Senior Tax Operations Data & Regulatory Reporting SME

Empowering Africa’s tomorrow, together…one story at a time.

With over 100 years of rich history and strongly positioned as a local bank with regional and international expertise, a career with our family offers the opportunity to be part of this exciting growth journey, to reset our future and shape our destiny as a proudly African group.

Job Summary

The Senior Tax Operations Data & Regulatory Reporting SME is the authoritative subject matter expert responsible for ensuring that FATCA, CRS and IT3 regulatory requirements are correctly interpreted, translated into data logic, embedded into reporting processes, and defensible to regulators (SARS), Group Tax, Risk, Audit and governance forums.

The role operates at the intersection of regulation, data, technology and operations, bridging legislative intent with real world data structures and submission mechanics.

It is accountable for ensuring that regulatory tax submissions are accurate, complete, compliant, traceable, auditable and operationally sustainable, in line with the Tax Operations Strategy 2026 focus on world class, digitally enabled compliance.

Job Description

Regulatory Interpretation & Translation into Data:

• Interpret FATCA, CRS and IT3 legislation, SARS Business Requirement Specifications (BRS) and technical guidance.
• Translate regulatory requirements into practical data logic, including:
• Mandatory vs optional fields
• Inclusion and exclusion criteria
• Reason codes, indicators and classifications
• Record‑level vs file‑level validation rules

• Act as the final technical authority on how regulatory requirements are reflected in data models and submissions.

End‑to‑End Regulatory Data Lineage Oversight:

• Maintain conceptual ownership of end‑to‑end data lineage from source systems through to regulatory submission.
• Provide authoritative guidance on:
• Correct data keys and identifiers
• Record uniqueness rules
• Product‑level alignment (e.g. Cheques, Savings, Deposits)
• Monthly vs cumulative data treatment

• Ensure alignment and reconciliation across FATCA, CRS and IT3 reporting streams.

Regulatory File Construction, Review & Validation:

• Review and validate regulatory submission files prior to sign‑off and submission.
• Apply deep understanding of SARS technical requirements, including:
• File structures and sequencing
• Delimiter and formatting rules
• Validation logic and rejection behaviors

• Perform or support manual file reconstruction or correction where automation fails or is incomplete.

Data Quality Management & Regulatory Defensibility:

• Define and apply data quality rules impacting regulatory reporting.
• Gatekeep inclusion vs exclusion decisions, ensuring:
• Clear rationale for exclusions
• Audit‑ready evidence and sign‑off

• Support SARS audits, regulatory reviews and information requests through defensible explanations and historical analysis.

Remediation & Historical Data Reconstruction:

• Support remediation initiatives arising from regulatory findings, audits or control weaknesses.
• Reconstruct and analyze historical data populations across multiple tax years.
• Assess whether remediated client data triggers re‑submission obligations.

Process Ownership, Knowledge Management & Capability Building:

• Develop and maintain operational procedures for regulatory data handling.
• Document exception handling, remediation workflows and manual controls.
• Act as a knowledge custodian within Tax Operations, reducing key‑person dependency over time.
• Provide training and guidance to Business Units and Tax Ops colleagues where required.

Key Stakeholders:

• Tax Operations Leadership
• Group Tax
• Technology & Data Teams
• Business Units (Data Owners)
• Risk, Compliance & Internal Audit
• SARS (via submissions, audits and formal engagements)

Education & Experience Required:

• B‑Degree in Commerce, Accounting, Tax, Finance, Information Systems or related field
• Post‑graduate qualification in Commerce, Accounting, Tax or Data / Business Analysis advantageous
• Understanding of and certification in SQL, Postgres and other applicable
• Extensive experience in regulatory tax reporting (FATCA, CRS, IT3) within Financial Services
• Proven experience working with large, complex regulatory data sets
• Strong exposure to regulatory audits, remediation and governance forums
• Experience interfacing with Technology and Data teams in a regulated environment

Knowledge & Skills (Core)

Technical & Professional:

• FATCA, CRS and IT3 regulatory frameworks
• SARS BRS interpretation and practical application
• Regulatory data modelling and logic definition
• SQL‑level data analysis and reconciliation
• Data quality diagnostics and exception handling
• Understanding of data warehouses, staging layers and reporting tools

Behavioral & Cognitive:

• High attention to detail and regulatory judgement
• Strong analytical and problem‑solving capability
• Ability to translate abstract regulation into operational data logic
• Comfortable operating across regulation, data and technology domains
• Calm, credible authority in high‑risk regulatory decisions

Competencies:

• Regulatory & Risk Judgement
• Analytical Thinking
• Stakeholder Influence without Authority
• Delivering Sustainable Outcomes
• Learning, Adaptability & Curiosity
• Working with Ambiguity and Complexity

Education

Bachelor`s Degrees and Advanced Diplomas: Physical, Mathematical, Computer and Life Sciences (Required)

Absa Bank Limited is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. In compliance with the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998, preference will be given to suitable candidates from designated groups whose appointments will contribute towards achievement of equitable demographic representation of our workforce profile and add to the diversity of the Bank.

Absa Bank Limited reserves the right not to make an appointment to the post as advertised