Senior Employment and Expatriate Tax Manager

Wise is looking for an experienced and strategic Senior Employment & Expatriate Tax Manager to join the Tax and Reward team on an initial 12-month fixed-term contract. The role will report to the Director - Employment Tax and Stock Administration. This critical role focuses on leading the development of robust employment tax infrastructure and controls, driving global business expansions and entity restructurings, operationalising strategic cross-border tax frameworks, and overseeing external vendor management and tax advisory cost controls. With a high level of leadership, autonomy, and strategic responsibility, the role owner will provide technical direction and practical solutions to ensure both employer employment tax and cross-border employee tax risks are effectively governed and mitigated as the business scales. Team & Mission The Reward team sits within the People Tribe at Wise and is responsible for developing global reward frameworks, delivering stock offerings, structuring executive compensation, and curating employee benefit packages. Operating alongside this broader function, the Employment Tax team owns the strategic governance of global employment tax compliance, cross-border tax risk mitigation, and expatriate tax frameworks. The Senior Employment Tax Manager establishes the underlying tax architecture, controls, vendor strategy, and advisory required to ensure international deployments, remote working arrangements, and global expansion activities remain fully compliant, scalable, and cost-effective. Core Responsibilities - Tax Governance & Infrastructure: Establish standardised global employment tax controls, workflows, and auditing processes. - Global Expansion & Restructuring: Lead tax structuring, local employer withholding, and social security setups for new country launches. - Vendor & Budget Management: Manage external tax advisers, define SOWs/SLAs, and maintain budget controls. - Operationalise Strategic Expatriate Tax Frameworks: Take Wise's drafted assignment policies and convert them into a practical, multi-tiered operational framework. Establish technical tax mechanics (including tax equalisation, tax protection, gross-up rules, and shadow payroll workflows) across diverse move types—such as long-term assignments, short-term project deployments, strategic permanent transfers, and international remote working arrangements. - Compliance & Technical Advisory: Audit operations to fix tax gaps (PSA, STBV, S690, FBT); advise HR, Finance, and Legal on cross-border tax risks. - PE Risk Alignment: Partner with Corporate Tax to evaluate and mitigate Permanent Establishment risks from remote/cross-border workers. Opportunities This Role Offers - Drive Strategic Impact: Convert drafted policy concepts into a functioning, scalable global deployment matrix that directly enables Wise's commercial expansion strategy. - Work at Pace and Scale: Lead complex cross-border tax strategies in a hyper-growth environment with a clear 12-month initial roadmap. - Cross-Functional Leadership: Partner closely with executive leadership across Corporate Tax, Finance, Payroll, and Legal within a progressive Global Reward tribe. Key Requirements - Experience: relevant experience in employment/expatriate tax (in-house tech/fintech or professional services). - Technical Expertise: Deep knowledge of global tax legislation, shadow/modified payrolls, social security agreements, and tax equalisation. - Governance & Delivery: Proven track record in vendor management, auditing current-state risks, and leading cross-border expansion projects. - Stakeholder Management: Ability to explain complex tax risks to non-tax executive leaders. - Qualifications: ACA, CTA, ACCA, ATT, ADIT, or equivalent. Nice-to-Have - Experience with equity/share scheme taxation (ERS reporting) for cross-border employees. - Background in fintech or regulated financial services.