First Line of Defence, Issues Management Analyst

Bank of Montreal•Naperville, IL

3d•Onsite

About The Position

The Issue Monitoring/Reviewer is a First Line of Defence (1LOD) role responsible for ensuring the accuracy, completeness, and quality of issue records and ongoing monitoring within Book of Record. This role provides independent review, oversight, and challenge to ensure issues are clearly articulated, risk-aligned, and managed in accordance with internal governance standards. The role supports effective risk management by ensuring that issues are properly documented, monitored, remediated, and reported, with strong alignment to risk, control, and regulatory expectations.

Requirements

5+ years experience in risk management, internal audit, controls, or governance
Strong understanding of: Issue Management frameworks and lifecycle, Risk, control, and governance principles, Three Lines of Defence model
Experience working with enterprise tools such as Archer ( Book of Record) or equivalent GRC platforms

Nice To Haves

Experience in: Issue quality review, testing, or effective challenge roles
Regulatory, audit, or compliance environments
Familiarity with: Risk taxonomies and control frameworks
Issue remediation and control testing concepts

Responsibilities

Perform detailed review of Book of Record issue records to ensure: Accurate issue description, root cause, and risk alignment, Appropriate severity rating and primary/impacted risk classification, Clear linkage to controls, processes, and impacted products/services, Validate that issue treatment (mitigate vs. accept) is supported by adequate, audit-defensible rationale, Ensure completeness and accuracy of required BOOK OF RECORD fields and supporting documentation.
Monitor issue progress across the lifecycle to ensure: Timely updates and adherence to required timelines, Action plans are defined, tracked, and progressing toward closure, Target completion dates are realistic and supported, Provide ongoing oversight to ensure issues are actively managed and remain aligned to risk exposure.
Provide constructive challenge to Issue Owners and Managers to improve: Clarity and precision of issue documentation, Alignment between risk, control, breakdown, and remediation approach, Identify gaps, inconsistencies, or unsupported assumptions in issue records, Ensure issue records meet minimum standards prior to escalation to 2LOD.
Ensure issues are appropriately aligned to: Enterprise Risk Taxonomy and Intermediate Risk categories, Control framework and identified control failures, Confirm that issue documentation clearly articulates: Control deficiencies or breakdowns, Impact to risk exposure and control environment.
Support preparation of issue reporting outputs, including: Issue status, aging, and severity trends, Overdue issues and remediation progress, Ensure issue data supports transparent and accurate reporting to governance forums and committees.
Partner with: Issue Owners, Action Plan Managers, and Business Units, Risk and governance teams (e.g., 1LOD, 2LOD), Provide guidance on issue management standards, expectations, and best practices, Escalate concerns where issues do not meet required standards or timelines.