Job Summary

The Regional Lead, Employment Taxes, AME will play a pivotal role in managing and governing employment tax risk across the Africa & Middle East region. This role involves delivering expert advice and ensuring compliance with employment tax regulations, as well as developing and implementing robust risk management and governance processes. Reporting to senior management and collaborating with various stakeholders, the successful candidate will drive the excellence in design and execution of employment tax policies and products, aligning with the group’s overall strategic objectives.

As a trusted advisor, the role requires close engagement with process owners and regional leads to ensure consistent application of tax risk strategies and to promote a culture of compliance and continuous improvement. This position offers an exciting opportunity to influence tax governance frameworks while supporting innovative solutions that enhance both regulatory adherence and employee experience.

The role requires a proactive approach to working with cross-regional teams and external partners, emphasizing integrity, collaboration, and a deep understanding of complex tax environments.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy and Governance

• Lead the development and execution of the group-wide employment taxes strategy across the Africa and Middle East region, ensuring alignment with global standards and regulatory requirements.
• Provide expert guidance on risk management processes and advise on best practices to enhance the delivery and use of employment tax-related products.
• Collaborate closely with Service Delivery teams to integrate technology solutions that support efficient financial and regulatory reporting while optimizing the overall employee experience.
• Design and maintain effective communication channels with stakeholders, delivering training, and providing ongoing product support to ensure high levels of employee and stakeholder engagement.
• Oversee the selection and management of vendors to guarantee service quality and adherence to governance frameworks.
• Ensure all employment tax processes meet technical standards, including compliance with relevant regulatory guidelines such as the UK Senior Accounting Officer requirements.
• Review and approve employment tax advice across the region to maintain coherence, manage risks effectively, and uphold the integrity of tax messages and strategies.
• Evaluate and recommend enhancements to existing employment tax procedures to improve competitiveness and operational efficiency.

Stakeholder Collaboration and Compliance Oversight

This role requires dynamic engagement with internal teams such as Human Resources, Finance, Legal, and Compensation to ensure employment tax considerations are appropriately integrated into business operations and decision-making. The Regional Lead will also liaise with external tax authorities to manage audits, negotiate technical issues, and resolve complex employment tax matters.

Key activities include monitoring regulatory changes across diverse jurisdictions within the region and proactively advising leadership on potential impacts. The incumbent will foster robust relationships with tax authorities in South Africa, other African countries, and the Middle East, acting as an authoritative point of contact for employment tax queries and concerns.

The Regional Lead will champion initiatives that enhance tax compliance culture and ensure transparent, accurate reporting of employment taxes. Additionally, this role entails continuous assessment of employment tax risk exposure, implementing controls and remediation plans where necessary to protect the organization's reputation and financial standing.

Skills and Experience

• Extensive experience managing employment tax matters across multiple jurisdictions, with specific expertise in South African tax regulations and knowledge of broader Africa and Middle East tax environments.
• Strong technical know-how in share plan administration, international mobility tax implications, and complex employment tax issues such as benefits, termination payments, deferred compensation, and employment status.
• Proven capability in engaging with tax authorities, including successful negotiation and resolution of audits and technical disputes.
• Exceptional stakeholder management and communication skills, adept at influencing cross-functional teams and liaising with senior leadership.
• Demonstrated ability to design risk management frameworks and implement governance protocols for employment tax compliance.
• Competence in leveraging technology to improve tax compliance processes and enhance employee experience.
• Ability to work effectively under ambiguity and to make sound decisions that balance risk and business objectives.
• Professional qualifications in tax, accounting, or law, complemented by continuous professional development in employment tax.

About Standard Chartered

We're an international bank, nimble enough to act, big enough for impact. For more than 170 years, we've worked to make a positive difference for our clients, communities, and each other. We question the status quo, love a challenge and enjoy finding new opportunities to grow and do better than before. If you're looking for a career with purpose and you want to work for a bank making a difference, we want to hear from you. You can count on us to celebrate your unique talents and we can't wait to see the talents you can bring us.

Our purpose, to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, together with our brand promise, to be here for good are achieved by how we each live our valued behaviours. When you work with us, you'll see how we value difference and advocate inclusion.

Together we:

• Do the right thing and are assertive, challenge one another, and live with integrity, while putting the client at the heart of what we do
• Never settle, continuously striving to improve and innovate, keeping things simple and learning from doing well, and not so well
• Are better together, we can be ourselves, be inclusive, see more good in others, and work collectively to build for the long term

What we offer

In line with our Fair Pay Charter, we offer a competitive salary and benefits to support your mental, physical, financial and social wellbeing.

• Core bank funding for retirement savings, medical and life insurance, with flexible and voluntary benefits available in some locations.
• Time-off including annual leave, parental/maternity (20 weeks), sabbatical (12 months maximum) and volunteering leave (3 days), along with minimum global standards for annual and public holiday, which is combined to 30 days minimum.
• Flexible working options based around home and office locations, with flexible working patterns.
• Proactive wellbeing support through Unmind, a market-leading digital wellbeing platform, development courses for resilience and other human skills, global Employee Assistance Programme, sick leave, mental health first-aiders and all sorts of self-help toolkits
• A continuous learning culture to support your growth, with opportunities to reskill and upskill and access to physical, virtual and digital learning.
• Being part of an inclusive and values driven organisation, one that embraces and celebrates our unique diversity, across our teams, business functions and geographies - everyone feels respected and can realise their full potential.