{"id":1928371,"url":"https://alion.io/job/ascend-audit-senior-manager-or-principal","title":"Audit Senior Manager or Principal","company":{"id":6169,"name":"Ascend","domain":"ascendtogether.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/ascend","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":87,"open_postings":34,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.324,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":95,"computed_at":"2026-10-25T05:49:26Z"}},"role":"Finance","role_family":"Finance","seniority":"lead","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Colorado Springs, United States","Denver, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":150000,"max":200000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":200000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-05T19:52:13Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-05","last_verified_at":"2026-10-26T03:33:12Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":20,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":20},"description":"About Ascend\nBacked by private equity from people-focused Alpine Investors, Ascend is building a dynamic platform for regional accounting firms that enables them to stay independent while accessing the resources of a Top 25 firm to help them grow. Ascend provides access to growth capital, robust talent acquisition and training, leading quality management resources, best-of-breed technology, AI tools, an offshore captive, shared back-office services, a catalytic leadership system, and modernized equity incentives so that firms can surmount today’s industry challenges to reach their full potential. For more information, visit www.ascendtogether.com.\nThe Opportunity\nBiggsKofford is seeking an experienced audit leader to manage and expand our Metropolitan District audit practice. This is a systems-and-execution leadership role for someone who enjoys creating structure, developing people and moving multiple engagements forward at the same time.\nThe successful candidate will lead a portfolio of district audit engagements through clear procedures, effective delegation, reliable tracking tools and timely decision-making. This person will not be expected to personally control every detail of every engagement. Instead, they will build confidence through strong systems, capable teams, visible status reporting and appropriate review points.\nThe role is ideal for someone who can quickly assess a problem, determine the next action, resolve the issue and move on to the next priority. The work requires a leader who can maintain perspective across many engagements rather than becoming absorbed in any one project.\nThis is a hands-on leadership role for someone who can organize work, set expectations, coach different personalities, improve how work gets done and deliver consistent quality by building and maintaining effective systems, procedures and accountability across the practice.\nWhy BiggsKofford?\nBiggsKofford combines the resources and sophisticated client work associated with larger firms with the accessibility, collaboration and entrepreneurial environment of an independent CPA firm. Our professionals work closely with clients and with colleagues across audit, tax, advisory, valuation and other disciplines.\nThis role offers the opportunity to make a visible impact on people, processes and client delivery. The person in this position will have meaningful responsibility for a growing portfolio of engagements and will help shape the systems that allow the practice to deliver more work with consistent quality.\nWhat We Are Looking For\nWe are looking for an audit leader who is as strong at building an effective operating system as they are at understanding audit quality. The ideal candidate will:\nHave significant public accounting audit experience, typically at the Manager or Senior Manager level.\nHave led or reviewed multiple financial statement audit and/or review engagements.\nManage multiple engagements simultaneously across different stages of planning, fieldwork, review and completion.\nCreate and maintain practical tools for tracking deadlines, staffing, budgets, status, risks and open items.\nUse systems and procedures to create visibility and consistency across the practice.\nOrganize competing priorities and communicate clearly about what must happen next.\nDelegate effectively and rely on capable team members without needing to personally review every detail.\nEstablish review points that provide confidence without creating unnecessary bottlenecks.\nBuild teams that are comfortable expressing professional opinions, raising questions and taking ownership of their work.\nCoach team members to make sound judgments and communicate conclusions clearly.\nMake timely, well-reasoned decisions and avoid becoming stalled by one difficult project.\nIdentify process failures and implement improvements to prevent recurring problems.\nImprove engagement workflows, planning, staffing, communication, review cycles and completion procedures.\nSet clear expectations, provide timely feedback and address performance issues directly and professionally.\nServe as the central point of coordination for clients, engagement teams and firm leadership.\nUnderstand when to escalate an issue or involve a technical resource.\nBe dependable and practical, know when personal intervention is necessary, and avoid becoming the bottleneck for the team.\nLead with a calm, organized and consistent style.\nTake satisfaction in making the entire system more effective, not merely in personally solving the most difficult technical issue.\nHold a CPA license and be capable of assuming signing responsibility for audit engagements.\nAdapt quickly to different industries and client needs. Experience with small government or district audits is helpful but not required.\nWho Will Thrive Here?\nThis role may be especially well suited for a quiet, efficient and highly productive professional who enjoys making an entire team more effective. The successful candidate is likely to be:\nCalm and organized under pressure.\nNaturally inclined to build systems rather than work around them.\nComfortable managing many moving projects at once.\nMotivated by consistent quality, throughput and predictable execution.\nComfortable delegating and trusting capable people.\nAble to make a decision, document the rationale and move forward.\nInterested in improving tools, templates and workflows.\nMore motivated by building a reliable team and practice than by being the hero on one engagement.\nThis may be an especially good fit for someone who has been highly productive in a traditional firm but has felt that advancement was reserved primarily for the most visible business developers. At BiggsKofford, disciplined execution, people leadership and operational excellence are valued as growth-driving contributions.\nKey Responsibilities\nPeople Leadership and Development\nLead, coach and develop audit professionals at all levels.\nManage different working styles and personalities effectively, creating clarity and accountability across teams.\nBuild a culture in which team members are comfortable raising questions, identifying risks and making recommendations.\nAssign work thoughtfully, monitor progress and rebalance resources when priorities change.\nDevelop team members who can make sound decisions without requiring constant personal oversight.\nConduct timely reviews and provide practical, actionable feedback.\nHelp identify high-potential team members and support their progression within the firm.\nPromote a respectful, collaborative and high-performing team culture.\nEngagement and Portfolio Management\nServe as project manager for multiple audit engagements simultaneously.\nMaintain a real-time view of deadlines, staffing, budgets, risks, open items and client deliverables.\nOwn engagement timelines, budgets, staffing plans, status updates and client communication.\nCoordinate planning, fieldwork, review and completion activities across multiple engagements.\nKeep high-volume projects moving by identifying bottlenecks early and resolving open items promptly.\nDetermine the next most important action across the engagement portfolio.\nMake quick, well-reasoned decisions and move confidently from one priority to the next.\nMaintain organized engagement files and repeatable documentation standards so quality does not depend on individual memory or heroics.\nPartner with engagement leaders and technical resources when complex issues arise.\nUse tracking tools, dashboards, templates and checklists to create visibility and consistency.\nDevelop, maintain and improve the tools used to manage the practice.\nProcess Excellence and Practice Development\nOwn the continuous improvement of engagement processes, tracking tools, templates and review procedures.\nStandardize processes that improve efficiency, consistency and the client experience.\nIdentify recurring bottlenecks and design practical solutions that prevent them from returning.\nEvaluate whether systems are being used effectively and improve them when they are not.\nIncrease the practice’s capacity by improving how people, information and deadlines move through the engagement lifecycle.\nHelp create a scalable delivery model that allows the firm to accept and complete more work without sacrificing quality.\nClient Service and Quality\nBuild trusted working relationships with client management teams.\nCommunicate expectations, deadlines and open items clearly and professionally.\nPerform final technical review of financial statements, workpapers and audit documentation for completeness, clarity and quality.\nUse a risk-based approach to determine where deeper review or additional attention is needed.\nIdentify risks and unusual matters requiring escalation.\nHelp ensure engagements are completed accurately, efficiently and in accordance with professional standards and firm expectations.\nRepresent BiggsKofford with professionalism and responsiveness throughout the engagement.\nWhat This Role Is - and Is Not\nThis is a role for a builder of people, systems and predictable client delivery.\nThe successful candidate will spend significant time creating clarity across a portfolio of engagements: setting expectations, assigning responsibility, monitoring progress, resolving bottlenecks, improving tools and helping teams make sound decisions.\nThis is not a role for someone who needs to personally touch every detail in order to feel comfortable with the work. It is also not a role for someone who becomes absorbed in one engagement while other priorities wait. The right leader creates an effective system, knows where attention is needed, makes decisions promptly and trusts the process and the people supporting it.\nThis is not a role that requires the individual to be the firm’s foremost technical specialist or to generate a traditional book of new client business. Technical resources are available within the firm, and business development is not a requirement for success. The central challenge is to build a reliable, scalable delivery model that allows the firm to complete more high-quality work without sacrificing client service or professional judgment.\nA Different Path to Partner\nBiggsKofford has significant demand for district audit work and currently has more potential projects than it can accept. This creates an unusual growth opportunity for the right leader.\nIn many CPA firms, advancement to partner depends heavily on originating new client relationships. In this role, the client demand already exists. The person who builds and maintains an efficient, scalable system for staffing, managing and completing engagements will directly increase the firm’s capacity to serve clients and accept additional work.\nIn practical terms: improve and maintain the system, strengthen the team and deliver consistently-and more opportunity will follow.\nFor the right person, this can absolutely lead to a partner role. Advancement will be based on engagement performance, operational leadership, people development, client trust and the ability to expand the firm’s capacity-not solely on traditional business development activity.\nMeasures of Success\nSuccess in this role will look like:\nEngagement deadlines and status are visible and actively managed.\nTeams understand priorities, responsibilities and escalation points.\nFewer issues remain unresolved late in the engagement cycle.\nReview cycles become more predictable and efficient.\nStaff members take greater ownership of their work and professional conclusions.\nEngagement leaders have reliable information about capacity, risk and progress.\nProcesses and tools improve over time rather than becoming dependent on individual workarounds.\nThe practice can accept and complete more work without compromising quality.\nClients experience clear communication, dependable follow-through and consistent service.\nCareer Path\nThe initial title will be based on experience and scope of responsibility. 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