Tax Senior Manager – Private Client Team in London

Location: Hybrid / Stratford, London, UK

Job type: Permanent / Full-time

Sector and subsector: Tax & Practice | General Practice

Salary: Competitive salary

Affinia is a UK Top 35 Accounting firm, where we support our clients with everything from day-to-day Accounting, Audit and Tax planning to strategic business advice, compliance and specialist services such as Cloud Accounting, Payroll and Mergers & Acquisitions across a wide range of sectors. We are committed to delivering excellence in every aspect of our work, adapting to the evolving regulatory landscape while consistently exceeding client expectations.

Purpose of the role

As a Senior Manager you will oversee a team of staff managing their portfolio of clients. This will cover a diverse portfolio of individuals, trusts and estates and you will need to ensure that every aspect of those clients' affairs is successfully catered for whilst providing first class service along the way. You will be able to shape this role as your own, with continuous support from the team and the hope in the future to see continuous internal progression and eventual succession.

It will be expected for you to demonstrate a vast wealth of technical knowledge and experience as you will need to not only support staff through their own career progression but regularly assist leaders with complex and niche tax matters day in, day out. This role is about strategic leadership, driving significant revenue growth, managing key client relationships, and overseeing the development and quality of a substantial tax team/service area. You will need to show an inherent ability to solve problems and drive subsequent remediation work to ensure all matters are covered. You will be supporting our Associate Directors and Directors within the Private Client team with business development and be able to demonstrate the ability to win business within the firm’s internal client bank as well as grow your own external networks. You will need to be able to deliver advisory reports and implement project work, by working closely with your colleagues in the private client team.

You should be able to demonstrate a strong attention to detail, excellent communication skills, professional approach to clients and colleagues and a firm commitment to providing a top-quality service to our clients. Flexibility is key, there may be a requirement to work additional hours during busy periods and show a continued willingness to go above and beyond. We operate a hybrid working model, so you will split your time between the office, client sites when required, and from home when you are able.

Accountabilities

• Strategic Technical Leadership & Advisory: Providing the highest standard of tax advice across a vast array of complex tax matters, leading client engagements as a key contact, and driving the delivery of high-level advisory work.
• Business Development & Revenue Generation: Support Directors and SLLs with business development activities including proposals, pitches, and client onboarding. Identify and act on cross-selling or upselling opportunities within your client portfolio. Represent the firm at industry events, networking opportunities, and speaking engagements, contributing to the firm’s public profile.
• Client and Portfolio Leadership: Lead service delivery for a portfolio of high-value or technically complex clients, ensuring timely, high-quality, and compliant output. Experience of working with our target clients such as UHNWs/ HNW clients, family-owned, SMEs and not purely large corporate clients. Experience in providing advice and implementing Inheritance Tax planning strategies including Family Investment Companies and Trusts structures. You will need a strong understanding of Trust and Estates, not just on compliance issues but have experience and practical know how on advising such clients. Previous experience working closely and collaboratively with professional connections, such as lawyers and financial advisers. Proven track record of being able to provide high level, strategic and holistic advice to private clients and other third party advisers. Act as a trusted advisor to clients, providing strategic, commercially sound advice and proactively identifying opportunities to add value. Maintain strong client relationships through regular contact, effective communication, and a deep understanding of client needs.
• Commercial and Financial Management: Monitor WIP, billing, and recovery rates across your portfolio, taking proactive action to maximise profitability and manage overruns or scope creep. Identify potential tax risks and cash savings opportunities, and support initiatives to manage the risks or realise the opportunities. Meet targets for billable hours, utilisation, and portfolio profitability, ensuring jobs are delivered within agreed budgets and timeframes. Contribute to fee discussions, service scoping, and pricing strategy in collaboration with Directors and Partners. Provide ongoing guidance and structured development opportunities to junior team members. Playing a pivotal role in staff development, providing comprehensive feedback, delegating work, creating development plans, and aiding in career and exam progression. Act as a role model for firm values and behaviours, fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement. Conduct or support performance appraisals, 1:1s, and feedback processes to drive individual and team growth. Champion diversity and inclusion within the team, promoting open, honest, and two-way communication across locations.
• Impact Across the Business: Play a key role across the business and act as an ambassador for your specific specialism within the Tax Service Line. Continually champion our services and engage with other service lines to ensure a comprehensive approach to all our work. Working in tandem with staff from other service lines to ensure a ‘joined up’ approach.

Professional Skills / Qualifications

• CTA (Chartered Tax Adviser) qualification is essential.
• ACA / ACCA (or equivalent chartered accountancy qualification) with substantial post-qualification tax experience, ideally combined with CTA, is highly desirable.
• Consistent engagement in Continuous Professional Development (CPD) to maintain and expand awareness of tax legislation and complex matters within your specialism.
• Executive-Level Technical Tax Advisory: The ability to apply extensive knowledge of all tax matters (personal and corporate) to complex situations with the highest standard of advice, and to clearly articulate complex tax concepts and solutions to clients.
• Strategic Business Development & Commercial Leadership: A proven ability to consistently identify and drive commercial opportunities across large client portfolios, maximise fee revenues, lead pitches, and promote the Tax Service Line across the group.
• High-Level Client Relationship & Portfolio Management: Exceptional skill in leading and nurturing relationships with high-value clients as a trusted advisor, comprehensively managing expectations, and overseeing complex client portfolios.
• Strategic Financial & Risk Management: Proficiency in assessing and managing key financial KPIs (WIP, Debtors, fees), understanding their business impact, driving solutions, and leading the implementation of robust risk management policies across client engagements.
• Advanced Leadership & Talent Development: Expertise in effectively delegating complex work, providing detailed feedback, creating development plans for staff, and aiding in career and exam progression for the team.

Culture & Core Benefits

At Affinia, our culture is driven by ambition and a commitment to positively impact all the communities we serve. We are dedicated to the success, development, and wellbeing of our colleagues, helping them achieve their goals and seize the opportunities that come with our growth. Alongside a flexible and inclusive work environment, we offer the following core benefits:

• Auto enrolment Pension Scheme with True Potential
• Death in Service
• Professional membership support
• Paycare – claim money back for Dental / Optical / Professional Therapies
• Dress for your Diary Policy

Please note that this job profile is not an exhaustive list of duties but merely an outline of the key components of the role. You may be required by your line manager to take on additional responsibilities when requested.

Affinia is committed to being an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our policy is unequivocal: we do not tolerate discrimination based on age, disability, sex, race, religion, or belief, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy, or maternity, or sexual orientation. We pride ourselves on being an inclusive organisation that actively promotes equality of opportunity for all, valuing the right mix of talent, skills, and potential. We welcome applications from a diverse range of candidates, and selection for roles is based solely on individual merit.