Lead Tax Advisor

C.V. and covering letter required

Role Summary:

This is a fantastic opportunity in the Economic Policy team, working at the heart of CBI policymaking and influencing on tax policy domestically and internationally. Reporting into the Head of Tax Policy, the core of the role is to lead the CBI’s policymaking on tax and business investment and non-domestic tax issues relating to the UK’s exit from the EU.

The role offers the individual unrivalled access to our network of tax professionals, including leading discussions on your areas of responsibility at the CBI’s monthly forum of Global Heads of Tax. This involves strategic thinking and thought leadership, including CBI policy.

Key Responsibilities:

Policy lead on non-UK domestic tax issues

• Lead on CBI policy on tax issues arising from the UK’s exit from the EU, including responsibility for VAT policy and international tax treaty issues.
• Lead on areas of international tax policy, including areas of tax and trade. Within this the individual will support the Head of Tax Policy by picking up urgent policy work on other areas of international tax policy as required (this may include areas of taxation of the digital economy when this workload peaks).
• Build and own relationships with key stakeholders on the areas of your responsibility, including liaising with the CBI’s international offices.

Policy lead on tax and investment

• Lead on CBI policy on tax issues that are critical for delivering higher levels of business investment in the UK, including capital allowances and other reliefs as well as the broader tax drivers of business investment.
• Lead on CBI tax policy on entrepreneurship and scale-up, including EIS, SEIS, VCTs and other reliefs and tax structures. This includes ensuring the tax policy team harnesses the strength of CBI SME members’ voices.
• Work in partnership with the CBI’s Financial Services policy team on areas of FS taxation.

Team working and management

• Support the Head of Tax to deliver the team’s objectives by acting as a deputy when needed, including at international meetings.
• Work flexibly across different areas of CBI’s tax policy as and when needed to support the Head of Tax Policy in delivering the team’s broader objectives. This may include overseeing and ensuring quality assurance of other team members outputs.
• Ensure the work of the team supports the delivery of other areas of CBI policy, working collaboratively on areas of overlap with that of other teams.

Communication & Lobbying

• Drafting clear and compelling CBI consultation responses on areas of responsibility. As a senior tax specialist within the Tax Policy team the role holder will also be expected to spend time coaching and supporting other team members including the Senior Tax Advisor.
• Finding innovative ways of presenting and justifying our policy asks and the narrative holding them together, both written and verbally, and working with the press team to maximise media pick-up
• Working with CBI economists to pull together economic analysis to support policy asks.
• Building strong working relationships with stakeholders in key institutions including Treasury, HMRC, OECD and EC and making a compelling case for our policy asks when lobbying.

Interactions with members

• Act as secretariat for the CBI’s International Tax Working Group and Indirect Taxes Working Group of member companies and support the delivery of the Taxation Committee, including presenting on your areas of responsibility at these meetings.
• Build strong personal relationships with senior tax professionals within CBI member organisations, including at Head of Tax level.

Support CBI account managers with member retention and recruitment objectives.

Knowledge and Experience

• A good knowledge of the tax policy landscape and the tax debate in the UK and a wider understanding of the international tax framework and recent developments would be beneficial
• A keen interest in tax and economic policy with an awareness of UK politics and government
• ACA, CTA or ATT qualified (desirable)
• 5+ years experience

Skills

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to flex communication style depending on the audience
• Strategic thinking and ability to adapt to take into account various tax and non-tax considerations
• Persuasive influencing skills with the ability to flex personal style depending on the context
• Good interpersonal skills including an ability to form relationships with business leaders
• Outstanding collaboration and an ability to work with people from other disciplines, including economics, commercial, political and policy
• Ability to work at pace/under pressure and manage the workload of others.
• Excellent planning and prioritisation abilities with the ability to think tactically and work autonomously
• Commercial awareness and ability to apply this to your work to deliver organisational commercial objectives
• Excellent people management skills, including delegating and developing the skills of others.