Access Management and Compliance Lead

Our client is looking for an Access Management and Compliance Lead who will play a critical role in ensuring compliance with SOX, audit, and regulatory requirements by managing user identities and access privileges. This role requires strong expertise in identity governance within banking, financial services, or other heavily regulated industries. The successful candidate will design, implement, and maintain IAM policies, processes, and controls to uphold security and compliance standards. A key focus will be on building and leading a team of 2-4 analysts to establish robust governance processes for user access management. This role will start off as a contract with conversion to permanent after 3-6 months.

Job Responsibilities:

• Oversee the governance and compliance of IAM policies, ensuring adherence to SOX, internal audit, and regulatory standards.
• Develop and implement processes to enforce access control policies, ensuring proper user provisioning, de-provisioning, and authentication.
• Establish and document workflows for managing user access groups, ensuring appropriate entitlements and segregation of duties.
• Lead efforts to onboard and manage 13 SOX-critical applications within the IAM framework to ensure compliance.
• Conduct periodic User Access Reviews (UARs) for in-scope applications, addressing any audit findings promptly.
• Ensure access-related requests are completed accurately, within SLA, and aligned with compliance and governance controls.
• Collaborate with internal audit and risk teams to identify gaps, remediate findings, and implement corrective actions.
• Define and enforce authorization policies to control access based on user roles, attributes, and the principle of least privilege.

Job Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field, or equivalent work experience.
• 3 years of leadership experience in IAM governance, preferably within banking, financial services, or other regulated industries.
• Strong background in SOX compliance, internal audits, and regulatory frameworks related to IAM.
• Hands-on experience with identity and access management tools such as SailPoint, CyberArk, Saviynt, Active Directory, LDAP, and Azure AD.
• Understanding of role-based access control (RBAC), multi-factor authentication (MFA), and conditional-based access in EntraID.
• Demonstrated experience in implementing access governance frameworks and controls to ensure regulatory compliance.
• Ability to manage IAM projects, define policies, and execute user access strategies in complex enterprise environments.
• Experience in establishing and enforcing standards for IAM service delivery, performance metrics, and continuous improvement.
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to manage, mentor, and develop a high-performing team.
• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced environment with a strong sense of urgency and accountability.
• Excellent communication, problem-solving, and stakeholder management skills.
• Must be on-site 4 days a week to ensure proper oversight, team collaboration, and adherence to IAM governance standards.

This role is critical in enhancing the organization's IAM governance, ensuring compliance with SOX and audit requirements, and building a strong access control framework. The successful candidate will have a strategic mindset, a deep understanding of IAM governance, and a hands-on approach to implementing effective controls.

Compensation: $115,000 to $125,000 annually

Salary is based on a range of factors that include relevant experience, knowledge, skills, other job-related qualifications.