Audit Manager jobs in United Arab Emirates

element is hiring on behalf of a diversified engineering, trading and distribution group headquartered in Sharjah Airport Free Zone (SAIF Zone).

The group operates across:

• Industrial trading & distribution
• Engineering and project solutions
• Multi-entity businesses serving customers across the UAE and wider region

The business is entering a new phase of structured growth – expanding its portfolio, strengthening its balance sheet, and tightening execution across entities. To support this evolution, the Managing Director is building a stronger governance, risk and performance backbone.

The Audit Manager will be a key part of that backbone.

This role is ideal for someone who sees internal audit as a strategic lever – not just to "find issues," but to protect capital, sharpen margins, and improve decision-making.

The Audit Manager Will Design, Lead And Continuously Evolve The Internal Audit And Risk Agenda Of The Group, With a Clear Strategic Mandate

• Protect and improve profitability and cash flow
• Strengthen governance, discipline and transparency across entities
• Reduce business, operational and compliance risk
• Give the Managing Director early visibility into where the business is strong, where it is exposed, and where it can improve

You will act as an independent, commercially aware advisor to the Managing Director – close to the business, yet objective enough to challenge it.

• Design a 3-year internal audit and risk roadmap aligned with:
  • Growth plans, expansion, and new business lines
  • Capital-intensive decisions (inventory, projects, large contracts)
  • Key external risks (market, regulatory, supplier, customer concentration)
• Convert the roadmap into a prioritised annual audit plan, focusing effort on:
  • High-value and high-risk processes
  • High-impact entities/branches
  • Areas directly influencing profitability and cash flow
• Revisit and adjust the plan periodically as the business and risk landscape evolves.

• Deep-dive into the financial engines of the business:
  • Revenue recognition, gross margin integrity, and project profitability
  • Discounts, rebates, credit notes, and special pricing approvals
  • Inventory valuation, provisioning, write-offs and ageing
  • Receivables quality, credit control, and collection discipline
• Identify how decisions at the front line (pricing, credit, terms, approvals) are impacting:
  • Gross margins
  • Working capital
  • Return on capital employed (ROCE)
• Recommend and help institutionalize guardrails and metrics such as:
  • Approval thresholds and exceptions
  • Profitability checks before committing to deals/projects
  • Early warning indicators for margin erosion or cash stress

• Audit the complete order-to-cash and procure-to-pay cycles:
  • Vendor selection, negotiation, onboarding and performance
  • Purchase requisitions, RFQs, approvals, and PO issuance
  • Goods receipt, warehousing, stock movements and dispatch
  • Customer orders, quotations, contracts, execution, billing and collections
• Identify where the group is vulnerable to:
  • Operational disruptions (stockouts, delays, quality issues)
  • Process leakages (unbilled services, unclaimed credits, unnecessary costs)
  • Manual dependency and lack of standardisation
• Recommend process redesign, standardisation and automation opportunities that make the business more scalable and resilient.

• Strengthen and regularly review key governance frameworks:
  • Delegation of Authority (DoA) – clear, enforced and tracked
  • Contract approvals and exception handling
  • Conflict of interest policies and declarations
• Independently assess and report on adherence to:
  • Internal policies and procedures
  • External regulatory and compliance requirements
• Identify potential fraud or misconduct risks (for example: vendor collusion, side deals, kickbacks, inventory manipulation, misreporting) and recommend preventive/detective controls.
• Promote a culture where integrity is visible in daily decisions, not just in the policy manual.

• Translate audit work into insightful, decision-focused reports for the Managing Director and key leaders:
  • Clear articulation of risk and financial impact
  • Prioritised recommendations (what to do first, second, third)
  • Options and trade-offs where applicable
• Develop simple dashboards and scorecards that track:
  • Top recurring issues and their closure status
  • Risk heatmaps across functions/entities
  • Improvements in control maturity over time
• Ensure audit reports are not just filed, but used in management discussions, budgeting and strategy reviews.

• Work with process owners to convert recommendations into practical action plans with timelines and owners.
• Track implementation and test whether solutions are working in practice, not just on paper.
• Escalate delays or resistance in a constructive and firm manner, balancing business realities with risk appetite.
• Provide guidance during system implementations, policy revisions and process changes to embed control-thinking upfront.

• Initially operate as a hands-on individual contributor, running the full audit cycle.
• Over time, support the Managing Director in designing the future shape of the Internal Audit/Risk function – including:
  • When and where to hire additional internal resources
  • When to leverage external specialists (e.g., IT audit, tax, technical areas)
  • How to create standard templates, risk registers, checklists and SOPs that outlast individuals

• Bachelor's in Accounting/Finance/Commerce; CA/ACCA/CPA/CIA preferred.
• 7–10 years' experience in audit/internal audit, ideally in trading, engineering, industrial products, or distribution.
• Strong understanding of internal controls, risk management, and audit frameworks.
• Hands‑on with ERP systems and data analysis (Excel a must).
• High integrity, independent mindset, and strong communication skills.

• Opportunity to build the internal audit function for a growing group.
• Direct visibility with top management and real influence on business decisions.
• A role that goes beyond ticking boxes – focused on impact, not just compliance.