The Direct Tax Manager plays a critical role in safeguarding the company’s financial health. By balancing compliance with strategic planning, they help avoid penalties, reduce unnecessary tax burdens, and support sustainable growth. This role also needs to ensure consistency across multiple jurisdictions. This is a brand new role, reporting into our new Group Tax Director, with the objective to bring direct tax returns in-house, reducing external spend, but also bringing direct tax expertise and strategy into the central tax team.
This role oversees and optimizes the Group’s direct tax obligations, ensuring compliance with tax laws while strategically managing tax efficiency.The different areas of the role include:
Compliance Management: Ensuring the Group meets all direct tax obligations (corporate income tax, capital gains tax, withholding tax, etc.) by preparing and reviewing accurate tax returns.
Strategic Tax Planning: Working with the Group Tax Director to develop and implement tax strategies to minimize liabilities and optimize the Group’s tax position.
Advisory Function: Providing guidance to senior stakeholders on tax implications of business decisions, mergers, acquisitions, or restructuring.
Audit & Risk Oversight: Managing direct tax audits, assists re liaison with tax authorities, and mitigates risks related to direct tax exposure.
Collaboration: Working closely with finance teams and external consultants to align tax practices with broader business goals.
Reporting & Policy Development: Supporting the Group Tax Director in shaping tax policies and ensuring accurate reporting across the organisation, including SAO (Senior Accounting Officer) and CCO (Corporate Criminal Offence) controls and tax risk reviews.
Transfer Pricing: Developing, implementing, and maintaining transfer pricing policies consistent with OECD guidelines and local regulations
Tax Technology, Automation & Transformation: Playing a pivotal role in modernising the Group’s tax operations. This includes leading tax process automation, improving data flows, and implementing technology and AI-enabled solutions to enhance accuracy, efficiency and control.
In this role your key responsibilities will be to:
* Ensure compliance with evolving global tax frameworks (e.g. BEPS (Base Erosion Profits Shifting), DAC6, OECD, etc).
* Prepare and review corporate tax filings, across multiple countries, and directing external advisors where returns are prepared on our behalf.
* Ensures compliance of and timely filing of all direct tax returns.
* Prepare year end tax disclosures for all statutory accounts, including associate tax accounting entries.
* Lead RDEC (Research and Development Expenditure Credit reclaim) process and preparation and posting of RDEC Journals.
* Manage any cash tax payments.
* Produce cash tax forecasts for the Group.
* Lead responses to tax authority inquiries and audits.
* Advise on tax-efficient structures for investments and transactions.
* Oversee the design, implementation, and compliance of global transfer pricing policies.
* Develop, implement, and maintain transfer pricing policies consistent with OECD guidelines and local regulations.
* Prepare and review transfer pricing documentation, including Master File, Local File, and Country-by-Country Reporting.
* Identify and mitigate transfer pricing risks through proactive monitoring of global tax developments.
* Provide guidance on intercompany agreements, cross-border transactions, and restructuring projects.
* Monitor legislative changes and assess their impact on the business.
* Train the wider finance team in order to build internal expertise.
Skills & Experience
* Extensive Corporate Tax experience, either in an Accountancy Practice or in-house within a multinational.
* Experience advising on mergers, acquisitions, restructuring, and cross-border tax issues
* Chartered Accountant (ACA, ACCA), Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA) or similar
* Degree in accounting, finance, economics, or similar
* Continuous Professional Development
* Ongoing training in tax legislation, compliance, and international frameworks
* (e.g., OECD BEPS).
* Hands-on experience with corporate income tax and withholding tax.
* Proven track record in preparing and reviewing tax returns, managing audits, and liaising with HMRC or other tax authorities.
* Ability to interpret complex tax legislation and apply it accurately.
* Precision in preparing and reviewing tax returns, ensuring compliance and minimizing risk.
* Ability to communicate complex tax issues in a way that non-specialists can understand.
* Aligns tax strategies with broader business objectives.
* Anticipates the impact of legislative changes on company operations