Customs & Tax Authorities Relationship Director, Tax Free Europe

Planet; London; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in integrated technology and payment solutions seeks a Customs & Tax Authorities Relationship Manager. This role involves representing Planet with authorities, ensuring compliance, and building strategic partnerships. The ideal candidate will have experience in regulatory environments and strong stakeholder management skills. Join our dynamic team in London and contribute to our innovative approach in the technology market.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in tax-free and/or customs requirements management.
• Strong understanding of European customs and tax-free frameworks.
• Fluency in English; additional European languages are a plus.

Responsibilities

• Strategic representation with customs authorities.
• Establish and lead governance framework.
• Maintain relationships and monitor regulatory changes.

Skills

Stakeholder management

Communication

Regulatory compliance

Cross-functional coordination

Job description

About Planet

Planet is a global provider of integrated technology and payments solutions for retail and hospitality customers.

We create great experiences for the millions of people who use our payments, software, and tax-free solutions every minute of every day.

Planet empowers its customers to deliver great customer experiences by combining payments and software in ways that drive greater loyalty, increase revenue and save time.

Founded over 35 years ago and with our headquarters in London, today we have more than 2,500 employees located across six continents serving our customers in more than 120 markets.

Role overview:

As the Customs & Tax Authorities Relationship Manager, you will serve as the strategic interface between Planet and local customs and tax authorities across European markets. You will lead efforts to build trusted partnerships, ensure regulatory changes readiness, and influence the evolution of tax-free processes through proactive engagement and lobbying.

What you will do:

• Strategic Representation: Represent Planet in high-level engagements with customs and tax authorities, particularly across strategic markets. Where direct, language-specific engagement is required, establish and lead a cross-functional in-country workforce to support local execution with effective and culturally attuned communication and relationship-building. Direct the efforts and run multiple concurrent programs to ensure timely compliance with evolving regulatory and digital validation requirements.

• Governance: Establish and lead a structured framework to ensure transparency, alignment, and accountability. This includes holding periodic business review meetings with internal stakeholders across Legal, Risk, Compliance, Technology, and Operations. Maintain centralized documentation of decisions, actions, and follow-ups. Additionally, organize quarterly or semi-annual meetings with customs and tax authorities to review progress, address concerns, and reinforce strategic partnerships.

• Regulatory Readiness & Partnership Building: Establish and maintain trusted relationships with customs authorities to support Planet’s readiness for digital validation and other regulatory initiatives.

• Regulatory Monitoring: Oversee periodic reviews of upcoming regulations and tax-related changes in collaboration with Legal, ensuring timely awareness and response.

• Audit & Licensing Support: Support non-financial audits and processes related to tax-free operational licenses.

• Cross-Functional Coordination: Manage key communications with authorities in partnership with Legal, Risk & Compliance, Technology, and Operations teams.

• Knowledge Management: Maintain up-to-date records of country-specific tax-free rules in collaboration with Legal and Operations.

• Change Intake & Roadmap Gatekeeping: Act as the gatekeeper for business change requests impacting Product & Technology roadmaps, ensuring alignment with compliance timelines.

• Product & Technology Stakeholder: Serve as a key stakeholder in prioritization discussions, ensuring regulatory requirements are embedded in product planning.

• Policy Influence & Lobbying: Coordinate lobbying efforts with other tax-free operators to advocate for simplification and digitization of tax-free processes across Europe.

Who you are:

• Demonstrated ability to execute complex plans and manage cross-functional business change initiatives.

• Proven experience in tax-free and/or customs requirements management with a strong understanding of regulatory environments and stakeholder dynamics.

• Strong understanding of European customs and tax-free frameworks.

• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.

• Experience working cross-functionally with Legal, Product, and Compliance teams.

• Fluency in English; additional European languages are a plus.

Why Planet:

Planet is an equal opportunity employer where diversity is valued, and all employment is decided based on qualifications, merit, and business need.

Come and grow your career in the most exciting, fast paced technology market, with a business that delivers feel-good connected commerce. We would love to hear from you – Apply now.

At Planet, we embrace a hybrid work model, with three days a week in the office.

Reasonable accommodations may be made in order to allow for an individual to perform the essential functions of this role successfully.