiliency
  • IT governance
  • Operating systems and platforms
• Identify technology risks and assess their potential organizational impact.
• Develop and adjust audit plans based on risk assessment and emerging issues.
• Conduct hands-on technical testing of complex technology environments.
• Participate in technical walkthroughs with business and technology teams.
• Develop innovative audit testing approaches focused on high-risk areas.
• Prepare audit reports and communicate findings to management.
• Present audit results and recommendations to business and technology leaders.

Cyber, AI & Cloud

• Apply specialized technical knowledge to audit complex technology environments.
• Evaluate cybersecurity risks and controls.
• Audit AI solutions and associated risks.
• Apply knowledge of agentic AI architectures and risks.
• Assess cloud infrastructure technologies, including environments such as Amazon Web Services (AWS).
• Develop points of view on emerging AI, cyber, technology, and resiliency risks.
• Identify opportunities to use AI, automation, and data analytics to improve audit execution.

Data Analytics

• Identify opportunities to use data analytics in audit testing.
• Design and implement data visualizations.
• Analyze various datasets to identify risks, trends, and meaningful insights.
• Use visualization tools such as:
  • Power BI
  • Tableau
  • Plotly
  • Seaborn
• Apply Python and related analytics technologies, including SciPy, NumPy, and/or PySpark.

Team Leadership & Coaching

• Provide day-to-day project management oversight and guidance to IT auditors.
• Coach and mentor audit staff.
• Provide constructive feedback and review audit work.
• Set direction and develop innovative testing approaches.
• Help junior staff develop data analytics, automation, AI, and technical audit capabilities.
• Inspire team members to develop innovative approaches to audit execution.

Audit Planning & Stakeholder Management

• Participate in annual audit planning.
• Help identify current and emerging IT risks that should be addressed in the annual audit plan.
• Build and maintain relationships with business partners and technology leaders.
• Provide Internal Audit expertise and advice to business partner managers and staff.
• Communicate effectively with technical experts using appropriate technical terminology.
• Collaborate with auditors, management, business stakeholders, and technology teams.

Required Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in IT Audit, IT Risk Management, or Information Security.
• Expert knowledge of at least one of the following:
  • Cybersecurity
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Cloud Infrastructure
• Strong project management skills.
• Prior experience coaching and providing feedback to audit staff.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to communicate effectively with technical experts.
• Strong critical-thinking skills.
• Strong data analytics capabilities, including:
  • Data visualization
  • Power BI, Tableau, Plotly, Seaborn, or similar
  • Python
  • SciPy, NumPy, and/or PySpark
• Experience using AI solutions to improve audit effectiveness and efficiency.
• Demonstrated experience auditing AI solutions and related risks.
• Knowledge of agentic AI architectures and associated risks.
• Ability and curiosity to learn and responsibly apply emerging technologies.

Preferred Qualifications

• 10+ years of IT Audit, IT Risk Management, or Information Security experience.
• 5+ years of IT Audit experience.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
• Master's degree and/or MBA in:
  • Computer Science
  • Information Systems
  • Cybersecurity
  • Mathematics
  • Related field
• One or more of the following certifications:
  • CISA
  • CISSP
  • CEH
  • CRISC
  • CISM
• Experience performing internal audit within a large, complex organization.
• Experience in large financial institutions, major technology companies, pharmaceutical organizations, or similarly complex enterprises.