Where Do You Sit Today? Where Could You Go Next?

So, what do your possibilities look like in practice?

There isn’t just one path in this industry. Your internal auditing experience can lead to different roles depending on your strengths, interests, and where you want to make an impact. The most common career options include internal auditor, lead auditor, certification auditor, and consultant. Each role overlaps in skills, knowledge, and responsibilities, but the focus and opportunities shift as you grow.

Below is a simple way to think about these paths and how they connect:

Internal auditor

You focus on your own organization, checking whether processes are being followed and where improvements can be made. This role builds your technical confidence, auditing skills, and knowledge of the standard from the inside. It’s the starting point for most people because it gives you practical understanding before taking those skills out into the wider industry.

Lead auditor

You progress to planning audits, leading audit teams, and managing the audit program. You take responsibility for the full audit process. You can be a lead auditor internally or externally—what matters is the increased capability and leadership in audit delivery.

Certification auditor

The role becomes external and independent. You work for a certification body and assess whether organizations meet the requirements of the standard. You still use your lead auditor skills, but now your decisions influence certification outcomes.

Consultant

You support organizations to design, implement, and improve their management systems. Your experience from auditing becomes invaluable in helping others build systems that work well in practice and will stand up to assessment. Many consultants were once certification auditors—they’ve seen countless systems and know what good looks like.

You don’t have to stay where you started. With the right skills and the confidence to take the next step, your internal auditing experience can lead to new opportunities and new ways to contribute within the ISO management system industry.

Next steps

1. Decide where you want to grow. Internal leadership? Audit delivery? Consulting? Certification? Pick one direction to explore first.
2. Check your current competency. Identify gaps in knowledge, experience, or confidence. This could be training, shadowing, mentoring—your task is to do whatever it takes to strengthen those gaps.
3. Get the qualification that aligns with your next move. The internal auditor role provides lead auditor qualifications; the lead auditor role provides certification auditor and/or consulting skills; and the consulting role provides deeper practical and leadership capability.
4. Get experience that counts. Volunteer for audits, lead part of an audit, assist a consultant or take on a project that stretches your skills.
5. Build your professional profile. Connect with people already in the role you want. Join the networks, conversations and visibility that support your next step.

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