Tax Manager - Personal Team

Affinia; Chelmsford; Hybrid; GBP 85,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days holiday plus bank holidays

Auto enrolment pension scheme

Death in service benefit

Professional membership support

Health benefits including dental and optical

Agile/Hybrid working policy

Dress for your Diary Policy

Job summary

A dynamic financial services firm is seeking an experienced tax professional in Chelmsford to lead their tax department. This role focuses on managing client relationships, overseeing compliance cycles, and identifying tax planning opportunities. The ideal candidate will possess a CTA qualification and strong advisory experience, with additional benefits like a hybrid working model and professional development support. Join a team that emphasizes integrity and excellence in tax services.

Qualifications

• Experience in Personal Tax compliance processes and workflow.
• Ability to lead and mentor junior team members.
• Demonstrated integrity and high-quality work standards.
• Proven track record of managing a varied tax portfolio.
• Ability to work autonomously and lead others.
• Excellent organisational skills.
• Ability to review others' work and develop junior staff through clear feedback.
• Ability to build rapport and develop relationships with clients and stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Manage a large portfolio of individuals and businesses.
• Oversee compliance cycle and advise clients on their tax positions.
• Identify tax planning opportunities for clients and pursue them.
• Lead client meetings and act as a trusted advisor.
• Drive new business opportunities and maximize fee revenues.
• Collaborate across offices to improve compliance processes and tax technology.
• Support business development and prepare fee quotes for advisory work.
• Lead client meetings as a trusted advisor and maintain key relationships.

Skills

Strong tax technical knowledge

Ability to spot tax planning opportunities

Excellent organisational skills

Proven track record of managing a varied tax portfolio

Tax compliance

Strategic mindset

Mentoring staff

Education

CTA qualification

Job description

Location: Stratford, London, or Chelmsford or Harlow, Essex

Purpose of the Role

In joining Affinia, you will be part of a growing, successful, forward‑thinking and dynamic tax department. This role involves significant leadership, strategic financial management, high‑level client relationship management, and driving growth for the Tax Service Line.

The role requires an experienced individual of Personal Tax compliance processes and workflow. However, there is also ample opportunity to get involved in high‑value advisory work for a varied portfolio of individuals.

You will be involved in the delivery of ad‑hoc projects and the preparation of bespoke tax planning reports. Having a commercial mindset will be key as you will need to play a role in business development, spotting opportunities for growth within existing clients and pitching for new business.

As well as guiding and mentoring a team of tax staff, you will also need to play a pivotal role in supporting the leaders of the Tax Service Line in delivering a strategic and successful approach.

We operate a hybrid working model, so you will split your time between the office, client sites when required, and from home when you are able. We provide both technical/hard and ‘soft’ skills training through platforms such as Tolley’s, Mercia, Croner‑i and LinkedIn Learning.

Accountabilities

• Management of a large portfolio of individuals and unincorporated businesses, covering a broad range of affairs and complexity.
• Management of the entire team’s compliance cycle, from overseeing the preparation of documents, subsequent reviews, advising clients directly of their tax positions and submission to HMRC.
• Complete and review complex compliance work to the highest of standards and using this touch point to continually identify tax planning opportunities for clients and subsequently pursue them.
• Line managing and mentoring of junior members of the tax team.
• Assisting with the internal tax training of staff within the team.
• Consistently act as an example to the staff around you and demonstrate the importance of integrity and high‑quality work.
• Working collaboratively with staff across all our office locations to constantly improve our compliance processes and ensure that we continue to be at the cutting edge of tax technology enabling efficient delivery of quality tax work.
• Promote the Tax Service Line across the group and assist teams in other locations with tax matters.
• Supporting both leaders of the business and the wider tax team, with ad‑hoc advisory work, including the initial scoping out of projects, providing fee quotes, and assisting with the delivery of high‑quality tax reports.
• Building and maintaining key relationships with clients and other professional third parties.
• Leading client meetings with complex clients and acting as a trusted advisor to them.
• Working in tandem with staff from other service lines to ensure a ‘joined up’ approach.
• Continually monitoring key KPI’s across your portfolio and the team such as WIP, billing and debtors and ensuring our functions are operating in a profitable manner.
• Drive new business opportunities across the client base and liaise with senior staff with the engagement of new clients. Strive to maximise fee revenues and constantly add value.

Professional Skills / Qualifications

• CTA qualification preferred.
• Strong tax technical knowledge and advisory experience.
• A continued aspiration to further your skill set.
• The ability to spot tax planning opportunities and progress these independently with clients.
• Proven track record of managing a varied tax portfolio.
• The ability to work autonomously and lead others.
• Excellent organisational skills.
• The ability to review other people’s work and develop junior staff through clear and constructive feedback.
• The ability to build rapport and develop strong relationships with clients, colleagues, and external stakeholders.

Core Benefits

• 25 days holiday (FTE) plus Bank Holidays (Sept‑Aug).
• Auto enrolment Pension Scheme with True Potential.
• Death in Service.
• Professional membership support.
• Paycare – claim money back for Dental / Optical / Professional Therapies.
• Agile/Hybrid Working Policy.
• Dress for your Diary Policy.

Please note that this job profile is not an exhaustive list of duties but merely an outline of the key components of the role. You may be required by your line manager to take on additional responsibilities when requested.

Affinia is committed to being an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our policy is unequivocal: we do not tolerate discrimination based on age, disability, sex, race, religion, or belief, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy, or maternity, or sexual orientation. We pride ourselves on being an inclusive organisation that actively promotes equality of opportunity for all, valuing the right mix of talent, skills, and potential. We welcome applications from a diverse range of candidates, and selection for roles is based solely on individual merit.