Senior Manager, Landed Estates

PKF FRANCIS CLARK; Bristol; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading accounting firm in the UK is seeking a tax and accounts leader for high-value estates and trusts. You will manage a diverse portfolio, deliver tax solutions, and lead a specialist team. The role requires strong technical skills, client management capabilities, and a commitment to service excellence. This position offers hybrid working and opportunities for career progression in a supportive environment.

Benefits

Pension

Group life assurance

Health cash plan

Extra holiday purchase

Counselling and support services

Qualifications

• Proven experience with IHT, CGT, trust taxation, and personal tax.
• Strong client-facing skills and the ability to build long-term relationships.
• Experience supervising and developing junior staff.

Responsibilities

• Lead accounts and compliance for tax portfolios.
• Develop integrated succession and estate planning solutions.
• Conduct forecasts, cashflows, and sensitivity analysis.

Skills

Tax Compliance

Client Relationship Management

Financial Forecasting

Team Leadership

Technical Excellence

Education

ACA, ACCA or equivalent

Job description

In a nutshell

Be the go-to tax and accounts leader for Britain’s most storied estates at PKF Francis Clark: own a high value portfolio of landed estates, trusts and rural businesses; deliver decisive IHT, CGT and trust solutions that preserve family legacies and unlock tax-led value; run accounts and compliance end-to-end with technical excellence; lead and develop a specialist team; collaborate with legal, property and investment experts on multi-disciplinary plans; and build your reputation through visible client relationships and market-facing thought leadership — all with the autonomy to shape the service, hybrid working, and clear senior progression.

What you'll be doing day to day

• Act as primary adviser for a mixed portfolio of landed estates, family trusts, partnerships and farming businesses
• Plan for and review annual accounts across sole trader, partnership, company and trust structures; approve VAT returns and management accounts
• Lead personal, trust and corporate tax compliance; prepare and review IHT returns and CGT 60-day returns; develop and implement succession planning strategies, CGT timing strategies, and trust restructuring options
• Work closely with legal, property and investment specialists to deliver integrated succession and estate planning solutions
• Produce forecasts, cashflows and sensitivity analysis; identify restructuring, reliefs and diversification opportunities to improve estate resilience
• Draft correspondence, engage with HMRC on enquiries, and ensure timely, accurate submissions
• Supervise, review and develop junior staff; deliver technical training and support career progression
• Build local networks at county events and professional forums; contribute to thought leadership and proposals to grow the landed estates client base

About you

You have a solid background in accounts and a specialist tax focus, combining technical excellence with commercial judgment.

• ACA, ACCA or equivalent; strong record of continuous technical development
• Prior experience leading preparation and review of statutory and management accounts across sole trader, partnership, company and trust structures
• Deep, practical knowledge of IHT, CGT, trust taxation and personal tax, with experience applying reliefs and planning opportunities for landed estates
• Comfortable owning end-to-end compliance — tax returns, IHT forms, HMRC correspondence and managing enquiries
• Able to translate technical accounts and tax detail into clear, pragmatic advice that aligns with family and commercial objectives
• Confident client-facing presence; builds trusted long-term relationships with owners, trustees and professional advisers
• Experienced in supervising, coaching and quality-reviewing junior staff; committed to developing a high-performing specialist team
• Strong commercial awareness, cashflow and forecasting capability, and the ability to spot tax-led value and restructuring opportunities
• Proven ability to work effectively with legal, property and investment specialists to deliver joined-up estate solutions
• Highly organised, meticulous with deadlines, resilient under pressure and committed to protecting and enhancing client legacies

Why work at PKF Francis Clark

As the largest firm of independent chartered accountants and business advisers in South West England, PKF Francis Clark offers a breadth of opportunities to develop your career in the way that’s right for you.

Established in 1919, we’ve grown to a team of nearly 1,000 people, based across our offices in Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth, Poole, Salisbury, Southampton, Taunton, Torquay and Truro. This means we’re big enough to do challenging work for exciting clients, but small enough to maintain our friendly and supportive culture.

We work hard to ensure you can belong, be yourself and be brilliant as part of a forward-thinking team. This includes a flexible approach to hybrid working. And our focus on wellbeing and learning and development has been recognised nationally.

For the past three years, PKF Francis Clark has been certified as a Great Place to Work and ranked among the UK’s Best Workplaces. In 2025, we climbed four places to 20 out of 100 large organisations on this prestigious list.

We’re also in the UK’s top 10 Best Workplaces for Women (6 out of 100 large organisations), as well as being ranked among the Best Workplaces for Wellbeing (35 out of 100), Best Workplaces for Development (24 out of 100) and Best Workplaces in Consulting and Professional Services.

All these lists are compiled by workplace culture experts Great Place to Work. Our rankings are a direct result of feedback from our people in a confidential, independent annual survey.

The success rates of our trainees mean we’re also ranked 33rd in The Sunday Times Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers 2025.

While we’re proudly independent, we collaborate with colleagues around the world to enable our clients to succeed. PKF Francis Clark is a member of the PKF Global family of firms – together we’re the 12th largest provider of accountancy services in the UK. Being part of this international network provides opportunities to connect with like-minded accountants and business advisers in 150 countries.

Your core benefits

Financial benefits:

• Pension
• Group life assurance - up to four times your core salary
• Group income protection
• Health cash plan to help cover the costs of everyday healthcare

Health & Wellbeing benefits:

• Option to buy 5 extra days holiday*
• Counselling and support for you and your immediate family
• Virtual GP for you and your immediate family
• Cycle to work*

Other benefits:

• Medicash Extras providing you with shopping and gym discounts
• Gifts for career and family milestones
• One volunteering day per year to support local organisations
• Emergency funding from the Francis Clark Charitable Foundation

Please note

* These benefits are provided via a salary exchange and are subject to employee’s post exchange hourly rate remaining above the national minimum wage.