Deputy Director, Information Systems Audit

How to Apply: Interested and qualified candidates should apply online via the Mount Kenya University recruitment portal at recruitment.mku.ac.ke.

Show Your Audit Trail: What Hiring Managers Probe in IS Audit Leadership

This is a senior role that blends deep technical audit knowledge with strategic thinking. The panel will be looking for evidence that you can not only run audits but also shape the university's control environment and communicate findings to senior stakeholders.

1. Map your experience to their risk landscape: Before applying, review the university's digital ecosystem—ERP, student portals, e-learning platforms. In your CV and cover letter, explicitly link your past audit work to similar systems, showing you understand the specific risks in higher education.

2. Lead with your certifications: CISA, CISM, or CISSP are non-negotiable. Place them prominently. If you have CPA, ACCA, or CIA, highlight them as differentiators that bridge IT and financial audit.

3. Prove your strategic planning chops: They want an annual risk-based audit plan. Prepare a one-page sample outline of how you'd approach this for a university, showing you can prioritize by risk and align with institutional goals.

4. Demonstrate cyber security fluency: Cyber risk is explicitly mentioned. Be ready to discuss frameworks like NIST or ISO 27001, and give a concrete example of how you've assessed or improved cyber controls in a past role.

5. Quantify your audit impact: Use numbers: number of audits completed, percentage of findings resolved, reduction in control gaps. This makes your experience tangible and credible.

6. Prepare for scenario questions: Expect questions like 'How would you audit a cloud-based student information system?' or 'How do you handle a suspected fraud?' Practice structured, risk-based thinking out loud.

7. Show your stakeholder communication: As Deputy Director, you'll report to the Director and interact with external auditors. Prepare examples of how you've presented complex audit findings to non-technical audiences, including boards or audit committees.

8. Bring your toolkit to the interview: Mention specific CAATs, data query tools (SQL), and audit software you've used. If you have a portfolio of audit work (anonymized), offer to walk them through a sample—it shows your hands-on capability.