The Direct Tax & Statutory Team Lead is responsible for leading and managing the team to ensure the effective delivery of R2R processes in accordance with corporate policies, internal controls, service level agreements, and functional objectives. The role ensures accurate, timely, and compliant financial reporting, analysis, and accounting activities while maintaining adherence to regulatory and statutory requirements. The Team Lead drives operational excellence through process standardization, continuous improvement, and optimization initiatives, while providing leadership, stakeholder support, and oversight to enhance service quality, efficiency, and overall business performance.

Key Responsibilities

Operations Management & Tax Compliance

• Lead and manage the day-to-day Record-to-Report (R2R) Tax operations, ensuring timely, accurate, and compliant delivery of tax accounting, reporting, and compliance activities in line with corporate policies, local regulations, and SLAs

• Coordinate and prioritize tax-related activities across the team to meet operational KPIs, productivity targets, and service delivery expectations.

• Ensure effective implementation and adherence to RTR Tax policies, procedures, and governance requirements.
• Maintain process documentation and work instructions in accordance with company policies, regulatory requirements, and audit standards.
• Ensure compliance with the Internal Control Framework (ICF), IFRS, statutory, and fiscal requirements, while supporting internal and external reviews.
• Review and update tax reporting requirements in collaboration with Corporate Finance and relevant stakeholders.
• Support the preparation and submission of financial statements and tax-related filings to regulatory authorities.
• Coordinate audit activities and ensure timely resolution of audit queries and findings.
• Foster strong collaboration with Accounting & Reporting, Finance, and other key stakeholders to ensure seamless end-to-end process integration.
• Organize tax knowledge-sharing and training sessions to strengthen team capability and compliance awareness.

People Leadership & Team Development

• Lead, coach, develop, and evaluate team members, setting clear objectives and driving high performance.
• Conduct regular team meetings, performance discussions, and one-on-one sessions to support employee engagement, development, and retention.
• Implement robust succession planning, cross-training, and knowledge retention initiatives to ensure business continuity.
• Promote a collaborative, customer-focused, and continuous improvement culture within the team.

Process Improvement & Project Management

• Drive continuous improvement and process optimization initiatives to enhance efficiency, standardization, compliance, and service quality.
• Identify process gaps, control weaknesses, and operational bottlenecks, and develop recommendations for improvement.
• Act as a change champion by leading and implementing process, system, and organizational improvements.
• Lead and support regional and global finance projects, ensuring successful implementation of process and system enhancements.
• Contribute to the development and optimization of integrated RTR processes, controls, reports, and applications.
• Prepare and deliver periodic and ad hoc analyses, reports, and insights to support decision-making and operational excellence.

Strategy, Reporting & Governance

• Contribute to departmental planning, budgeting, and policy development by providing functional expertise and operational insights.
• Collaborate with Senior Tax Experts and Global FSSC Tax teams to align practices, share knowledge, and drive consistency across the organization.
• Ensure timely and accurate reporting of financial and operational KPIs in accordance with established standards and reporting requirements.
• Support the execution of departmental objectives and strategic initiatives while ensuring alignment with overall finance and business goals.

Key Requirements: 

• Bachelor’s Degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Economics, Taxation, or a related field. Master’s degree, ACCA, IFRS, Chartered Accountant, or other relevant professional certifications are an added advantage.
• Minimum 6 years of experience in Finance, Accounting, or Record-to-Report (RtR), including at least 3 years of specialized experience in Direct Tax and Statutory Reporting.
• Proven people management experience with a minimum of 3 years leading, coaching, mentoring, and developing teams within finance, tax, and statutory reporting functions.
• Strong hands-on experience in direct tax compliance, statutory reporting, transfer pricing, corporate income tax, deferred tax accounting, and statutory financial statement preparation and submission.
• Solid knowledge of IFRS, accounting principles, taxation regulations, bookkeeping practices, and experience working with ERP systems such as SAP. Shared Services experience is highly preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to drive process improvement, transformation initiatives, and continuous improvement (LEAN/CI) within complex and integrated RtR environments.
• Advanced analytical, stakeholder management, project management, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to balance strategic priorities and operational execution in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with strong influencing abilities, attention to detail, proficiency in Excel and ERP systems, and fluency in written and spoken English. Additional European language skills are an advantage.

For thousands of people every day, we are more than just a dairy company. To our farmers, our employees, the communities we serve, the businesses we work with and the people to whom we bring happiness, FrieslandCampina means something more. For them it's not just about what we do, but who we are. We value talented people from any background who want to contribute to something bigger than themselves. We encourage all of our employees to make decisions that benefit our entire company. At FrieslandCampina we own our own career and act accordingly. We trust you to make a difference in your job and influence the bigger picture. Working at FrieslandCampina means you are contributing to a better world.