Operational and Financial Audit Manager – Al-Futtaim Group

Al-Futtaim is a privately held regional conglomerate operating across more than 20 countries and 40,000-plus employees, spanning automotive, retail, financial services and real estate. This Operational and Financial Audit Manager role sits within the group’s internal audit function, responsible for independently reviewing how well business units are actually following financial controls and operating procedures, not just whether the numbers add up on paper.

The work combines both operational and financial audit scope: reviewing processes end to end for control gaps, testing financial transactions and reporting for accuracy and compliance, and writing up findings and recommendations that go to senior management. Expect planning and leading audit engagements, managing a small team or working closely with audit staff, and presenting findings to stakeholders who may not always welcome them.

It suits someone with solid audit experience — internal or external, often starting in a Big 4 or similarly structured audit environment — who has strong management capability along with excellent written and verbal communication skills, since translating audit findings into something business leaders will actually act on is a core part of the job. Independence of judgement and comfort delivering difficult findings diplomatically but clearly both matter.

Working across a diversified group like Al-Futtaim gives an audit manager exposure to a wide range of businesses and risk profiles within a single employer, which is valuable for building broad audit and controls expertise.

Internal audit is one of the few functions in a large organisation whose entire purpose is to find problems before they become expensive ones, and an Operational and Financial Audit Manager at a group as diversified as Al-Futtaim carries real responsibility for that early-warning system. Across automotive, retail, financial services and real estate operations, control weaknesses or process gaps that go unnoticed can compound into financial losses, compliance breaches, or reputational damage well beyond the business unit where they originated. This role's audit work — testing controls, reviewing financial transactions, following up on remediation — is what gives senior leadership genuine visibility into where the organisation's actual risk sits, rather than where it's assumed to sit. Because Al-Futtaim operates across so many business lines and geographies, the audit function's ability to spot patterns across units and recommend fixes that generalise has real preventative value group-wide. Strong audit work here protects both the balance sheet and the group's standing with regulators, partners and lenders, making it a genuinely consequential role rather than a compliance formality.

An Operational and Financial Audit Manager role at a diversified group like Al-Futtaim is an excellent way to build broad, senior-level audit and risk management experience across multiple industries within a single employer, which is a real advantage over staying in one narrow sector. The exposure to automotive, retail, financial services and real estate operations within one audit function builds a versatility that is highly valued by employers across the finance and risk world, since it demonstrates the ability to adapt audit methodology to very different operational contexts. This role also sharpens management and communication skills specifically, since delivering uncomfortable findings to senior stakeholders with clarity and professionalism is a skill that audit professionals are judged on throughout their careers. People who build this kind of broad, senior audit experience are well positioned to move into head of internal audit, risk management, or even CFO-track finance leadership roles over time, since audit experience at this level demonstrates both technical rigor and organisational judgement. Al-Futtaim's scale and reputation as one of the region's most established private groups adds real weight to a resume, and the relationships built across business units during audit engagements often open doors to broader finance or risk leadership opportunities within the group itself.

• Strong audit experience, internal or external, with demonstrated operational and financial audit scope
• Professional qualification such as CIA, CPA, ACCA or equivalent
• Strong management capability, including leading or coordinating audit engagements and staff
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills for presenting findings to senior management
• Solid understanding of internal controls, risk assessment, and financial reporting standards
• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, or a related field
• Comfort auditing across diverse business units within a large, multi-sector organisation