About the Company
Helus Pharma (NASDAQ: HELP) is a late-stage neuropsychiatry company dedicated to revolutionizing mental healthcare. Through the development of innovative next-generation therapeutics, Helus Pharma aims to address the significant unmet needs of people affected by depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions. Founded in 2019, the company operates in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Ireland.
With promising data from its lead programs, HLP003—a proprietary deuterated psilocin analog currently in Phase 3 (with U.S. Food and Drug Administration Breakthrough Therapy Designation) for the adjunctive treatment of major depressive disorder—and HLP004, a deuterated DMT in Phase 2 for generalized anxiety disorder, Helus Pharma is set to transform the mental health treatment landscape. The company’s robust research pipeline of 5-HT-receptor-focused compounds has the potential to redefine the treatment of neuropsychiatric conditions.
Supported by strong proof-of-concept data and a global team of scientists, clinicians, and mental health innovators, Helus Pharma is well-positioned for growth through thoughtfully engineered intermittent therapies that deliver durable, meaningful outcomes. Driven by compassion and the urgent need for better mental health solutions, Helus Pharma is building a pathway to make accessible, scalable, and transformative care available to millions of people worldwide.
Position Summary
The SOX Compliance & Internal Controls Leader oversees the design, execution, and continuous maturation of the organization’s SOX and ICFR framework. This role focuses on accurate, transparent financial reporting and robust governance by integrating regulatory requirements, risk management standards, operational controls, and evidence-driven practices to build defensible, audit-ready control environment.
This role operates as a senior individual contributor with strong cross-functional influence, partnering with Finance, Technology, Risk-Security and Operations to deliver a cohesive control environment and an audit-ready operating model that withstands scrutiny from internal and external auditors.
Key Responsibilities
SOX and ICFR Program Leadership
- Lead the annual SOX program lifecycle including scoping, risk assessments, materiality evaluation, and control rationalization.
- Conduct and facilitate walkthroughs, ensuring clear understanding of processes, risk points, and control objectives.
- Maintain centralized documentation including narratives, RCMs, test scripts, evidence standards, and control mappings.
Control Design, Testing and Remediation
- Evaluate design effectiveness of controls and identify opportunities for enhancement, automation, or rationalization.
- Direct or perform control testing in alignment with SOX methodology and validate completeness, accuracy, and sufficiency of evidence.
- Oversee remediation planning, execution, and validation and ensure sustainability and traceability of corrective actions.
- Strengthen reconciliation controls, segregation of duties enforcement, audit trails, and system-generated evidence quality.
Audit Readiness and Evidence Governance
- Implement and enforce documentation standards and evidence-governance practices supporting defensible audits.
- Manage timely evidence collection, indexing, validation, and readiness for auditors.
- Serve as primary liaison with internal and external auditors, coordinating walkthroughs, sample requests, and issue management.
- Deliver executive-level reporting on control health, testing results, audit status, and emerging risk themes.
Governance, Reporting and Program Integrity
- Establish structured governance routines including RAID logs, cross-functional working groups, and steering-committee updates.
- Develop standardized templates, dashboards, and documentation artifacts to drive consistency across SOX stakeholders.
- Partner with PMO, Finance, Technology, and Operations to embed governance discipline into change initiatives and new product processes.
- Drive continuous improvement to reduce control burden while increasing reliability and transparency.
Technology and ITGC Integration
- Collaborate with Technology and Cyber teams to verify IT general controls including access, change management, and IT operations meet SOX requirements.
- Assess automated controls and system-generated evidence for completeness, accuracy, and reliability.
- Ensure SOX impact is assessed during system implementations, upgrades, integrations, and vendor transitions.
Cross Functional Partnership and Stakeholder Management
- Partner with Finance, Risk, Legal, Cybersecurity, Operations, and third-party vendors to mature control capabilities.
- Educate control owners on their roles, expectations, and SOX obligations and promote consistent adoption of standards.
- Provide guidance during policy changes, regulatory shifts, and emerging risk events impacting the control environment.
Qualifications
- Significant experience leading SOX, ICFR, or internal-controls programs in financial services, regulatory agencies, technology, or similarly complex environments.
- Strong command of COSO, SOX methodology, ICFR best practices, NIST 2.0, and supporting frameworks such as SOC 2, privacy, and governance.
- Hands-on experience with documentation standards, evidence management, control testing, remediation lifecycle, and audit coordination.
- Exposure to GDPR, data-handling requirements, and compliance-driven delivery across technology and operations.
- Experience partnering with multidisciplinary teams including Finance, Risk, Cybersecurity, Product and Technology, and Operations.
- Bachelor's degree required and MBA preferred or in progress. PMP and Agile credentials are beneficial.
Core Competencies
Technical Competencies
- SOX and ICFR Program Management
- Control Design and Testing
- Risk Assessment and Materiality
- Documentation Governance
- Evidence Quality and Traceability
- ITGC Awareness and Automated Controls
- Regulatory Interpretation
- Process and Data Integrity Controls
Leadership Competencies
- Execution Discipline
- Strategic Thinking
- Influencing and Collaboration
- Decision Quality
- Change Leadership
- Executive Communication
Behavioral Competencies
- High integrity and accountability
- Strong analytical and critical reasoning
- High emotional intelligence
- Detail orientation with ability to manage complexity
- Adaptability and proactive risk mitigation
Success Metrics
- High-quality, audit-ready control environment with reduced findings and improved control effectiveness
- Timely completion of testing, remediation, and documentation refresh cycles
- Clear and transparent governance and reporting that improves executive decision-making
- Strong stakeholder alignment and increased ownership of controls across functions
- Continuous improvement of control processes, documentation efficiency, and evidence practices