Controls & Operational Tax Analyst

Barrenjoey; Sydney; On-site; AUD 90,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

Barrenjoey in Sydney, Australia seeks an Operations professional to support taxation and day-to-day controls across the client lifecycle. You will handle onboarding, KYC-related tax reviews, and compliance reporting while engaging with multiple teams to ensure accuracy and timeliness.

The role focuses on operational tax obligations, FATCA/CRS, AIIR/IIR reporting, and the maintenance of tax documentation workflows. Strong organization and communication are essential.

Qualifications

• 1–5 years’ experience in an operations team within financial services.
• Understanding of settlement lifecycle for equities and fixed income.
• Experience with client tax withholding and reporting obligations across jurisdictions is valued.

Responsibilities

• Daily production and delivery of reconciliations to operational teams by SLA.
• First point of contact for reconciliation queries from stakeholders.
• Provide reconciliation data for monthly risk forums to review metrics and risks.
• Build and implement new reconciliations with testing and sign-off.
• Act as primary Operations contact for tax documentation and controls.
• Assist with tax document status reporting and related processes.
• Identify operational tax risks and participate in remediation.
• Maintain risk management documentation and procedures.
• Identify STP opportunities and help automate tax requirements.
• Support projects, UAT, and system/regulatory driven developments.

Skills

Operations experience

Financial services knowledge

Risk management

Communication skills

Self-starter

Deadline-orientation

Attention to detail

Cross-team collaboration

Job description

The Controls team supports the Business, Middle Office, Settlements and Client KYC Teams by providing pre, intra and post day reconciliations (including depot, intersystem, and nostro), internal management reporting, external Tax (Operations) reporting and the management and oversight of 1st line operational risk.

This role specifically focuses on taxation and day-to-day business operations, supporting operational tax obligations across the client lifecycle — from onboarding and KYC (including client tax document review) through to FATCA/CRS compliance, Australian third-party reporting (e.g. AIIR), and global withholding tax requirements.

Responsibilities

• Daily production and delivery of all depot, intersystem, and nostro reconciliations to operational teams by SLA.
• Daily reporting and escalation of outstanding breaks.
• First point of contact for reconciliation queries from stakeholders.
• Provide reconciliation data for the monthly Control forums to review metrics and formally identify risks.
• Build and implementation of new reconciliations ensuring testing and sign off is completed.
• Act as the primary Operations contact for operational tax documentation and controls, including receipt, distribution, capture and maintenance of inventory / tracker.
• Support outstanding and expiring tax documentation processes, including Relief at Source, Financial Transaction Tax, and Tax Regulatory Reporting.
• Assist with generating reports on tax document status.
• Identify, escalation, and participate in the resolution of operational tax risks.
• Maintain documentation for risk management and risk policies and procedures.
• Cross-training opportunities to ensure an understanding of new processes and industry initiatives across all operational teams.
• Identify STP opportunities for the business and introduce process improvement initiatives to increase efficiency and capabilities, including supporting system design to incorporate and automate operational tax requirements, utilising AI as appropriate.
• Participate in projects/UAT/implementation of systems and other technology or regulatory driven developments.
• Perform operational risk identification and assessment in business units.
• 1LOD risk management and controls implementation and operational incident reviews and remediation.
• Ensure compliance with relevant laws, regulatory requirements and exchange operating rules.
• Tax (Operations) Reporting — ABN, AIIR, IIR, AMMA, WHT, QI/QDD, CRS/FATCA.
• Build and maintain internal and external client relationships.

About You

• 1–5 years’ experience working within an operations team in financial services, an understanding of financial instruments and their settlement lifecycle, equities, and fixed income products.
• Experience working in financial services, custody, accounting firms, or other professional institutions, ideally including general operational tax compliance.
• Experience with client / investor tax withholding and reporting obligations across jurisdictions will be highly regarded — particularly CRS, FATCA, Australian and New Zealand third-party reporting (AIIR, IIR, AMMA, etc.), and US regulatory reporting.
• Understanding of risk management and incident management.
• Ability to manage Operations related interaction with internal stakeholders.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Curious, self-starter, highly organized, able to work independently and take ownership.
• Willingness to share knowledge and help upskill others.
• Strong ability to challenge procedures and question process to ensure consistent improvement.
• Proven ability to meet deadlines, multitask and work flexibly under pressure.
• Task oriented while at the same time keeping context around the bigger picture.
• Attention to detail with uncompromising focus on output quality.