Assistant Director of Risk, Compliance and Assurance

Company Description: The Michigan Language Assessment team is diverse, dynamic, and committed to building and strengthening a culture of inclusion, support, innovation, adaptability, quality, and trust. You'll have the chance to collaborate with peers from more than a dozen countries as you help us grow domestically and globally. We believe in hard work and the importance of personal time. We believe good ideas can come from anyone in the organization. We believe that difficult projects and hard tasks can be accomplished in an atmosphere that's collegial and supportive, because we're all in this together.

To find out more about Michigan Language Assessment, visit us at https://michiganassessment.org/about-us/.

Role Description: The Assistant Director of Risk, Compliance and Assurance is responsible for overseeing the organization's integrated approach to risk management, compliance, quality assurance, and assessment security in support of the delivery, protection, and continuous improvement of its products and services. A significant part of the role is to oversee the policies, controls, systems, and assurance processes that protect the validity, reliability, reputation, and recognition of the organization's assessments across domestic and international markets. This includes providing end-to-end strategic leadership for assessment security and integrity, regulatory and accreditation readiness and reporting, quality management, incident response, and organizational audit and assurance activities. Working collaboratively with internal legal counsel and stakeholders across the organization, the role will translate regulatory and operational requirements into effective controls, manage the risk, compliance and assurance function, and promote a culture of ethical practice, risk awareness, accountability, and continuous improvement.

As a member of the management team, the Assistant Director of Risk, Compliance and Assurance contributes to the development and delivery of the organization's strategic objectives and long-term business plan, including budgeting, resource management, operational resilience, and organizational growth. The role ensures that risk, compliance, and assurance priorities are embedded into strategic and operational decision-making.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the organization's integrated risk, compliance, and assurance strategy in alignment with business objectives for all products and services. Serve as the organization's subject matter expert on risk, compliance, assurance, assessment integrity, regulatory standards, accreditation readiness, and quality expectations.
• Oversee compliance and reporting requirements with regulatory and accreditation bodies, ensuring quality requirements as well as audit and reporting schedules are met for all products and services, security requirements are adhered to, and reputation is maintained across domestic and international markets. Ensure end-to-end business operations adhere to established standards and support ongoing accreditation and recognition through internal and vendor/partner audits assurance activities, and robust due diligence.
• Ensure that assessment integrity, security and quality measures are introduced, monitored, reviewed, and addressed as required. This will include item banking (reuse policies and maintaining and monitoring item pools), malpractice prevention, incident response, investigations, and control frameworks designed to protect the validity, reliability, and reputation of our assessment products and services. Lead escalation processes for assessment irregularities, security breaches, malpractice, and policy and compliance issues.
• Lead the risk and compliance and assurance policy development and implementation while promoting a culture of ethical practice, risk awareness, assessment integrity, and accountability across the organization.
• Oversee the organization's quality assurance framework, including the design, implementation, and ongoing monitoring of a quality management system. Ensure operational excellence and regulatory compliance through policy development, internal audit, reporting, staff training, and continuous improvement practices.
• Collaborate with internal legal counsel to protect the organization from operational and regulatory risk, translating complex legal requirements, including data privacy and protection mandates, intellectual property (IP) safeguards, and global trade controls (such as OFAC sanctions and export compliance) into actionable internal controls, auditing daily workflows, and proactively mitigating vulnerabilities. Is responsible for driving continuous audit readiness and minimizing corporate liability while maintaining operational efficiency.
• Monitor and report on the organization's risk profile, preparing executive-level reports and recommendations on risk exposure and control, compliance status, audit findings, security trends, incident metrics, quality performance, and emerging areas of concern.
• Manage the risk, compliance and assurance team, ensuring staff have the necessary tools, skills and guidance to operate effectively, and are motivated to strive towards continuous improvement.
• As a member of the management team, contribute to the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the long-term strategic business plan, including budgeting, resource management, operational resilience, and organizational growth. Ensure risk, compliance, and assurance priorities are embedded into strategic and operational decision-making.

Required Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree in business, risk management, political science, or similar field

Proven ability to develop, manage, and implement new policies and procedures 

Analytical skills, and strong attention to detail

Ability to manage change in a complex environment

Excellent oral and written communications skills

Ability to provide leadership and direction to a team of staff

Competent user of most Office products and ability to quickly learn new software programs

Strong interpersonal skills: ability to build positive professional relationships

Strong leadership skills; ability to influence and guide the team toward a common goal

Significant experience with risk management and leading in a regulated environment

Experience leading organizational change

Experience with quality assurance methodologies

Experience developing metrics and dashboard reporting

Experience managing a team

Experience policy writing and audit management

Desired Qualifications:

Master's degree in business, risk management, or similar field

Certification in Risk Management, Project Management, Quality Management or Security

Juris Doctor degree from an ABA-accredited law school

Strong understanding of English language assessment is preferred

Experience in project management

Experience conducting audits and developing monitoring systems

Experience working with international clientele in a risk and compliance specialty

Familiarity with ISO standards including ISO 9001 and ISO 27001

Experience with test security principles, regulatory compliance, and risk management; experience with global exam delivery/operations

Work Location:

Michigan Language Assessment is seeking candidates within commuting distance to Ann Arbor. This is a hybrid position with occasionally scheduled in person activities. 

Upon request, qualified candidates outside of the Ann Arbor commuting area may be considered.

How to Apply

A cover letter is required for consideration for this position and should be attached as the first page of your resume. The cover letter should address your specific interest in the position and outline skills and experience that directly relate to this position.

Please apply to this link, https://careers.umich.edu/job_detail/284783/assistant-director-risk-compliance-and-assurance