Rutherford Cross is retained on a Risk Assurance Manager role with Edinburgh Airport

The Company

Edinburgh Airport is Scotland’s busiest and UK’s 6th busiest airport with more than 30 airlines serving more than 100 destinations worldwide. The airport reported more than 12.3 million passengers in 2016 as it recorded it busiest year in history. It was the second successive year where the airport added more than 1 million passengers and illustrates the success of its commercial strategy and position as one of the UK’s fastest growing airports.

It is highly regarded as an entrepreneurial business that is committed to offering a market-leading proposition to airlines and passengers and is focused on a commercial strategy that incentivises growth.

To support future commercial growth Edinburgh Airport continues to invest in its asset base with major programmes underway to increase stand capacity, expand the terminal building and provide additional operational capacity in baggage, check-in, security and immigration.

From a broader perspective, studies show that the airport contributes almost £1 billion to the Scottish economy every year and supports more than 23,000 jobs across Scotland.

Edinburgh Airport’s principal shareholder is Global Infrastructure Partners (“GIP”) which is an independent private equity investor combining industry sector expertise with best practice industrial management. GIP acquired Edinburgh Airport in June 2012 after purchasing the airport from BAA for £807.2m.

To see more on Edinburgh Airport, visit www.edinburghairport.com

The Opportunity

The Risk & Assurance Manager position is newly created role which will be an integral part of Edinburgh Airport’s team and will report directly into the Director of Finance Projects.

As the airport continues to grow and diversify so too does the need to continuously improve internal controls, systems and processes and provide ongoing assurance to the Executive Committee, Board of Directors, Audit Committee and other key stakeholders.

To support this process, Edinburgh Airport has taken a strategic decision to fundamentally restructure its risk & assurance activities in 2018 with the replacement of a fully outsourced model (currently managed by GIP-owned, Gatwick Airport) with a co-sourced model where capable internal resource is supplemented by third party support to deliver a programme of audit and assurance. This is an excellent opportunity to shape, define and lead this new model and it is expected the role will develop and grow so it is essential that applicants are agile, smart and dynamic.

This is a broad and highly visible role that requires an individual of the highest calibre. The position will require extensive interaction with all facets of the business and demands a ‘can-do’ individual who is comfortable leading assurance reviews from the front, coordinating the activities of an external co-sourcing audit partner and presenting key findings and recommendations to senior management.

This role is much more than ensuring compliance with basic internal control standards. It is about helping the business understand the value of best-in-practice risk management activities and providing commercial and actionable insights. The role captures the full spectrum of risk management activities from internal control assurance and process improvement to corporate insurance and the identification and reporting of emerging and known risks.

Edinburgh Airport offers an excellent opportunity for an ambitious finance professional to develop their career in a fast paced and challenging environment.

Preferred candidate background

The successful candidate will own the audit plan and be the primary point of contact for managing the relationship with the co-source partner. This will involve full responsibility for the delivery of the internal audit service, all reporting and management information, process improvement and management of the strategic risk register. Also, it will involve wider business risks outside of finance, such as regular review of the insurance program.

The position incorporates a range of responsibilities requiring a confident individual with a strong technical background in either internal or external audit. It is essential that the individual comes from a large firm/business background where they will have a strong awareness of best practice approaches to risk management and internal controls, ideally in a similar fast-paced and complex business environment. It is likely that the individual will be CA/ACA qualified and, ideally, have trained with a Big 4 or large accountancy practice. However, the nature of the role may also lend itself to candidates who are Internal Audit professionals and trained in an industry environment.

It is critical that the Risk and Assurance Manager can work closely with a range of senior stakeholders, including the CFO, wider Executive team and the Audit Committee. It is crucial they can take responsibility for decision making and possess sufficient gravitas to challenge current thinking and drive positive change.

A summary of the key candidate requirements are as follows:

• Degree educated;
• Professionally Qualified Accountant (ICAS, ACCA, ICAEW) or Internal Audit professional with at least 3 years post-qualification experience;
• Excellent analytical and problem solving skills combined with business acumen, pragmatism and a good sense of diplomacy;
• Proven ability to build relationships at all levels;
• Highly developed oral, written and presentation skills;
• Motivated self-starter with a flexible ‘can-do’ working attitude;
• Remains calm under pressure and when working to deadlines;
• A strong team player, with a desire to make a significant contribution to the Finance department; and
• Excellent IT skills including MS Office and a good working knowledge of accounting systems in a large organisation.

Job Description

The Risk & Assurance Manager is a key member of finance team and will report to the Director of Finance Projects. There will be significant direct exposure to the Chief Financial Officer.

The principal focus of the role is to provide independent assurance that the risk and controls framework is appropriately designed and effectively implemented across the airport. The role will also include responsibility for day-to-day management of the airport’s corporate insurance programme and ownership of the strategic risk register.

There will be significant exposure to external parties including the co-sourcing partners, insurance brokers, insurers, risk advisors and other third parties.

The main duties and responsibilities will involve:

• Define, develop and manage audit standards and procedures;
• Develop and drive the assurance agenda within the wider business to raise the profile of the function;
• Participate in the process to select an external co-sourcing partner;
• Responsible for designing and communicating the annual programme of assurance reviews - and obtaining the Audit Committee’s support;
• Oversight and instruction of the co-sourcing partner to ensure timely delivery and the maintenance of quality standards;
• Lead and deliver certain assurance reviews where it is more appropriate for in-house resource to direct rather than the external co-sourcing partner (for example, where commercially sensitive information is involved);
• Communication - written and verbal - of key findings and recommendations for improvement at the conclusion of each assurance review to the relevant business stakeholder(s);
• Regular reporting on the delivery of the assurance programme, key messages/findings and tracking of open issues to the Audit Committee;
• Day-to-day management of the airport’s multi-line insurance programme and significant direct interaction with the airport’s brokers, risk advisors and insurers;
• Responsibility for maintenance of the strategic risk register;
• Ad hoc financial investigations and financial analysis of business performance;
• Support the Director of Finance Projects to undertake project work as and when required;

It is envisaged that the successful candidate will broadly split their time on the following basis:

• Oversight of the co-sourcing partner and their activities (30%);
• Delivering targeted assurance reviews (40%);
• Governance, planning and reporting (20%); and
• Managing insurance programme (10%)

Remuneration

Salary:                       Circa £50,000 – £55,000 per annum

Bonus:                        Discretionary bonus payable

Pension:                     Employer pension up to 12%

Annual Leave:           33 days inclusive of public holidays

Life Insurance:          3 times salary - 8 times salary once signed up to pension scheme

Income Protection:   50% of basic salary for 2 years followed by a lump sum payment of

3 times basic salary - once signed up to pension scheme

Car Parking:              Free parking onsite