Stakeholder Manager

NEOM is an accelerator of human progress and a vision of what a new future might look like. A region in northwest Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea, NEOM is being built from the ground up to include hyperconnected, cognitive cities, ports, next-generation infrastructure and industries, enterprise zones, research centers, sports and entertainment venues and tourist destinations.

As a destination, it will be a home for people who dream big and want to be part of building a new model for exceptional livability, creating thriving businesses and reinventing environmental conservation.

As a workplace, it is a place for people who share our core values of care, curiosity, diversity, passion, respect, and becoming a catalyst for change.

Are you ready to help NEOM find solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges? Are you prepared to create a lasting legacy that benefits generations to come? Then we want to hear from you!

Role Purpose

The Stakeholder Manager for Internal Audit will be responsible for managing and building relationships with stakeholders, both internal and external, to support the Internal Audit function. They will be responsible for developing and implementing a stakeholder engagement strategy that supports the objectives of the Internal Audit function.

Key Attributes and Accountabilities

• Develop and implement a stakeholder engagement strategy and  plan that aligns with the Internal Audit function's objectives, ensuring effective communication channels between stakeholders and the Internal Audit team.
• Build and manage relationships with key stakeholders, including executive management, business unit leaders, and other key personnel, to establish trust and maintain open communication channels.
• Develop audit reporting for relevant stakeholders, to ensure they are aware of upcoming audits, audit progress and the status of open audit issues.
• Develop strong relationships and open lines of communication with all Projects related stakeholders across Neom.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to identify and assess key risks to the organization, providing insights to the Internal Audit function to develop audit plans that align with business objectives.
• Maintain stakeholder account plans and stakeholder meeting minutes.
• Develop and execute communication plans to ensure stakeholders are informed about the Internal Audit function's activities and outcomes, as well as the organization's risk management activities.
• Ensure that the audit plan and engagement memos are communicated to stakeholders sufficiently in advance prior to the commencement of any audit.
• Prepare and coordinate stakeholder engagement surveys post audit and as required.
• Ensure that the CIAO is kept abreast of any significant stakeholder feedback around audit activities as and when these arise.
• Ensure CIAO has an optimized schedule for prioritized stakeholder meetings.
• Outside In – regularly communicate to NIA on stakeholder and business unit insights to enrich NIA knowledge of the business.
• Build, run and maintain a digital stakeholder mapping online tool for NIA
• Coordinate and cultivate a network of assurance champions across NEOM so that robust internal controls and awareness of good corporate governance practices are embedded.
• Participate in risk management activities and workshops so that assurance services across the second and third lines of defense are integrated and coordinated.
• Supervise team members during audits to provide on the job training and mentoring as required.  Ensure that stakeholder management best practices are adhered to during all aspects of stakeholder engagement.
• Ensure that team members are appropriately utilized and developed on stakeholder engagement assignments taking into account seniority of the stakeholders, workload, scope and existing commitments.
• Monitor staff performance and workload to ensure that these are challenging yet manageable and provide timely and constructive feedback when required.
• Identify on-going staff training requirements so that the IA department develops and maintains industry-leading audit and assurance culture.   
• Build relationships with professional audit networks, to ensure that NEOM internal audit department is abreast of the latest audit trends and accounting legislation and staff meet their professional qualification requirements.
• Ensure effective team working by effectively by providing leadership and guidance to the NIA team providing coaching, feedback and mentoring.
• Role model the NEOM values demonstrating effective leadership to all team members.
• Managing and proactively understanding IA Leading practices and helping to build NIA as a world class audit function.
• Continuously evaluate the effectiveness of the stakeholder engagement strategy, making recommendations for improvement based on feedback and lessons learned.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• 5+ years of experience in stakeholder engagement and communication roles
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills to build and maintain relationships with stakeholders at all levels of the organization.
• Excellent project management skills to manage stakeholder-related projects effectively.
• Ability to think critically and analyze information to identify risks and develop appropriate solutions.
• Strong organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple projects and priorities simultaneously.
• Experience working with senior-level executives and stakeholders in a complex environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant field, such as business administration, language, communications, or related fields.
• Professional qualification in Internal Audit ,Communications or Project Management preferred but not essential