JOB DESCRIPTION

An exciting opportunity to support a fast moving Tax, Legal and Workforce practice in an ever evolving marketplace, understanding and assessing the risk related challenges of new service offerings and disruptive tech, e.g. AI and other alliances

An opportunity to lead a wide variety of business critical risk projects and to be at the vanguard of the internal transformation of Tax systems and processes 

A chance to manage risks across multiple market teams and to lead a broad spectrum of workstreams, with the opportunity to utilise your existing (technical) experience and expand your professional network across Tax and beyond

A great opportunity to collaborate with Tax Leadership, various risk management SMEs with visibility and consideration of some of the firm’s most high profile and high risk engagements

Who we are looking for

We are looking for a Senior Manager to join our diverse team of 40, led by a Partner and 6 Directors. We advise the practice and Tax Leadership on all aspects of risk management, closely aligning to Tax strategy and the firm’s growth priorities. 

We are looking for someone who will enthusiastically embrace the challenges and complexities of managing a wide spectrum of risks on a variety of engagements. Someone with a collaborative mindset who is confident in working directly with partners, directors and their engagement teams across the breadth of the UK Tax practice. Ideally, it will be an individual who is able to demonstrate an agile and proactive approach to identifying, understanding and mitigating the emerging risks of a marketplace in a constant state of flux.

This is a national role and physical location is flexible as we are very well connected digitally and work well virtually whenever needed. For hybrid working purposes you should expect to travel to one or more of the key office hubs for our team, i.e. London EP, London ML, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle or Belfast to enable you to network within the team and maximise your experience.

What risk issues might you provide support on?

Client acceptance - reputational issues for the firm and all aspects of our regulatory requirements; potentially considering high profile individuals, clients or industries

Engagement acceptance - identifying and managing the key risks

Higher risk engagements - helping teams take these through acceptance Panels and mitigating risks eg technical, commercial, people, delivery, reputational etc

Contracting - advising on the optimal contracting structure; reviewing and drafting scope and special terms; reviewing and negotiating terms with clients; considering global contracts and connecting with the global network

Information security - safeguarding our and our clients’ information

Regulatory compliance - particularly audit independence, legal services and FCA regulated engagement regulations

Conflicts of interest and sensitive situations

Proposal support - reviewing from a risk and contract perspective, supporting teams to assist them to win valuable contracts whilst protecting the firm

Technology and Artificial Intelligence (‘AI’) - supporting the practice to be tech enabled when considering solutions for clients (and internally) and embracing the firm’s strategy as we continue our exploration of AI

Educating the practice - communicating with and training the practice

The key experience required is the ability to:

Support sub-team and the business on highly complex matters for senior stakeholders in the practice

Use multiple sources of information including broader stakeholder views to develop solutions and recommendations

Manage a variety of viewpoints to build consensus and create positive outcomes while protecting the reputation of the firm

Identify and create solutions for new and developing service offerings and the changing regulatory environment

As part of the operational team and as a business partner to senior stakeholders, consider strategic aims of the business

Coach and support team members as a consultant, making judgement decisions and/or referrals to leadership 

Invest in the development of sub-team and RM Team and provide opportunity to broaden experience and knowledge

Drive the most strategically important initiatives, and lead firm governance programmes (ECR, EQR & Reporting Requirements)

The key skills required are:

Excellent problem solving skills - a probing and logical approach to unravel often complex and sensitive problems

A consulting mentality - the real risks are not always obvious at the start and need to be teased out

Excellent relationship skills - you will often be the first point of escalation and support to other RM members in leading difficult client situations 

A business brain - the ability to manage risk in a commercial and practical way aligned to Tax strategy

Leadership ability - the practice will look to you to lead them through a risk challenge and you will play a crucial role in leading strategic discussions with the most senior members of the client teams

Qualifications:

No particular qualifications are required - being a chartered accountant, chartered tax adviser or solicitor may be an advantage but are not essential.

Client facing experience from the practice is desirable but is not essential