Our client is a leading international energy service provider, with a diverse client portfolio including many of the world’s leading energy companies.
The Opportunity
This senior role is responsible for providing proactive international tax advisory support to the business, particularly in relation to new country entry, corporate structuring, contract and bid review, international transactions, and transfer pricing oversight. The successful individual will work closely with senior finance leaders, commercial teams, legal advisers, and external tax advisors to ensure the business’ tax position is robust, compliant, and commercially optimised.
This role will also have responsibility for developing the transfer pricing accountant and working seamlessly with other functions within the business ensuring effective and efficient delivery of tax advice.
Key Responsibilities
Advisory and Planning
- Business partnering: Partner with business teams to deliver commercial, practical, and forward-looking tax advice for current and prospective international operations. This covers all taxes including direct, indirect and employment taxes and may also encapsulate new country entries, evaluation of permanent establishment risks, strategic initiatives, ongoing contracts, tax advice prior to submission of bids, cross border activities, corporate structuring and other ad-hoc tax advice
- Transactions: Review, assess, and challenge all material transactions from a tax perspective and ensure that tax risks and mitigations are effectively communicated to management and the relevant risk committee(s). Assist with post-sale integration and restructuring activities from a tax perspective
- Contracts: Review contractual documentation from a tax perspective and provide recommendations to stakeholders in order to mitigate risks. Support negotiation of tax clauses in contracts where required
- Transfer pricing: Take responsibility for oversight of the transfer pricing policy. Monitor intercompany transactions and pricing mechanisms and provide support to the transfer pricing accountant. Oversee preparation of transfer pricing documentation. Liaise with external advisors on benchmarking studies and documentation updates
- Planning: Support tax planning activities e.g. recharging central costs, APA applications, new country entries, tax management of ongoing projects, etc. Proactively assess tax and transfer pricing risks and opportunities for the business and ensure these are effectively communicated to all stakeholders
- External advisors: Liaise with external advisors in multiple jurisdictions to obtain specialist advice where required
Compliance
- Legislation: Monitor and interpret international tax developments and assess their impact on the business
- TP: Ensure that TP policies are understood and are properly implemented in the underlying financials. Responsible for coordinating the preparation of local TP documentation, reports, and disclosures, ensuring consistency with the TP master documentation
Financial Accountability
- Accountable for spend on external tax advisers, manage the use of advisers so that their fees come in on or under plan
- Critically review the use of external advisers vs in-house resources to deliver optimised budgets without compromising the quality of deliverables and evaluate and implement appropriate engagement strategies and fee arrangements with external advisers
- Actively manage external advisers and their performance, resolve issues and make changes where required
Problem Solving
- Tax planning – significant judgment is required to design and implement optimised structures which will stand up to scrutiny from tax authorities and other regulators
- Tax controversy matters - managing tax assessments, and settlements and disputes with tax authorities so that they are concluded on the most favourable terms possible
- Risk management - assessing complex tax risks in transactions and projects and making judgment calls as to how they are best dealt with
Background and experience
- ATT/CTA/ACA/ICAS qualified
- Significant post-qualified, relevant experience
- Commercially minded, experienced international tax expert
- Strong technical capability, commercial judgement, and the confidence to engage with senior stakeholders across multiple jurisdictions
- Practical experience and excellent understanding of UK and international tax legislation and working with advisers and tax authorities
- Strong understanding of transfer pricing and cross-border structuring, including practical experience
- Strong understanding of global tax regimes including in the UK, UAE, Africa, Australia and the US
- Willingness to work flexibly and respond to changing priorities
- Strong communication and stakeholder management skills with personnel at all levels and across functions, globally
- Strong written communication skills capable of simplifying complex tax concepts for clear understanding
- Leadership skills to drive performance, deliver on objectives and develop individuals and processes
- Strategic thinker with strong analytical capabilities
- Comfortable navigating ambiguity and driving change
- Ability to translate complex tax issues into actionable business insights
Flexibility and Benefits
- 37.5 hours per week
- Private Medical
- Bonus Scheme
- 33 days per annum annual leave (full time employee)
- Hybrid Working
- Life Assurance
- Pension
Next Steps
Please apply here or contact Jane Grant (jane.grant@cooperparry.com) for more details.