DESCRIPTION
This team operates as a core component of the Second Line of Defense (2LOD) within Tax Governance, Risk and Assurance (GRA) Program, providing independent oversight, periodic assurance testing, and residual risk reporting across international indirect tax operations.
This role is the technical anchor of the GRA program, leading the triage process of risk intake into the Tax Assurance program, interpreting regulatory requirements, and providing the substantive tax judgement underpinning all assurance activities.
In this role, you will:
- Execute deep-dive reviews into specific risk areas and business programs to understand how indirect tax requirements have been implemented across systems, processes, and data flows.
- You will assess whether operational controls are functioning effectively, identify gaps or weaknesses in the control environment, and design assurance activities with the aim to independently test and validate the strength of the operational control frameworks. Your work will directly inform leadership on the residual indirect tax risk posture of key business programs.
- The role has international coverage (all regions excluding North America), with a primary business focus on International Stores (Retail and Marketplace) but includes potential exposure to all business lines.
- You will work closely with Tax Planning, Tax Compliance, Internal Audit, and operational risk teams to ensure that indirect tax controls and governance processes are consistently applied and meet expected standards.
Key job responsibilities
Execute deep-dive reviews into specific indirect tax risk areas and business programs to understand the processes, systems, data flows, and solutions through which tax requirements have been implemented, and the controls employed to manage associated indirect tax risks.
Design and perform independent testing of operating controls as part of the 2LOD assurance function, including evaluating testing methodologies, evidence collection approaches, and sampling techniques for robustness and appropriateness.
Analyze operational and transactional data to identify gaps, weaknesses, or inconsistencies in the control environment, and provide actionable recommendations that reduce indirect tax risk exposure.
Interpret results of periodic assurance testing activities and, in collaboration with Tax Planning, assess the risk profile and impact of findings, evaluate the suitability of proposed mitigating actions, and determine residual risk postures.
Evaluate the strength of the controls environment for related programs or risk areas using a wide variety of information sources, data points, and control testing results.
Read and interpret indirect tax requirements published by Tax Planning teams, and assess the accuracy and completeness of their implementation in operational processes and programs.
Collaborate with indirect tax advisory and planning colleagues to align on interpretation and assessment of the control environment, informing residual risk positions reported to leadership.
Support the continuous improvement of indirect tax assurance programs by identifying opportunities to enhance controls, monitoring approaches, and operational risk practices, and by proposing standardized frameworks that address best practices in indirect tax risk mitigation.
Support the embedding of indirect tax risk controls and governance processes, ensuring operational teams consistently apply policies and meet expected standards across multi-jurisdictional operations.
Present insights, assurance findings, and recommendations clearly to operational teams, business stakeholders, and team leadership, providing evidence-based perspectives to support strategic indirect tax risk oversight.
