About Column

For companies building financial technology and transforming the financial services space, the biggest bottleneck to their growth and innovation is often the underlying banks and infrastructure stack they rely on. We have spent our careers founding and scaling companies like Plaid, Square, Meta, Blend, and Affirm, and have seen this problem firsthand — builders and developers needing to partner with traditional banks, and creating API and abstraction layers over the patchwork that is the bank, its core, and many other vendors. All of this results in a complex (and often expensive) banking supply chain involving a user, fintech, BaaS middleware provider, bank, core and the Federal Reserve.

At Column, we set out to simplify and fix this. We are a bank and a software company built from the ground up, offering builders and developers technology-forward banking solutions that cut out the hundreds of vendors, middleware providers, and abstraction layers. This means a safer, more transparent, and less costly banking supply chain. Come build with us!

The opportunity:

Column runs on infrastructure we built ourselves, with no legacy banking core underneath it — which means when something needs auditing, there's no vendor to point to and no black box to wave at examiners. We're looking for a high-agency audit professional to own that problem, with a focus on Information Technology and Security alongside core banking, BSA/AML, and fintech-specific risk.

You'll run the full audit lifecycle — risk assessment, planning, fieldwork, reporting, follow-up — working directly with Information Security, Engineering, Payments, BSA/AML, Compliance, Lending, Growth, and TPRM. This isn't a background function checking boxes after the fact: you'll be embedded with these teams as they build, and what you find will shape how Column governs itself while scaling a nationally chartered bank.

This role is based in our Presidio office in San Francisco and follows a 3-4-day/week, in-person schedule. You will report to Column's Head of Internal Audit.

What you'll do:

• Design, lead, and execute end-to-end audits — scoping, fieldwork, reporting, issue follow-up — across core banking, technology, compliance, fintech partnerships, lending, payments, cards, and API infrastructure. Report findings straight to senior leadership.

• Own a risk-based audit plan built for what Column actually is: a software company running a regulated bank. Evolve it as we grow.

• Partner directly with Engineering and Information Security to audit SDLC, data protection, IAM, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, AWS, and how AI is used in our development process.

• Audit third-party risk management and fintech partner oversight against regulatory expectations.

• Use data analytics and AI to surface emerging risks, automate testing, and make audit faster and more efficient.

• Evaluate risk and control effectiveness across IT/IS, BSA/AML, sanctions, fair lending, consumer protection, privacy, and ALM/interest rate risk — grounded in NIST and regulatory expectations from the OCC, FRB, and FDIC.

• Manage third-party audit staff to keep delivery sharp and on time.

• Partner with the Head of Internal Audit level up the function itself: Audit Committee materials, QA, risk assessment, metrics.

   

What you'll need to be successful:

• 5-10 years of audit, risk, or compliance experience in banking, fintech, consulting, or technology

• Real technology audit depth — IT risk, cybersecurity, modern software development, including how AI is changing the dev process

• Hands-on audit ability in a cloud-native environment: AWS IAM, CI/CD, infrastructure as code (Terraform), secrets management

• Comfortable pulling and interpreting data straight from CloudTrail, Datadog, and Okta — via API or query, not just a dashboard

• Working knowledge of BSA/AML, sanctions (KYC, CDD, SAR, OFAC), and core banking regulation (OCC, FRB)

• You build trust fast — with engineers, senior leadership, and regulators

• CISA, CISSP, CIA, CISM, or CRISC certifications a plus

   

What you'll get from us:

• 🏥 Comprehensive health, dental, and vision plans, including options that are 100% covered by Column for you and 100% covered for your dependents!

• 🐣 Comprehensive family planning and fertility benefits via partnership with Carrot, including reimbursement of up to $20,000 in qualified expenses

• 🏡 Up to $2,000 (post-tax) monthly rent subsidy for employees living within 2 miles of Column’s office

• 💳 FSA and HSA account options to enable use of pre-tax money for medical and dependent care expenses

• 📈 401k plan, including self-directed brokerage options

• 🌴 Flexible time-off policy - take the time off that you want and need to relax and recharge

• 👶 100% paid parental leave, including 16 weeks for birth mothers, 12 weeks for primary caregivers, and 8 weeks for secondary caregivers

• 😇 Up to $4,500 in annual reimbursements for backup childcare

• 🍽️ Catered lunches and dinners for SF employees

• 🚆 Commuter benefits, including paid transportation to-and-from the office

• 🎉 Regular team building events, including annual offsite

   

Pay transparency:

Compensation packages at Column include base salary, equity, and benefits. New hire offers are made based on a candidate's experience, expertise, geographic location, and internal pay equity relative to peers.

The annual US base salary range for this role is $150,000 - $200,000 + equity.

We look forward to hearing from you

Column is committed to working with the best and brightest people from the broadest talent pool possible. We value bringing together a team with different perspectives, educational backgrounds, and life experiences, and believe a diversity of ideas is what allows us to develop the best solutions. All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply.

If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation during the application and recruiting process, please reach out to [email protected].

We participate in the E-Verify program in certain locations as required by law. Learn more about the E-Verify program here.