Job Description

We’re 1st Central, a market-leading insurance company utilising smart data and technology at pace. Rapid growth has been based on giving our 1.4 million customers exactly what they want: great value insurance with an excellent service. And that’s the same for our colleagues too; we won Insurance Employer of the Year at the British Insurance Awards 2024 and our Glassdoor score is pretty mega too!

If you enjoy working with data, digging into the detail, and helping ensure things are done accurately and in the right way, this could be a great opportunity — whether your background is in tax, finance reporting, audit, or a controls/operations environment.

We’re looking for a Tax Analyst to join our Finance team. You’ll help support the Group’s end‑to‑end tax compliance and reporting processes, working closely with internal finance teams and external advisers. We welcome applications from people with direct tax experience as well as those bringing transferable skills from finance reporting, audit, controls, or data-focused roles — we’ll support you to build the tax knowledge needed.

You’ll be hands‑on with everything from VAT, IPT and Corporation Tax compliance to providing data analysis for advisory projects and supporting month‑end and year‑end processes. What matters most is a strong analytical approach, confidence reconciling data, and a careful, well‑controlled way of working — you don’t need to have done every tax type before. It’s a role that offers variety, exposure to a wide range of topics, and the chance to make a real impact by improving data quality, controls, and how tax processes operate across the Group.

The role is based in Haywards Heath, West Sussex and we love hybrid working. You’ll spend most of your time working from home, with around one day a week in the office. But, if you prefer being office‑based more often, that works for us too.

Core skills we’re looking for:

• Data analysis & reconciliation – confident working with complex datasets, reconciling figures, and identifying anomalies.
• Compliance / reporting mindset – experience supporting accurate submissions in a regulated reporting environment (e.g., tax, finance reporting, audit or controls), with the ability to follow defined processes and maintain clear working papers.
• Attention to detail & control mindset – highly accurate and methodical, with a focus on strong documentation and well‑controlled processes.

What’s Involved:

Tax Compliance Support

• You’ll manage the preparation of the Group’s quarterly VAT and IPT returns, ensuring accurate data extraction, reconciliation, and review.
• You’ll take a lead on coordination with PwC on the annual Corporation Tax return preparation, providing data, responding to queries, and supporting review stages.
• You’ll support PwC with Pillar 2 and CbCR data requests and validations.

Tax Accounting & Month‑End Support

• You’ll work with the Group Strategic Finance & Control Team to support tax accounting processes by providing data, explanations and confirmation of tax positions.
• You’ll assist with reconciliations and review of tax‑relevant balances as needed.
• You’ll lead SME input for year-end including review of the deferred tax postings and tax disclosures

Data Analysis & Advisory Support

• You’ll support the Tax Manager with data gathering, modelling and analysis for advisory projects.
• You’ll help identify anomalies, trends or potential tax risks/opportunities through structured analysis.

Business Engagement

• You’ll liaise with AP teams to correct tax treatments on invoices and improve process accuracy.
• You’ll build collaborative relationships with operational teams to support information gathering and explain tax requirements in simple, practical terms.

Governance, Risk & Continuous Improvement

• You’ll support process improvements around data quality, controls and automation in the tax compliance cycle.
• You’ll maintain tax process documentation, controls, and working papers to audit-ready standards.
• You’ll assist with responses to HMRC queries or audits as required.

Skills & Experience

Essential:

• Newly qualified (or finalist) in a relevant qualification: ACA, ACCA, CTA or equivalent.
• Experience in financial reporting or tax reporting (either in practice or in-house).
• Comfortable working with large, complex datasets and performing reconciliations.
• Strong Excel skills; familiarity with Power BI desirable.
• Ability to learn new systems and processes quickly (Workday, TM1/Adaptive etc.)

Desirable:

• Experience preparing VAT or indirect tax returns.
• Exposure to insurance or financial services.
• Familiarity with Pillar 2, CbCR, or transfer pricing principles.

Personal Attributes:

• Curiosity and willingness to learn, with a proactive approach to expanding tax technical knowledge.
• Strong communication skills, able to translate technical or data-heavy concepts into practical messages for stakeholders.
• Constructively challenging mindset — comfortable questioning data, assumptions, or processes to improve accuracy and control.
• High attention to detail, especially when handling complex datasets.
• Analytical thinker capable of turning data into clear insights and recommendations.

Think this role could be a great fit? Apply now!

What can we do for you?

People first. Always. We’re passionate about our colleagues and know the best people deserve an extraordinary working environment. We owe it to them so that’s what we offer. Our workplaces are energetic, inspirational, supportive. To get a taste of the advantages you’ll enjoy, take a look at all our perks in full here

Intrigued? Our Talent team can tell you everything you need to know about what we want and what we’re offering, so feel free to get in touch.