📌 OPPORTUNITY OVERVIEW:-Lesaka Technologies is actively recruiting for a Manager: SOX & Internal Controls position in Johannesburg. This is an excellent opportunity for professionals in the Finance / Accounting / Audit sector looking to advance their careers.
🎯 IDEAL CANDIDATE PROFILE:-We are seeking talented individuals with the following profile:• Experience Level: 8 years • Educational Background: Others or equivalent• Industry Focus: Finance / Accounting / Audit• Location Preference: in Johannesburg
💼 WHY THIS ROLE MATTERS:-Financial professionals like Manager: SOX & Internal Controls are vital for organizational stability and compliance. This role offers the opportunity to impact business strategy and financial health.
📈 CAREER DEVELOPMENT INSIGHTS:-This role in Finance / Accounting / Audit offers valuable career progression opportunities aligned with your experience level and professional aspirations.
📋 APPLICATION GUIDANCE:-When applying for this Manager: SOX & Internal Controls position, ensure your CV highlights:• Relevant experience matching the 8 years requirement• Educational qualifications in line with Others• Specific achievements in the Finance / Accounting / Audit field• Any certifications or specialized training
🌍 SOUTH AFRICA JOB MARKET CONTEXT:-The Finance / Accounting / Audit sector in South Africa continues to show strong demand for skilled professionals. This position represents a valuable opportunity in the current job market.
Job Title: Director of SOX Compliance & Internal Controls Company: Lesaka Technologies
Salary: Competitive Job Type: Permanent Sector: Investment Finance Reference: 206534
🌐 We're Seeking: Director of SOX Compliance & Internal Controls
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa Department: Merchant Division - Finance Reports to: SOX Compliance Analyst
Purpose of the Role
Lesaka Merchant Division is embarking on a crucial initiative to fortify its internal control framework and address identified deficiencies in SOX compliance and internal controls. The Director of SOX Compliance & Internal Controls will spearhead the Merchant Division's SOX compliance program and continuous internal controls enhancement. The role will collaborate with Finance, Operations, and Technology to pinpoint control failures' root causes, devise practical control enhancements, oversee implementation by designated business owners, and ensure sustainable remediation.
The Director will serve as the primary Merchant liaison between the Merchant CFO, executive management, Merchant business units, Group SOX, Group Internal Audit, external auditors, process owners, and Technology and IT control teams. The goal is to establish a control environment that is sustainable, integrated into daily operations, auditable, and adaptable to the Division's growth, complexity, and changing pace.
Scope and Mandate
This role covers Lesaka Merchant Division's South African operations and extends to common, centralized, and divisional controls operating across the Division's international operations. This includes shared entity-level controls, common ITGCs and application controls, centralized close, consolidation and reporting controls, shared master data and user access processes, and standardized controls operating on a divisional basis.
Where common or centralized controls rely on inputs or activities from international operations, the role will coordinate the divisional control framework, evaluate relevant dependencies, monitor identified gaps, and escalate unresolved matters. Relevant business and control owners remain accountable for performing and evidencing the underlying controls.
The role also encompasses businesses acquired into or transferred within the Division. The Director will coordinate the initial SOX scoping, control environment assessment, documentation, and integration of newly acquired businesses into the Merchant SOX program.
SOX Remediation Programme
Lead the Merchant SOX remediation program, maintaining clear oversight of identified deficiencies, agreed actions, accountable owners, and remediation timelines. Assess the nature, underlying financial reporting risk, and root causes of control deficiencies, and support the development of practical, sustainable remediation plans.
Support management in preparing clear and technically defensible responses to internal audit and SOX findings, as well as external audit findings. Collaborate with accountable business owners to agree on remediation actions and timelines, monitor implementation, and escalate overdue or ineffective actions, as required.
Define proportionate evidence requirements to demonstrate implementation and sustained control performance. Establish and oversee risk-based monitoring of control performance, including post-remediation validation, to assess whether controls are operating as intended, identify recurring issues, and support sustainable deficiency closure.
Drive deficiencies through the agreed governance and closure process and escalate significant, overdue, or ineffective remediation promptly to the Merchant CFO. Evaluate the significance of identified deficiencies, including recurring and related matters, and support classification conclusions in conjunction with Group SOX.
Control Design and Implementation
Oversee the assessment, design, and implementation of controls across significant financial reporting processes, systems, and technology-enabled activities. Identify gaps in end-to-end processes and advise on the redesign or strengthening of controls that do not adequately address the underlying financial reporting risks.
Provide control oversight across significant financial reporting areas, including financial close, consolidation, and reporting, and relevant technology-enabled processes. Ensure that key controls are clearly documented, including ownership, frequency, review criteria, level of precision, exception management, and evidence requirements.
Simplify, standardize, and automate controls where this strengthens the environment and improves sustainability across the Merchant Division.
Practical Business Implementation
Ensure that agreed control improvements are translated into practical, implemented, and sustainable solutions. The Director will provide design guidance, oversee implementation progress, and challenge whether proposed solutions adequately address the underlying financial reporting risks. Accountable business and functional management remain responsible for approving, implementing, performing, and evidencing process and control changes.
Facilitate the redesign of reconciliations and advise on appropriate preparation, review, sign-off, and exception-management requirements. Develop minimum control standards for financial close, journal approval, evidence retention, and exception management for implementation by the relevant business owners.
Restructure access approval, maker and checker, and segregation-of-duties processes and controls. Develop standards and templates for management review controls and supporting control documentation and a related control repository for storage of such documents.
Identify weaknesses in system-generated reporting and define appropriate information-produced-by-the-entity and data-integrity requirements for implementation by the relevant process and system owners. Assist teams in resolving control backlogs and coach control owners through correct execution, without assuming ownership or execution of the control.
SOX Framework and Documentation
Own the quality and maintenance of Merchant SOX documentation, including risk and control matrices, process documentation, control descriptions, control-owner registers, and remediation records. Ensure that SOX documentation and testing records are complete, current, and subject to appropriate governance.
Ensure that documented processes reflect what actually happens in the business rather than what policy says should happen. Support the annual risk assessment, scoping, identification of key financial reporting risks, processes, systems, and controls, together with certification requirements.
Testing and Assurance Readiness
Coordinate the annual SOX program, including risk assessment, walkthroughs, design and implementation assessments, management testing, remediation, and year-end testing readiness. Perform risk-based management testing and quality reviews to assess whether controls are appropriately designed, implemented, and operating effectively.
Identify and remediate potential control failures early and ensure that management testing is supported by complete, accurate, and appropriately reviewed working papers and evidence. Coordinate management’s remediation validation and facilitate independent testing by Group SOX, Internal Audit, and external audit.
Design controls and perform first-line testing as required by the program, guided by the Group SOX team & supported by Internal Controls Analyst. Maintain appropriate objectivity when allocating, performing, and reviewing testing, particularly where members of the Merchant SOX team have assisted with control design or remediation.
Specialist and Emerging Control Areas
Assess and document the financial reporting control implications of outsourced services, third-party processing arrangements, and relevant service organizations. Design and implementation of appropriate Merchant controls addressing risks arising from third-party services.
Design and assessment of entity-level controls, fraud risks, management override, and other matters affecting the overall control environment. Ensure that relevant control implications arising from whistle-blowing, forensic, or investigation matters are considered in the control environment.
Ensure that the control implications of acquisitions, system implementations, migrations, integrations, process changes, and new products are identified and addressed on a timely basis. Promote appropriate use of data analytics, automation, and continuous monitoring within the Merchant SOX program.
Certification and Financial Reporting Governance
Support the Merchant CFO’s quarterly and annual financial reporting and internal-control certification processes, including the supporting evidence and representations required for Merchant sub-certification. Ensure that significant control deficiencies, relevant changes in the control environment, remediation progress, and other reportable matters are identified and communicated on a timely basis.
Support the operation of disclosure controls relevant to the Merchant Division. Ensure that matters affecting the Merchant contribution to the Group assessment are communicated to Group SOX and Group Finance in line with the reporting calendar.
Group SOX and Auditor Engagement
Act as the primary Merchant contact for SOX-related matters with Group SOX, Internal Audit, and external audit. Coordinate walkthroughs, testing, information requests, remediation discussions, and resolution of findings.
Translate Group SOX and external-audit requirements into clear and practical actions for Merchant management and control owners. Agree on remediation approaches early, resolve differences in interpretation, and challenge findings constructively where appropriate.
Ensure timely, complete responses and minimize repeat findings and year-end surprises.
Control Owner Capability
Build SOX and internal-control capability across Merchant through practical training, guidance, and coaching. Support control owners in understanding their responsibilities for control execution, review, exception management, evidence retention, and remediation.
Embed controls into normal business operations rather than treating SOX as an annual audit exercise. Manage, develop, and review the performance of the SOX & Internal Controls Analyst.
Governance and Reporting
Establish an effective governance and reporting cadence for the Merchant SOX program. Provide clear and timely reporting on control deficiencies, remediation progress, management testing results, recurring matters, and emerging risks.
Report to the Merchant CFO and executive leadership and support Group and Audit Committee reporting, as required. Escalate significant control failures, delays, and emerging financial reporting risks promptly.
Candidate Profile
A recognized professional accounting, internal audit, risk, or information-systems audit qualification is preferred. CA(SA), CPA, ACCA, CIA, or CISA qualifications will be advantageous.
A minimum of eight years of relevant experience in SOX, ICFR, internal controls, external audit, internal audit, or financial governance, including experience at senior-management level.
Strong practical knowledge of SOX 404, the COSO framework, risk-based scoping, control design, management testing, deficiency evaluation, and remediation.
Strong financial accounting and Internal Controls, with sufficient understanding of IT controls, automated controls, system-generated information, and technology dependencies to engage specialists and challenge conclusions effectively.
Experience managing complex remediation programs and engaging senior management, Group functions, and external auditors in a multi-entity or multi-jurisdictional environment.
Practical experience in a remediation, turnaround, or significant control-change environment.
Experience in Big Four or major advisory, US-listed or dual-listed, fintech, payments, financial services, high-volume transaction, or SOX turnaround environments will be advantageous.
Experience integrating internal controls following acquisitions, system implementations, or major business change will be advantageous.
Critical Personal Characteristics
Commercially pragmatic, with the ability to balance robust financial controls and efficient business operations.
Technically credible and able to engage confidently with senior management, Group SOX, and external auditors.
Assertive and willing to challenge conclusions or escalate matters where necessary.
Collaborative, while maintaining clear boundaries between SOX oversight and business control ownership.
Structured, analytical, and focused on sustainable outcomes.
Resilient and able to operate effectively in a complex remediation and change environment.
