Indirect Tax Manager

Job Description

Location: Hybrid - 3 days at VHQ, Crawley

Hours: Full Time, 37.5 hours per week. Monday to Friday

Contract Type: Permanent

Salary: Competitive

Closing Date: 12th February 2025

At Virgin Atlantic Airways, we believe that everyone can take on the world, and it's our vision to become the most loved travel company. As we embark on this next exciting stage of our journey, we're harnessing our spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation to challenge the status quo.

At Virgin Atlantic, tax is not a back-office function - it's a critical enabler of how we operate, grow and protect the business. As Indirect Tax Manager
, you'll play a pivotal role in ensuring we remain compliant, commercially sharp and confident in how we manage indirect tax across a complex, global operation.

You'll sit at the heart of the business, balancing technical depth with pragmatic judgement, advising on everything from passenger taxes and VAT to customs and international indirect tax matters. This is a role for someone who enjoys operating with autonomy, influencing senior stakeholders, and bringing clarity where things are complex or ambiguous - all while helping Virgin Atlantic fly further, smarter and responsibly.

An important aspect of this role will be strong technical experience in international customs and excise matters, ideally in the airline industry. The candidate should be capable of maintaining HMRC's Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) status requirements for Virgin Atlantic in the UK, thus a minimum of 3 years practical experience in customs-related activities is essential.

• Lead the Group's worldwide indirect tax compliance, covering VAT, APD, passenger taxes, customs and overseas indirect taxes
• Own the technical review and sign-off of key returns, presenting risks, judgements and recommendations clearly to senior leaders
• Partner closely with Finance, Engineering, Commercial, Cargo and Country teams to embed compliant and tax-efficient decision making
• Identify, assess and manage indirect tax risks, ensuring robust controls, governance and documentation are in place
• Drive advisory projects from identification through to delivery, including engagement with HMRC and overseas tax authorities
• Proactively spot opportunities to improve processes, automate compliance and optimise cash and tax outcomes
• Act as a trusted international customs and excise tax subject-matter expert, translating complex tax matters into clear, actionable advice, in addition to supporting the business with wider international indirect tax challenges
• Coach and support Tax Analysts, building capability and confidence across the wider tax team

You will bring deep expertise in UK indirect taxes, with a solid understanding of international indirect taxes issues in a large, complex organisation, with a particular focus on customs and excise duty challenges.

In addition to the above, you will also:

• Be comfortable operating as a subject-matter expert, influencing senior stakeholders with confidence, credibility and pragmatism
• Thrive in fast-moving, commercial environments and can balance technical rigour with practical delivery
• Enjoy problem-solving, cutting through ambiguity and making sound, well-judged recommendations
• Take a proactive approach, self-motivated and take genuine ownership of outcomes rather than waiting for direction
• Communicate complex issues clearly to non-specialists and build strong, collaborative relationships across functions
• Qualified as a CTA or ACA (or equivalent), with relevant post-qualification experience (Big 4 background welcomed)

It would be great if you also have experience with Oracle and strong Excel capability.

If this sounds like you, and you would like to unlock your potential with us, we would love to hear from you!

Our customers come from all walks of life and so do our colleagues. That's why we're proud to be an equal opportunity employer and actively encourage applications from all backgrounds. At Virgin Atlantic, we believe everyone can take on the world - no matter your age, gender, gender identity, gender expression, ethnicity, sexual…