Senior Manager, PCAOB Assurance (External Audit)

About the role

PwC Middle East's Core Assurance team is hiring an External Audit Senior Manager in Dubai. The role holds overall accountability for the quality, risk management and delivery of PCAOB-regulated and public company audit engagements, acting as a senior technical and regulatory leader who supports engagement partners and advises audit committees and executive management.

Key responsibilities

• Own a portfolio of public company and PCAOB-relevant audit engagements, covering audit quality, regulatory compliance, delivery timelines and commercial outcomes.
• Lead PCAOB-compliant audit strategies aligned with firm methodology, inspection focus areas and engagement leadership guidance.
• Escalate complex technical accounting, PCAOB and audit judgement matters, including inspection findings and regulatory themes.
• Ensure audits meet PCAOB documentation, testing and quality review standards, with a focus on inspection readiness and root-cause mitigation.
• Oversee SOX-related considerations, internal control reliance and coordination with component teams, shared service centres and global counterparts.
• Manage senior client relationships, including CFOs, Controllers, Audit Committee members and Boards, and present audit approaches, risks and findings to audit committees.
• Identify and mitigate engagement risk, independence and quality issues, and drive business development and account expansion.
• Lead, coach and develop Managers and engagement teams, including performance management, technical development and succession planning.
• Champion audit transformation initiatives such as data analytics and automation, and stay current on PCAOB standards, SEC developments and global regulatory changes.

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance or a related discipline.
• 8-10+ years of external audit experience in a Big 4 or equivalent professional services environment.
• Significant experience leading PCAOB-regulated and public company audits, with hands-on involvement in PCAOB inspections, quality reviews and remediation.
• Professional qualification such as ACCA, ACA, CA or CPAS.
• Strong technical knowledge of IFRS and public company reporting requirements.
• Experience developing Managers and audit teams, and presenting to audit committees and boards.
• Fluency in English; Arabic is an advantage.

Required skills

• IFRS and public company reporting
• PCAOB standards and audit methodologies
• Audit technologies and data analytics tools