Manager, Internal Audit – Majid Al Futtaim

Majid Al Futtaim runs one of the most diverse portfolios in the region — shopping malls, the Carrefour franchise across the Middle East, VOX Cinemas, Ski Dubai, and a growing hospitality and real estate arm. A Manager in Internal Audit is responsible for independently testing whether the controls and processes across that portfolio are actually working the way they’re supposed to, not just on paper.

The role involves planning and executing audits across MAF’s business units — reviewing financial processes, operational controls, and compliance with internal policy — then writing up findings in a way that’s clear enough for business unit leaders to act on, and firm enough that issues don’t get quietly buried. Expect a mix of fieldwork (interviews, walkthroughs, document review) and structured reporting, along with a fair amount of relationship management, since audit findings only lead to real change if the audited team trusts the process rather than resents it.

This suits someone with solid financial or operational audit experience who’s comfortable being the person in the room asking uncomfortable questions, while still being seen as constructive rather than adversarial. Given MAF’s portfolio spans retail, entertainment, and real estate, the role also rewards genuine curiosity about how different kinds of businesses actually operate, not just a checklist mindset.

In a conglomerate the size of Majid Al Futtaim, with businesses as different as a Carrefour hypermarket, a shopping mall, and a ski slope under one roof, the internal audit function is one of the few teams with a mandate to look across the whole portfolio and ask whether controls that work in one business unit are actually holding up in another. A Manager in this team who catches a control weakness early — before it becomes a financial misstatement, a compliance breach, or a fraud exposure — protects the group from costs and reputational risk that would otherwise surface much later and much more expensively. Because MAF operates across multiple countries and regulatory environments, this role's work also underpins the confidence that lenders, auditors, and the board place in the group's financial reporting, which matters directly for MAF's ability to raise capital and expand. Beyond the compliance angle, good internal audit work also has a genuine operational upside: recommendations that come out of a well-run audit often become the basis for real process improvements that make a business unit more efficient, not just more compliant — turning what could be seen as a purely defensive function into one that actively strengthens how the group runs.

Internal audit at a large, diversified group like Majid Al Futtaim is one of the best ways to build a genuinely broad view of how a business actually works, because the role requires understanding the operational and financial mechanics of retail, real estate, hospitality, and entertainment businesses all within the same job — exposure that a role inside a single business unit simply doesn't offer. That breadth is exactly what makes internal audit experience such a strong launching pad into senior finance, risk, or even general management roles later, since auditors who've seen how multiple business types operate tend to make sharper commercial judgments than specialists who've only worked in one. The role also sharpens a specific, durable skill set: structured risk assessment, the discipline of evidencing every conclusion, and the ability to deliver difficult findings to senior stakeholders without damaging the relationship — skills that transfer directly into CFO-track finance careers, compliance leadership, or even external audit and consulting. Many internal audit professionals at large regional groups eventually move into finance business partner or controller roles within the business units they used to audit, since they already understand those operations intimately. For anyone targeting a senior finance career in the Gulf region specifically, few functions offer this much cross-business exposure this early.

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field; professional qualification (CIA, CPA, ACCA, or equivalent) preferred
• Several years of experience in internal or external audit, ideally spanning both financial and operational reviews
• Strong analytical skills and comfort working with financial systems and large datasets
• Excellent report writing skills — findings need to be clear, evidenced, and actionable
• Confident stakeholder management, including with senior business unit leaders
• Sound understanding of internal control frameworks and risk assessment methodology
• Experience auditing retail, real estate, or consumer-facing businesses is an advantage