Internal Audit & Investigations Senior Associate

Role Overview

This role takes ownership of internal investigations across M-KOPA's five operating markets — Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa — carrying each matter from first intake through evidence gathering, interviews, analysis, and case closure. Alongside individual cases, the postholder acts as custodian of the whistleblower and grievance channels, making sure every concern is triaged, tracked, and resolved in a way that protects both the person raising it and the credibility of the programme itself. It is a position built on trust: complainants, subjects, and senior leaders all depend on the judgement, discretion, and character of whoever holds it, and the findings produced here feed directly into Board-level oversight of risk and conduct.

Key Responsibilities

• Run investigations end to end — intake and triage, scoping and planning, evidence collection, interviews with complainants, witnesses and subjects, analysis, and written findings through to closure.
• Apply a consistent, defensible methodology across the full range of case types, including fraud, misconduct, harassment, safeguarding concerns, and policy breaches, maintaining an evidence record robust enough to withstand challenge in disciplinary or legal proceedings.
• Recommend proportionate outcomes and corrective action, and flag the control weaknesses or process gaps that each case exposes so they can be remediated at source.
• Produce monthly and quarterly reporting for the Head of Internal Audit & Risk and the Board Audit & Risk Committee, covering case volumes, recurring themes, outcomes, and emerging risk signals.
• Support the day-to-day running of the whistleblower and grievance programme, ensuring concerns are triaged, tracked, and actioned in line with internal policy and IIA/ACFE good practice, and act as owner of the case management platform covering tracking, evidence storage, and reporting with strict attention to data integrity and confidentiality.
• Mine case data for recurring themes and systemic control gaps, and feed those insights into audit planning and risk reporting so investigation activity actively shapes where the function looks next.
• Champion the use of M-KOPA's technology and AI capabilities to sharpen audit planning and execution — risk sensing, scoping, testing, and reporting — embed data analytics and continuous monitoring into delivery, and coach Internal Audit colleagues on analytics- and AI-enabled techniques while safeguarding independence, governance, and confidentiality.
• Contribute to the ongoing development of investigation methodology, templates, and standard operating procedures, and stay current on evolving fraud typologies, investigative practice, and the regulatory expectations of each market M-KOPA operates in.

Requirements & Qualifications

Education

• A degree in a business-related discipline, law, criminology, or a comparable field from a recognised university.
• Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) certification is required.
• Further credentials such as CIA, CISA, forensic accounting, or investigations-specific qualifications are an advantage.

Experience

• A minimum of eight years' professional experience, including substantial hands-on work leading internal investigations into fraud, misconduct, harassment, or safeguarding matters.
• Background in financial services, fintech, or another comparably regulated, multi-market environment is strongly preferred.
• Proven track record of drafting investigation findings and reports for senior management and/or Board-level audiences.

Skills and Attributes

• Unimpeachable personal integrity and sound ethical judgement — the role depends on being trusted by every party to a case.
• Strong interviewing ability: building rapport quickly, asking probing questions, and staying composed and neutral under pressure.
• Excellent written communication, with the ability to turn complex, sensitive material into clear, factual, defensible case reports.
• Discretion and calm in emotionally difficult and highly confidential situations, handled with maturity and consistency.
• Confident stakeholder management across HR, Legal, Risk, and country leadership, including sensitive conversations with complainants and subjects.
• Ability to manage a concurrent caseload independently, prioritising carefully and appropriately across live investigations.
• Comfort operating across multiple markets and cultures, with a willingness to travel.