Operational Risk Analyst (Group Benefits and Retirement)

Alternate Locations: Charlotte, NC (North Carolina); Fort Wayne, IN (Indiana); Omaha, NE (Nebraska); Radnor, PA (Pennsylvania)     Work Arrangement: Hybrid : Employee will work 3 days a week in a Lincoln office   Relocation assistance:   is not available for this opportunity.   Requisition #:  76612   The Role at a Glance

As an Operational Risk Analyst within our Group Protection and Retirement Plan Services (RPS) organization, you will provide subject matter expertise on design and effectiveness of financial and operational controls for various vendor services. You will partner with internal and external stakeholders and auditors to ensure the control environment aligns with the service vendor audit program. You will develop and execute on more complex audit testing to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of operations and controls, reliability of SOC-1 reporting, and compliance with applicable law. You will also provide control expertise, risk assessment analysis, and implement risk mitigation recommendations for complex projects, processes, and major financial and operational control initiatives.   Success in this role requires a balance of technical depth, cross-functional influence, and clear communication as well as strong accountability to deliver positive outcomes. You will drive the evaluation of the control environments, coordinate closely with external auditors on SOC-1 outcomes, and shape risk assessments for senior audiences. From executing complex audit testing to driving risk mitigation across major initiatives, you'll play a key role in keeping the ORM team's control environment sound, informed, and audit ready. What you'll be doing

You will serve as the business unit SOC 1 Program Owner, responsible for maintaining accurate control inventories, ensuring control ownership is appropriately documented, and leading interactions between external auditors and internal control owners and subject matter experts. Serves as the liaison for the annual SOC1 & SOC2 audit work between the business and external stakeholders by working with internal partners to develop action plans as needed, updating the report for issuance, and communicating report outcomes with business partners and management. You will manage report development, review, and issuance; manage report validation and distribution process; and maintain all business records.  You will assist internal stakeholders to strengthen the control environment by establishing complex action plans to address financial & operational control deficiencies. You will track and monitor progress against these action plans to ensure timely risk mitigation resolution. You will act as the Internal Audit liaison for the business units by ensuring business engagement, responsiveness to audit requests, issue management, communication management, and management action plan execution. Maintains knowledge on current and emerging developments/trends, assesses the impact, and collaborates with management to incorporate new trends and developments in current and future solutions. Champions and enhances organizational initiatives by positively influencing and supporting change management and/or departmental/enterprise initiatives. Serves as a resource to team members and applicable internal/external stakeholders on more complex assignments/projects. Identifies and recommends process improvements that significantly reduce workloads or improve quality. Maintains and maps key procedural controls to defined risk scenarios for each operational risk category and documents process flows as defined through interviews with subject matter experts. Partners with appropriate internal stakeholders and management to strengthen the control environment and to address financial and operational control deficiencies. Tracks and monitors progress against corrective action plans. Develops and reviews test plans to ensure mitigation strategies are