Building an AI audit function around a compliance hire

A payments platform hired a compliance professional and wanted the role to become its internal audit function for AI, models and technology risk. The difficulty was the hire’s background: on paper, compliance review followed by audit can read as the same career. The case rested on showing clearly where the new ground was.

Industry context

Fintech platforms are adopting AI in onboarding, fraud detection and customer operations faster than their assurance functions are adapting. Boards and regulators increasingly expect someone to audit how models are governed, how technology controls work, and what happens when an automated decision goes wrong. That person rarely exists on the payroll, and few candidates arrive with the full skill set.

What changed and why CCP applied

The hire’s previous work was customer due diligence review. The new role is an audit function in its own right: writing the audit charter, building an inventory of the AI systems in use, auditing AI governance and technology controls, and reporting to the audit committee. A title alone would not carry the case. An AI title on a compliance background invites the question of whether anything has really changed, so the substance had to sit in the duties.

Our strategy

In our consultation process, we aligned the role scope with AI and technology assurance, the work the business actually needed, so that the limited overlap with the hire’s previous work was clear. The on-the-job plan and the performance evaluation were written together, so each audit deliverable in the plan had a matching assessment point.

OJT activities included

• Drafting the internal audit charter and the audit plan.
• Building an inventory of AI and model-based systems in use across the business.
• Auditing AI governance and selected technology controls, with findings and management responses.
• Preparing the audit committee reporting pack.

Outcome

Role

Compliance reviewer converted into an AI and technology internal audit manager

Pathway

Different job scope pathway (new hire)

Status

Approved

Strategic value

An assurance function for AI and technology risk, built with funded structured training

Key takeaway

When a new role sits close to the candidate’s past, the case rests on the substance of the work. Be clear about what is genuinely new, be open about what carries over, and let the duties, not the title, show the conversion.