VP, Accounting & Tax

In this role you drive IFRS-compliant statutory reporting, tax governance, and the core accounting control environment across all Digital Science entities. You will own the close process, intercompany consolidation, and strong tax management while building and leading the Accounting, Tax Corporate Reporting team. You report to the CFO and position yourself for potential CFO succession, aligning finance with business strategy in the UK. You’ll collaborate with external advisers and cross-functional partners to enable accurate, timely financial statements and robust governance.

Responsibilities

• Prepare IFRS-compliant statutory financial statements for all entities and coordinate with external auditors through to sign-off.
• Set and maintain group accounting policies aligned with Holtzbrinck group reporting.
• Own legal entity consolidation including intercompany eliminations, FX translation, and NetSuite reporting.
• Manage month-end and year-end close calendar with a controlled close process.
• Review reconciliations and judgemental accounting positions prior to finalisation.
• Oversee tax compliance and transfer pricing in multiple jurisdictions and coordinate with tax advisors.
• Act as primary contact with Holtzbrinck group tax for group-level matters.
• Manage external tax advisor and local compliance relationships, including scope and fees.
• Oversee revenue recognition policy under IFRS 15 with the Revenue Accountant.
• Lead and develop the Accounting, Tax Corporate Reporting team and plan resourcing to meet deadlines.
• Represent Finance in senior internal and external meetings as CFO stand-in when required.
• Build cross-functional, board-level communication skills to progress toward CFO-level responsibilities.
• Maintain an effective internal control environment and remediate control gaps.
• Lead the external audit process and support internal and tax authority audits.
• Drive continuous improvement of accounting and tax processes and systems.

Key requirements

• Qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA or equivalent) with significant post-qualification experience in statutory reporting, tax, and technical accounting.
• Proven track record managing external audit relationships and delivering clean statutory accounts across multiple entities.
• Strong IFRS knowledge, including IFRS 15 revenue recognition and consolidation.
• Experience managing tax compliance and transfer pricing in multi-entity, multi-jurisdiction settings.
• Experience negotiating contracts with external tax advisory and accounting firms, including fee/scope management.
• People leadership experience with a track record of developing accounting teams.
• Technically rigorous with sound judgement.
• Credible stand-in for the CFO when required.
• Calm under pressure around audit and reporting deadlines.