Internal auditor senior, Internal Audit

Reports To: Audit Management Team

Travel: 30% of the time domestically and internationally

Universal is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, and is the leading global leaf tobacco supplier. The largest portion of the Company's business involves procuring and processing flue-cured, burley, and dark air‑cured leaf tobacco for manufacturers of consumer tobacco products. Over the past few years, Universal has expanded its business through a series of acquisitions to develop a plant‑based ingredients business segment to support the food and beverage markets, providing future growth opportunities for Universal. We are now a global business‑to‑business agri‑products supplier to consumer product manufacturers that sources and processes leaf tobacco and plant‑based ingredients. Through our plant‑based ingredients platform, we provide a variety of value‑added manufacturing processes to produce high‑quality, specialty vegetable‑ and fruit‑based ingredients as well as botanical extracts and flavorings for human and pet food end markets.

Universal conducts business in over 30 countries on five continents and employs over 25,000 permanent and seasonal workers. Domestically, Universal employs over 1,000 permanent and seasonal workers, and its revenues ending March 31, 2023, were $2.6 billion.

For more information on Universal, visit our website at

As a Senior Auditor at Universal, you will lead and support integrated risk‑based internal audits across financial, compliance, operational, and information systems areas. You’ll train, assist and mentor staff auditors, review their work, and ensure quality throughout planning, execution, and closing phases. Your responsibilities include conducting system walkthroughs, testing internal controls, performing substantive and analytical reviews, and documenting findings in automated workpapers. Additional duties include interviewing management, performing data analytics on subsidiary financial and operational data, assisting external auditors, and handling special projects while maintaining confidentiality.

Assist in all phases of planning, performing and closing integrated risk‑based internal audits, inclusive of financial, compliance, operational and information systems (IS) areas.

Supervise staff auditors on audits and special projects.

Perform a detailed peer review of all work completed by staff auditors on audits and special projects.

Conduct system walkthroughs and compliance tests, evaluate adequacy of internal controls, perform detailed substantive testing and analytical reviews.

Document tests and findings in our automated audit workpaper package.

Analyze the root cause of audit issues, develop practical recommendations, and appropriately document and communicate to stakeholders.

Perform data analytics (Arbutus) on subsidiary financial and operational data.

Provide direct assistance to the external auditors.

Perform special projects, as assigned.

Bachelor’s Degree with concentration in Accounting, Finance, or Business.

Minimum four years of progressive auditing and/or accounting

Experience leading an audit process

Experience training, assisting, and mentoring lower level audit staff.

Willingness to travel up to 30% of the time domestically and internationally.

Certified Public Accountant (CPA); Certified Internal Auditor (CIA); or Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) certification or active pursuit of certification(s).

Experience in public accounting assurance or advisory practice; Practical experience with ERP systems - Microsoft Dynamics 365 highly valued.

Proficient in Microsoft Office suite.

Motivated to work independently and complete responsibilities with little supervision yet work well and promote a team‑oriented culture.

Knowledge of generally accepted accounting principles, the IPPF, COSO’s Internal Control – Integrated Framework.

Multi‑lingual skills (Spanish or Portuguese)

Data analytics experience using Arbutus, ACL or similar products.

We offer a wide range of market‑competitive total rewards that include 401(k) match, pension, merit increases, paid holidays, medical, dental, life, vision, short and long‑term disability benefits, and tuition assistance to name a few.