Audit Specialist II -- Plant Audits

Internal Audit Specialist II

The Internal Audit Specialist II plans, directs, and completes complex assurance and advisory/consulting audits of business processes or units. In this plant-focused role, the primary emphasis is operational audits of the company's power generation fleet. The Internal Audit Specialist II evaluates the effectiveness of controls and practices over various plant risks (e.g., plant safety, environmental compliance, maintenance and reliability, outage planning, and operational performance), working closely with plant and corporate stakeholders while maintaining independence and objectivity. The role adheres to the department's audit methodology and utilizes technology-based audit techniques and data analytics where appropriate. This role generally serves as the Senior Auditor / Auditor-in-Charge on projects.

Key Accountabilities

• Plans audits, including development of objectives, scope, timeline, and assignments in accordance with the Internal Audit Manual and Global Internal Audit Standards.
• Conducts interviews to understand processes and communicates objectives.
• Identify and assess risks and evaluates the controls designed to mitigate those risks.
• Determines appropriate testing strategies and methodology and leverage data analysis.
• Test controls for effectiveness and compliance; provides recommendations to address control gaps impacting safety, environmental, reliability, and financial performance.
• Summarize issues, prepare clear, concise audit reports, and present results to stakeholders
• Collaborate with management to develop risk-mitigating recommendations and action plans. Performs follow-up procedures to validate timely and effective remediation.
• Lead on-site audits at plants, partnering with Environmental Health & Safety and Operations.
• Utilize dynamic plant risk assessment, share risks, prospective plant selection and scope with Ops.
• Evaluate controls, practices related to key risk areas to include safety programs, environmental compliance, maintenance and operational reliability.
• Review and analyze data from plant systems such as (e.g., Maximo), environmental monitoring systems, and incident logs to identify anomalies, trends, and potential control gaps.
• Performs walkdowns and visual inspections of plant areas to validate that documented controls and processes are operating effectively in practice.

Education, Experience & Skill Requirements

• Bachelor's degree required (Accounting, Finance, Engineering, Business, or related discipline).
• 3 years + relevant experience in audit, power-plant or industrial operations, EHS compliance, or reliability engineering is preferred.
• Strong understanding of risk-based internal auditing, including planning, risk assessment, control evaluation, sampling, data analytics, and reporting.
• Audit-relevant certification such as CPA or CIA, or relevant plant operations certification preferred.
• Understanding of power-generation, industrial ops, plant systems, applicable safety & environmental regulations, maintenance & reliability practices. Experience with SAP and or Maximo is preferred.
• Excellent analytical, critical-thinking, written, and verbal communication skills, including concise report writing and presentation of results to management.
• Ability to manage multiple audits simultaneously, work effectively with minimal supervision, and build strong working relationships while maintaining independence and professional skepticism.
• Demonstrated ability to coach and review the work of less-experienced team members is a plus.
• Ability to travel approximately 10-20 % of the time based on audit assignments.
• Must be able to navigate walkways at power plants, including stepping over small obstructions and using stairs or ladders when necessary.
• Ability to work in typical plant environments (e.g., noise, heat/cold, outdoor areas) and comply with all site safety and personal protective equipment (PPE) requirements.

Key Metrics

• This role directly contributes to Internal Audit KPIs and objectives reported, including:
• On-time Audit Plan completion.
• On-time high-risk open issue closure.
• Internal Audit's annual Risk Assessment and Audit Plan development.
• Adherence to methodology through Quality Assurance Reviews.

Company: Vistra Corporate Services Company

Locations: Irving, Texas