WHAT DOES A LEAD AUDITOR DO?
Published: Jan 10, 2026 - The Lead Auditor supports and strengthens the Quality Management System by ensuring compliance with aerospace quality and airworthiness standards, including AS9100, EASA Part 21/145, CAAC, MOD, and customer requirements. This role involves leading internal, supply-chain, and third-party audits, applying NADCAP special process knowledge, and driving corrective and preventive actions in collaboration with Operations and Supply teams. The auditor also leads root-cause and improvement initiatives, uses ACE methodologies to boost efficiency and reduce costs, and promotes a culture of continuous improvement.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Lead Auditor
1. Lead Auditor Accountabilities
- Audit Planning: Participate in planning, executing, and reporting audit engagements by conducting interviews and walkthroughs with process owners.
- Control Testing: Assist in developing and executing audit test steps associated with related controls.
- Audit Documentation: Prepare work papers to document audit work and support conclusions.
- Data Analysis: Assist with interpreting test results.
- Client Communication: Collaborate to develop and deliver communication of audit results to the client.
- Process Analysis: Perform preliminary survey work and document processes.
- Risk Assessment: Identify significant risks and their related controls, including process maps and flowcharts.
- Report Writing: Assist with summarizing audit findings and preparing formal audit reports.
2. Lead Auditor Overview
- Audit Execution: Perform audits and analyse the competency, capability, and capacity of an entity and its employees’ services and products.
- Risk Management: Prepare reports and perform risk management tasks to protect, improve safety and efficiency, and ensure compliance with appropriate standards and regulations.
- Supplier Auditing: Responsible for undertaking audits on suppliers registering to provide services through RSSB, using the Rail Industry Supplier Qualification System (RISQS).
- Compliance Review: Ensure compliance with scheme procedures by examining records, reports, operating practices, documentation, and adherence to business procedures.
- Audit Management: Undertake remote and client site-based audits through planning, opening, carrying out, and closing audit procedures and protocols.
- Evidence Gathering: Attend meetings and interview staff to gather audit evidence.
- Document Review: Examine policies, procedures, competency records, financial records, and other documentation submitted as evidence.
- Operational Analysis: Observe business procedures, continually update reports and findings, and use analytics to assess operational business risks.
- Audit Reporting: Prepare or contribute to a final audit report, including making recommendations for improvements to systems and/or processes.
3. Lead Auditor Responsibilities and Key Tasks
- Audit Communication: Discuss conclusions and recommendations from the audit with suppliers.
- Audit Reporting: Complete audit reports by documenting audit tests and findings in a timely manner (in accordance with the scheme requirements).
- Internal Controls: Appraise the adequacy of internal control systems by completing audit questionnaires.
- Control Maintenance: Maintain internal control systems by updating audit programs and questionnaires, recommending new policies and procedures.
- Stakeholder Engagement: Communicate with a range of stakeholder levels, including management.
- Business Understanding: Understand the business and its needs and share audit findings by preparing a final report, discussing findings with auditees.
- Professional Compliance: Comply with relevant standards, acting in a professional manner at all times whilst representing RSSB.
- Special Audits: Prepare special or remote audit and control reports by collecting, analysing, and summarising operating information, evidence and trends.
- Audit Leadership: Deputise for the Senior Lead Auditor.
4. Lead Auditor Roles and Responsibilities
- Audit Scheduling: Assist with the development and maintenance of the Internal Audit Schedule (System, Process, and Product Audits), customer and certification audit schedules.
- Risk Assessment: Gather information from production, service, development and supporting activities and perform an assessment to identify risk areas to be focused on during the audit.
- Quality Analysis: Analyze department quality systems and previous audit information from multiple sources.
- Audit Planning: Assist with audit team selection and audit plan preparation for internal audits.
- Stakeholder Representation: Represent the audit team with management of the audited area, with customers and the certification body.
- Internal Auditing: Perform internal quality audits (System, Process, Product Audits and special audits as required by the organization).
- Continuous Improvement: Identify value-added non-conformity, strengths, and opportunities for improvement.
- Special Audits: Lead or support special audits required by management upon need.
5. Lead Auditor Roles and Details
- Findings Analysis: Analyze findings and summarize them for presentation or report, with the final objective to enable the organization to improve processes.
- Meeting Facilitation: Facilitate closing meetings to review and interpret results with management.
- Audit Follow-Up: Follow up on audits to ensure that solutions/actions are implemented to fulfill the requirements and avoid recurrence.
- Action Planning: Assist in the determination of an action plan to solve non-conformities.
- Audit Coordination: Coordinate audit schedules.
- Audit Preparation: Help in preparation, including the line tour and dry run.
- On-Site Audits: Participate in an audit on-site.
- Post-Audit Support: Support post-audit follow-up.
- Team Oversight: Ensure the audit team follows up on audits to enable solutions/actions that, once implemented, fulfill the requirements and avoid recurrence.
6. Lead Auditor Roles
- QMS Support: Support the Quality Management System to ensure compliance with all applicable requirements and customer standards.
- Aerospace Compliance: Fully conversant in managing Aerospace Quality assurance standards and Airworthiness regulatory requirements AS9100, EASA Part 21 and Part 145, CAAC, MOD, and Customers.
- Lead Auditing: Lead auditor experience to perform audits against AS9100 standards on internal processes and within the supply chain.
- Third-Party Audits: Lead third-party audits and support the implementation of robust corrective and preventative actions.
- NADCAP Audits: Apply knowledge of the NADCAP special process audit procedure.
- Cross-Functional Liaison: Interface with Operations and Supply Commodity teams to fulfil the QMS.
- QMS Development: Support the development and implementation of the QMS.
- Quality Improvement: Lead RRCA and improvement activities to address quality issues, customer complaints and audit requirements.
- Continuous Improvement: Utilise the ACE tools and methodology to increase efficiency and reduce costs and create a continuous improvement culture.
7. Lead Auditor Accountabilities
- Audit Participation: Participate as a member of the audit team in conducting financial, operational, and compliance audits in accordance with approved audit programs.
- Internal Controls: Review and evaluate the adequacy and effectiveness of internal controls and compliance with corporate policies and procedures.
- Issue Identification: Identify and clearly define audit findings with root causes, and recommend improved internal controls and business processes.
- Corrective Actions: Ensure that corrective action plans are developed and implemented.
- Control Environment: Promote a zero-tolerance control environment where fraud or noncompliance is unacceptable and difficult to conceal.
- Audit Management: Actively participate in and oversee the audit planning, execution and wrap-up processes.
- Regulatory Knowledge: Share up-to-date knowledge of external requirements and best practices with peers and internal stakeholders.
- Compliance Monitoring: Identify and report compliance trends and signals.
- Subject Expertise: Act as subject matter expert in own business area by making recommendations and setting directions.
8. Lead Auditor Roles
- Audit Preparation: Coordinate audit preparation through research, creating the TeamMate file and conducting and documenting planning meetings.
- Audit Documentation: Follow auditing practices and procedures and prepare appropriate audit workpapers and documentation to support the audit report.
- Audit Reporting: Prepare and deliver the audit report, which will be shared with management and the Audit Committee.
- Process Analysis: Conduct process interviews, document narratives and flowcharts to identify process controls and weaknesses.
- Control Testing: Perform testing for key controls and obtain appropriate supporting audit evidence.
- Issue Documentation: Identify and document control failures in audit work papers and discuss with the process owner to confirm accuracy.
- Accounting Expertise: Apply accounting expertise to enable clients to create high-quality files.
- Financial Review: Review and understand statements and accounting policies.
- Data Mapping: Design, discover and data mapping with clients.
9. Lead Auditor General Responsibilities
- Quality Strategy: Support MEH ALLIANCE Governance Quality Strategy.
- Audit Leadership: Conduct and lead robust Assessments of the Supply Chain or MEHA Internal Audits, incorporating system-based auditing and Subject Matter Expert technical review at the suppliers' or MEHA premises.
- Risk Management: Identify and exploit or mitigate Quality Opportunities and Risks on the project.
- Audit Reporting: Produce formal reports of the Audit Assessments and manage all follow-up and verification activities to close out associated Action Plans.
- Management Reporting: Produce appropriate reports and management information, monitor the output and address any issues arising to drive improvements.
- Process Improvement: Challenge systems, processes and working practices to ensure best practice and continual improvement.
- Client Relations: Build exceptional client relationships and implement key operational activities in line with mapping.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Collaborate with other internal teams to maximise service offering and adoption of software solutions.
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