Tax Director - Operational Taxes (Irish & UK), Allied Irish Bank, Dublin

A vacancy now exists for the position of Tax Director – Operational Taxes within AIB to lead the Group’s Operational Taxes team and play an active role in the leadership of tax in AIB.

Group Tax is part of the Central Finance team within Finance. Its role is to ensure that the Group’s statutory tax obligations are met and that the Group’s tax position is efficiently managed in accordance with the Group’s tax policy.

Job Purpose:

Lead a small team of professionals to guide the business, direct and oversee the management of Operational Taxes of the Group ensuring full compliance in all jurisdictions in an efficient and effective manner. Operational Taxes include withholding taxes, information reporting, stamp duty on products and tax relief applied at source .

This is a senior role within the Group Tax department. In conjunction with the Head of Tax and other Tax Directors, the successful candidate will provide leadership in areas such as tax strategy, business partnering, tax risk management and people. In addition to bringing specialist Operational Tax skills, the successful candidate should be capable of managing a comprehensive tax advisory service, coordinating advice from other tax specialists, directing other taxes teams managed by experienced tax specialists and deputising for the Head of Tax and other tax directors as required.

The key accountabilities/responsibilities are as follows:

- Lead a team of experienced tax specialists to provide an effective Irish & UK Operational Tax compliance and advisory function for the Group, ensuring full compliance with the law and appropriate behavioural standards set out in the Group policies.
- Cultivate and maintain good relationships with key internal and external stakeholders and contacts. Promote strong business partnering, maintaining a broad internal network within the Group. Ensure that relevant areas are kept fully informed of Operational Tax issues or developments that affect them and that appropriate procedures are put in place to manage same.
- Research and address areas of difficulty in tax legislation, case law and practice, exercising judgment and discretion given the self-assessment regimes applying in Ireland and the UK.
- Co-ordinate comprehensive advice to the business, drawing on other internal or external tax specialists as required.
- Play an active role in the leadership of Group Tax and provide guidance to the business and tax teams as required.

Minimum criteria for the role:

1. Candidates should have a professional tax qualification with at least 5 years relevant tax experience at manager level in practice or industry
2. Demonstrable track record of high level achievement in the practice of the tax profession.
3. Computer literate with experience of online research, tax compliance software, spreadsheet and word processing applications.
4. Whilst operational tax experience is an advantage, applications will be considered from experienced tax professionals with strong leadership skills and a proven track record in directing and managing any tax type.

Shortlisted candidates may be asked to submit a paper (no more than 2 pages) discussing what they see as the key challenges for the AIB Group in relation to Operational Taxes together with approach the candidate would adopt towards those challenges.