Head of Internal Audit
Contract: Full-time, Permanent (38.75 hours per week)
Location: Maidenhead, Berkshire
Hybrid - a mixture of office and home working (3 days office, 2 from home) with some regional travel.
Salary: £75,000 - £85,000 per annum + (£6,000 Annual Car Allowance)
At Dignity Funerals, we are dedicated to delivering the highest standards of care and professionalism to the families we serve. As one of the UK's leading end-of-life services providers, we operate with compassion, integrity, and a deep commitment to excellence across every aspect of our work.
About the Role
We are currently seeking an accomplished and strategic Head of Internal Audit to shape and lead our audit strategy at an enterprise level. This is a high-impact leadership role, responsible for delivering independent assurance to senior leadership and the Board, ensuring robust compliance with regulatory, legislative, and internal governance standards.
Reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer, you will design, implement, and maintain a comprehensive governance and risk framework across the organisation. Your objective insight will inform and guide the Board on the effectiveness of risk management, internal controls, and overall operational resilience.
Key Responsibilities
Lead and develop the Internal Audit team, managing relationships with stakeholders and supporting investigations and committee engagement as required.
Communicate effectively with the Executive Directors and the Audit Committee, keeping them appraised of emerging issues, key risks and the activity of the Department.
Maintaining a rolling three-year strategic plan for the Department.
Developing and delivering a risk-based Annual Internal Audit Plan.
Identifying material weaknesses and gaps in the control framework.
Keep abreast of relevant Internal Audit best practices and ensure that Internal Audit governance documents are appropriate and relevant.
Keeping abreast of relevant regulations including FCA (Funeral Plans) and CMA (Funeral Operations).
Facilitating External Quality Assessments of the effectiveness of the Internal Audit Department.
Attend Company Committee meetings as appropriate to provide oversight, assurance and expertise as required.
Oversee departmental performance through KPIs, quality reviews, and external assessments, ensuring continuous improvement.
What We’re Looking For
Previous experience in a senior audit role encompassing risk mitigation and corporate internal compliance.
Significant experience in a risk-based Internal Audit Function in a regulated Financial Services environment.
Thorough understanding of the principles and application of good corporate governance, business and operational risk, control processes and procedures.
Extensive experience in developing and executing organisational strategy.
Proven track record of policy creation, maintenance, change and business-wide implementation.
Excellent interpersonal skills, being able to be credible, authentic, influential, engaging, and effective in a fast-paced and challenging environment.
An advocate for working collaboratively and collectively in pursuit of joint goals across multiple functions, bringing teams together at the right time to guarantee successful outcomes.
Confidential, discreet and demonstrates integrity.
Why Join Us?
At Dignity Funerals, we recognise that working in the funeral sector is more than just a profession—it is a vocation that demands compassion, integrity, and dedication. Our internal audit function plays a critical role in upholding our values, ensuring that we operate to the highest standards and deliver the best possible service to the families who rely on us.
In return, we offer a supportive and professional environment, ongoing learning opportunities, and the chance to be part of a business that truly makes a difference.
If you are a detail-oriented and ethical leader within audit and are looking to apply your skills in a company with a meaningful purpose, we would love to hear from you.
What we provide to you…
Annual salary of £75,000 - £85,000.
£6,000 Annual Car Allowance.
25 Days Holiday + Bank Holidays.
BUPA Private Healthcare (Family).
10% Company Bonus.
Pension Scheme 4% Matched.
Life Assurance X4 Annual Salary.
Free On-Site Parking.
Access to our internal apprentice & personal development schemes.
What are the next steps?
To be considered for this role, please submit your application via the ‘apply’ button, where a member of our Talent Team will review your application.
FCA Regulation Statement
Please note that this role is subject to meeting regulatory requirements. As an FCA-regulated organisation, we are committed to adopting the highest standards and we do this by employing individuals with the appropriate skills, experience and integrity to protect both the company and our clients. If you are considered for a role, you will be providing your permission for us to conduct the relevant checks and assessments that will be carried out during the recruitment and onboarding process. The nature of the checks will depend on whether the role is subject to the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR).
Please note in accordance with our pre-employment checks, all roles will require a criminal record check and further enhanced checks may apply. Certain roles will be subject to ongoing checks in line with the Group SMCR Framework (Fit & Proper Policy). Further details will be explained to you throughout the recruitment process.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Statement
Our Vision is to connect with our clients, colleagues, company, and communities based on our principles whilst celebrating our differences.
We aim to empower leaders and colleagues to seek out and understand new voices and perspectives; to be vocal about inequity and exclusion, and to take decisive, informed, and bold action to promote inclusion and belonging.
Any unsolicited submissions from agencies will be accepted as a direct application from the candidate and no fees will be payable.
We reserve the right depending on application numbers to close or extend the closing dates for positions; we would therefore recommend an early application.
