SEA Tax Director

Applied Materials South East Asia Pte Ltd; Singapore; On-site; SGD 200,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

Applied Materials South East Asia Pte Ltd in Singapore seeks a Director, SEA Tax to lead tax across Southeast Asia, align with global strategy, and drive improvements with a hands-on, data-driven approach.

This role combines strategic leadership with deep technical tax work, including governance, audits, transfer pricing, and support for business growth, requiring mentoring of a high-performance team and close collaboration with stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting or related field.
• 18+ years of progressive tax experience across multinational environments.
• Strong tax accounting and SOX/internal controls experience.

Responsibilities

• Act as SEA tax leader, overseeing direct tax, indirect tax, and cross-border matters.
• Translate global tax strategy into regional execution to support growth and manage risk.
• Assess emerging tax risks, regulatory developments, and planning opportunities; advise stakeholders.
• Oversee end-to-end SEA tax compliance, including CIT, GST/VAT, withholding tax, transfer pricing.
• Lead tax audits, rulings, and appeals across SEA with external advisors.
• Develop and execute robust audit defense strategies with solid technical analysis.

Skills

Leadership

Tax strategy

Tax accounting

SOX controls

Data analysis

Education

Bachelor's degree in Accounting

Tools

Excel

ERP systems

Job description

About the role

The Director, SEA Tax is a senior leadership role responsible for overseeing all tax matters across Southeast Asia, while aligning with the global tax strategy. This role requires a leader who is equally comfortable operating at a strategic level and diving deep into detailed data, processes, and technical issues. The successful candidate must be able to understand complex, end to end tax workflows, identify risks and inefficiencies, and drive sustainable improvements - while also connecting tax outcomes to business strategy, risk management, and operational efficiency. A critical component of this role is direct people leadership responsibility. Developing a strong, high performing team with clear accountability, technical excellence, and continuous improvement mindset is a core expectation of this role.

Key responsibilities

• Act as the tax leader for SEA, providing oversight across direct tax, indirect tax, withholding tax, transfer pricing, and cross border matters.




• Translate global tax strategy into strong regional execution that supports business growth while managing tax risk.




• Proactively assess emerging tax risks, regulatory developments, and planning opportunities, and advise stakeholders on potential impacts and actions.




• Oversee end to end tax compliance across SEA, including CIT, GST/VAT, withholding tax, transfer pricing, and incentive related reporting.




• Conduct rigorous detailed reviews of tax workpapers and supporting analyses, including hands-on walkthroughs of complex Excel calculations, reconciliations and data files; validate formulas and data integrity, and provide clear review feedback to ensure technical accuracy and high-quality deliverables.




• Ensure timely, accurate quarterly and annual tax accounting deliverables, including tax provision, tax packages, reconciliations, and supporting documentation.




• Own SOX tax controls, including design, execution, documentation, and audit readiness.




• Maintain strong governance over tax data quality, assumptions, documentation, and controls.




• Lead all tax audits, assessments, rulings, and appeals across SEA in collaboration with external advisors.




• Develop and execute robust audit defense strategies supported by sound technical analysis and documentation.

About you

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Tax, Finance, or related field.




• 18+ years of progressive tax experience, ideally combining Big 4 and in house roles.




• Solid tax accounting and SOX/internal controls experience.




• Experience in manufacturing, technology, or supply chain intensive multinational environments.




• Prior exposure to tax incentives or large ERP implementations.




• Proven leadership experience managing multi country tax matters and leading teams.




• Demonstrated ability to operate both strategically and hands on, with comfort moving between executive discussions and detailed technical/operational work.