University Pension Plan
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
ABOUT UPP
UPP is the first pension plan of its kind in Ontario’s university sector, proudly serving over 39,000 members across four universities and 12 affiliate organizations. Our purpose is to bring greater retirement peace of mind to the university sector by investing with integrity and serving members with care. As a sector-wide plan designed for growth, our doors are open to all Ontario universities.
Together, we’re a team of progressive thinkers and agile doers operating within a fast-paced culture of collaboration and respect. We believe in bringing smart and capable people together to create, solve and grow with a clear shared vision and values of integrity, inclusivity, ingenuity, and impact.
Our culture is intentionally welcoming and purposefully rooted in equity, diversity, inclusion, and reconciliation (EDIR). We believe diverse teams, perspectives, and lived experiences contribute to better decisions and a better workplace.
As a long-term investor, we recognize that environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) factors support risk management and value creation. As stated in our Responsible Investing Policy , we are committed to incorporating ESG considerations into our investment management activities and we collaborate with other industry participants in the promotion of a sustainable economy and society.
Join us in building a bright future for our members, our organization, and each other.
ABOUT THE ROLE
We are actively looking for a Director, Investment Tax, to join our Tax Team, reporting to the Senior Director, Tax. The incumbent will be responsible for tax support to the investment teams.
UPP is based in Toronto’s financial district and has a hybrid work model ( 2 days / week in office).
SPECIFIC ACCOUNTABILITIES
- Partner closely with investment team to assess tax implications on the viability of new opportunities.
- Lead the tax workstream to support the execution of transactions and post-closing matters.
- Determine tax filing obligations related to transactions.
- Facilitate preparatory work with external tax advisers to support the investment teams.
- Document transactional structure, tax filing position and tax compliance related to the structure.
- Follow-up with post-closing action items including monitoring and updating for changes in law, as required.
- Assess tax risk for each transaction and communicate findings to the investment team.
- Monitor tax strategies.
- Implement and monitor ad hoc projects for corporate initiatives.
- Build and maintain key tax positions taken on investments and related tax risk register.
- Proactively identify opportunities such as obtaining tax exemption, relief at source and scalable operational structures.
- Research technical tax issues and summarize findings in memoranda.
- Work with the tax compliance team to manage the tax filings related to the transactions.
- Collaborate with legal, investment operations, corporate finance and risk to deliver tax service and value expectations.
- Manage relationships with senior stakeholders.
- Monitor new developments in tax law pertinent to asset classes and prepare summaries to share knowledge with internal stakeholders.
- Build and maintain UPP’s institutional tax knowledge including country opportunities.
- Identify continuous improvement opportunities to increase efficiency, quality, and value to internal stakeholders.
- Maintain relationships with industry peers.
- Act as liaison to internal teams, including operational due diligence, corporate finance, investment finance and legal services to ensure ongoing tax obligations with respect to investments are met.
- Develop relationships with peer organizations.
QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE
- A minimum of 10 years tax experience, with significant transaction tax and/or international tax experience.
- A CPA designation, law degree or comparable professional credentials.
- Demonstrated strong analytical skills, business writing and oral presentation skills.
- Experience in working with financial modeling.
- Experience in the investment management industry is preferred.
- Demonstrated ability to think broadly, assess a variety of factors, and recommend a solution.
- Excellent attention to detail and consistently high levels of accuracy.
- Experience with Microsoft Power Platform (Power BI, Power Query).
- Professional with effective oral and written communication skills.
- Analytical and strong work ethics.
- Ability to communicate clearly and concisely (verbal and written).
- Ability to adapt to communication style based on the audience.
- Ability to work independently and change direction in response to unexpected events and circumstances.
- High degree of self-motivation and professionalism.
- Detail oriented with great quantitative skills (Excel, PowerPoint, and PowerBI).
ATTRIBUTES
- High degree of self-motivation and professionalism
- Willingness to learn
- A keen interest for innovation, solving problems and improving processes, including the use of technology
- Alignment with UPP’s desire to be a leader in Responsible Investing, ESG, and climate change.
LIFE AT UPP
Do work that matters . We are duty-bound to serve our members’ interests, and it’s a responsibility we don’t take lightly. That’s why we’ve ingrained sustainability in our work from day one-to ensure our members have a resilient future to retire into, both today and for generations to come.
Stronger together . Collaboration is how UPP was born, and it’s how we work with each other and our partners day in, day out. No one at UPP is just a number (even if they are excellent at math) and every win is a shared win.
Grow every day . You’ll have the opportunity to work on unique, once-in-a-career projects that maximize your skill set and probably teach you some new ones-at any stage in your career.
Prioritize wellness . At UPP, wellness takes many forms. Ultimately, it’s about ensuring our people are cared for in the ways that matter to them. Check out some highlights of our inclusive employee-focused benefits program including:
- Work from abroad up to eight weeks/year
- Extended paramedical and mental health service coverage
- Health care and lifestyle spending accounts
- Fertility treatments, paid parental leave, and gender affirmation coverage
- Education Assistance program
UPP enthusiastically welcomes applications from all qualified applicants and especially invites people with lived experience as an Indigenous person, a person with a disability or as a member of another Human Rights Code protected group that faces barriers to employment to apply. Our goal is to create a barrier-free experience for every candidate throughout the recruitment process, so if you require accommodation at any point during the process, please let us know so that we can make the appropriate arrangements. It would be our honor to work with you to adapt our processes to ensure that you can meaningfully participate.