Senior Manager Group Audit Coordination & External Reporting (m/f/d)

Description

To serve as the organizational backbone of the group's external audit, ensuring that all quarterly reviews and annual audits are finalized on time through rigorous end-to-end coordination across internal finance functions and external auditors. As the single point of accountability for one of the most time-critical and compliance-sensitive processes in the organization, this role directly safeguards the integrity and credibility of the group's public financial reporting.

Essential Responsibilities:

Audit Coordination

• Own the group audit process end-to-end for IFRS and US GAAP: from initial planning and scoping through fieldwork, review, and final sign-off - for both quarterly reviews and the annual group audit
• Design and maintain the master audit coordination plan, including a detailed timeline, milestone tracking, and escalation paths - aligned to SEC filing deadlines (40 days for 10-Q, 60 days for 10-K)
• Serve as the single primary interface to the external auditors for all group-level matters; manage day-to-day audit communication, resolve open items, and ensure the auditors have timely access to all requested information
• Orchestrate the Group's audit preparation process across all group entities: coordinate local controllers and accounting teams to ensure PBC (Prepared by Client) deliverables are complete, accurate, and submitted on time
• Establish and enforce an internal pre-audit review process to ensure sufficient level of quality before external auditor engagement - minimizing surprises and re-work during fieldwork
• Plan and manage audit kick-off meetings, status reviews, and closing conferences; prepare all relevant materials and ensure senior management is briefed on open issues at all times
• Track and manage the resolution of audit findings, review notes, and auditor queries across workstreams; maintain a central issue log with owners, due dates, and status
• Oversee the PBC list management from end to end: distribute requests to the appropriate internal owners, monitor completeness, and ensure quality before delivery to auditors
• Coordinate Big 4 or audit firm relationships at the operational level; manage engagement efficiency and constructively challenge scope or timelines where appropriate
• Prepare Audit Committees in close alignment with the VP Group Accounting on audit planning, significant accounting judgments, and audit progress; support the preparation of Audit Committee materials

Internal Stakeholder Management & Cross-Functional Coordination

• Act as the central coordination hub between group accounting, local finance teams, tax, treasury, legal, and FP&A throughout the audit and reporting cycle
• Drive rigorous internal closing calendar management to ensure all upstream inputs arrive with sufficient lead time ahead of external audit deadlines
• Build and maintain a culture of audit-readiness across the group finance organization - not just at year-end, but as a continuous state of preparedness

Process Improvement & Project Work

• Continuously evaluate and improve the audit coordination process - including tooling, templates, communication flows, and escalation mechanisms
• Lead or support ad hoc finance and accounting projects (e.g., new accounting standard adoption, M&A integration, ERP/consolidation system enhancements)
• Support the build-out of scalable audit and reporting infrastructure suited to the ongoing demands of a public company

Qualifications / Requirements:

• Bachelor's Degree in Finance / Accounting / or equivalent (Master appreciated) or economic education with sufficient years of work experience (HAK or equivalent)
• Minimum 7-10 years of relevant experience, with a significant portion in roles with direct exposure to external audit processes - either in public accounting or as an in-house audit coordinator at a multinational group
• Demonstrated experience owning and managing complex external audit engagements end-to-end, including multi-entity group audits
• Proven ability to coordinate large numbers of internal stakeholders under strict, non-negotiable deadlines
• Solid knowledge of US GAAP and IFRS
• Experience in multinational, multi-entity group structures with cross-border audit coordination
• Very good Microsoft 365 experience
• Excellent Excel skills, experienced with large sets of data
• Prior experience at a Big 4 accounting firm (audit practice), ideally followed by an in-house role at a publicly listed company
• Experience with consolidation systems (e.g., SAP, Hyperion/HFM, LucaNet, Oracle FCCS, or similar)
• Outstanding organizational and project management skills - able to manage multiple parallel workstreams without losing track of detail or deadline
• Fluent in English, additional languages are a plus