Team Lead, Tax

Fairview International School; Malaysia; On-site; MYR 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Fairview International School in Malaysia is seeking a candidate to lead tax planning and structuring across its products, platforms, and initiatives. In this role, you will shape tax strategies to balance efficiency with regulatory defensibility while managing a small tax team.

The ideal candidate should possess deep technical knowledge of direct and indirect tax, along with the ability to influence key business decisions. Strong communication skills are critical for articulating complex tax positions to stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Proven expertise in tax structuring and compliance.
• Experience in advising on transaction design to avoid tax leakage.
• Ability to challenge and defend tax positions during audits.

Responsibilities

• Shape tax planning and structuring for new initiatives.
• Lead tax compliance quality across filings and audits.
• Act as the primary interface with external tax advisors.

Skills

Deep technical grounding in direct and indirect tax

Ability to influence decisions

Strong written and verbal communication skills

Curiosity about business models and regulation

Job description

• PayNet operates at national scale where tax decisions directly affect sustainability, pricing, and regulatory credibility.
• Growing platform complexity, new initiatives, and evolving tax rules increase the importance of upfront tax structuring.
• This role exists to move PayNet from reactive tax compliance to proactive, well‑considered tax planning.
• Strong tax judgment today reduces structural risk and limits costly remediation later.

TL; DR

• Reports to the Head of Financial Control and leads a small Tax team, ensuring work is well prioritised, delegated, reviewed, and delivered to a high standard.
• Own tax planning and structuring across PayNet’s products, platforms, and initiatives.
• Act as the internal authority on direct and indirect tax implications of business decisions.
• Shape tax positions early, not after commercial or legal structures are set.
• Balance tax efficiency with regulatory defensibility and long‑term sustainability.

Why This Role Matters

• Poor tax structuring creates long‑term cost, audit risk, and reputational exposure.
• Over‑conservative tax positions can unnecessarily constrain commercial outcomes.
• Strong tax judgment enables confident decisions under regulatory scrutiny.
• This role requires judgment over checklist compliance.

What You Will Actually Do

• Shape tax planning and structuring for new initiatives, products, entities, and partnerships.
• Own end‑to‑end tax analysis across direct and indirect taxes, translating rules into clear business implications.
• Define and defend tax positions that are efficient, defensible, and aligned with PayNet’s risk appetite.
• Lead technical tax input into contracts, pricing discussions, and business proposals.
• Own tax compliance quality across filings, submissions, and audits, while guiding team delivery to ensure outputs align with planning intent.
• Act as the primary technical interface with external tax advisors and authorities.

Examples of This Role in Practice

• Advising early on transaction or operating model design to avoid structural tax leakage.
• Challenging a proposed structure that appears efficient short‑term but creates future audit risk.
• Translating complex indirect tax rules into practical guidance for product or finance teams.
• Defending a tax position during an audit by clearly articulating intent, substance, and rationale.
• Identifying opportunities to simplify or standardize tax treatment across platforms.

What Will Help You Succeed

• Deep technical grounding in both direct and indirect tax, applied with commercial judgment.
• Comfort influencing decisions without formal authority or team ownership.
• Ability to think structurally, not just transactionally.
• Strong written and verbal articulation of complex tax positions.
• Curiosity about how business models, regulation, and tax intersect.