Assurance Partner - Life Sciences

Role Summary

As an Assurance Partner, you will lead audit and assurance client relationships for the Assurance line of business while advancing quality, growth, and consistent delivery. This role focuses on leading engagement teams, managing complex audit portfolios, and serving as a trusted advisor to clients and firm leaders.

Job Responsibilities

• Serve as audit engagement leader and/or client service coordinator, managing required financial statements, related disclosures, and other client deliverables.
• Manage multiple engagements, oversee engagement status, and maintain milestones for complex audit and assurance projects.
• Identify technical accounting and auditing matters early, assess impact, and coordinate with firm specialists as needed.
• Review work product, communicate audit status to clients, and assess resources needed for project completion.
• Maintain contact with clients throughout the year to build deeper relationships and better understand client goals and strategies.
• Manage profitability, billing, collections, engagement economics, and operational discipline consistent with firm expectations.
• Assess risk and design and communicate audit procedures to engagement teams.
• Develop external relationships and centers of influence to support business growth and brand presence.
• Provide insightful business advice and present as a trusted business advisor to clients and stakeholders.
• Understand team member skillsets and capabilities, monitor and review work product, and provide timely coaching and performance feedback.
• Develop others within the firm through training, career development, coaching, and participation in firm initiatives.
• Anticipate and address client concerns, escalate issues promptly, and support quality, independence, and risk management expectations.
• Maintain professional development through ongoing education and stay current on relevant standards, firm policies, and quality expectations.
• Use digital quality enablers, data, and global delivery resources where appropriate to support consistent, efficient, high-quality outcomes.
• Lead with an enterprise mindset, aligning decisions to long-term firm value, cultural stewardship, and client outcomes.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in accounting or related field.
• Active CPA license in state of residence (or equivalent professional credential) required.
• 13+ years of progressive public accounting / external audit or assurance experience, including significant experience leading audit engagements of increasing complexity and size.
• Proven track record of building and maintaining a substantial client portfolio, including bringing in new business, retaining clients, and ensuring engagement profitability and growth.
• Demonstrated leadership and management skills, with success managing multiple large or complex audit portfolios, supervising senior leadership teams, and guiding firm-wide talent development and staffing strategies.
• Deep technical mastery of accounting and auditing standards including US GAAP, US GAAS or other relevant regulatory standards. Ability to apply risk-based audit methodology, internal control frameworks, complex financial reporting, and capacity to guide complex / multi-entity / high risk audits.
• Demonstrates strong business development and strategic leadership, identifying and advancing growth opportunities, driving cross firm service expansion, and shaping market strategy. Builds and leverages deep local market and COI relationships to generate sustained client growth while ensuring exceptional client service delivery.
• Strong stakeholder management, communication, and relationship-building skills, able to interact with senior client executives, boards or audit committees, firm leadership, and cross-functional teams.
• Strategic thinking and firm-wide vision, with ability to influence firm direction, contribute to leadership decisions, and participate in governance or partnership-level deliberations.
• Leads with strong ethical judgment and independence, ensuring firmwide compliance with audit standards, quality expectations, and professional conduct.
• Flexibility to travel, manage demanding workloads, and adapt to client and market pressures.

Pay and benefits

At RSM, we offer a competitive benefits and compensation package for all our people.

We believe flexibility and in-person connection both play an important role in how we work and grow. Most roles at RSM follow a hybrid workstyle, which means team members are aligned to an RSM office and come together in person when it best supports clients, teams, development or relationship-building. Some roles may be virtual or primarily on-site based on role requirements, team priorities and client needs.