Accounting and Tax Manager

Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates Workplace: on-site About Deluxe Holiday Homes Deluxe Holiday Homes is a leading holiday-home and property-management company in Dubai, managing 700+ premium short-term rentals. The wider Deluxe Homes Group runs several licensed entities, a real-estate brokerage and joint ventures across the UAE and Armenia. We are professionalizing the finance function and need a hands-on Chief Accountant to own the books, tax and audit across the group. Role Overview We are looking for a qualified, hands-on Chief Accountant + Tax to own month-end close, Corporate Tax and VAT, and the external audit across all group entities. You keep the books clean, the filings on time, and the auditors, banks and the FTA properly handled. This is a hands-on ownership role, not review-only. You close the books, file the returns yourself, lead the audit, and run the controls — supervising the Senior Accountant in Dubai and the accounting team in Armenia, and feeding clean numbers to the Financial Controller. You make the calls in your remit and escalate only what genuinely needs the Deputy GM or the Owner. Note: Sole bank-signing authority stays with the Owner: you prepare, control and release for approval — you do not self-pay. Key Responsibilities Close and consolidation • Own the month-end close calendar and deliver closed books on deadline across all entities. • Review and sign off journals, reconciliations and the trial balance before consolidation. • Prepare clean consolidation inputs for the Financial Controller’s management pack. Tax and audit • File Corporate Tax and VAT in-house, accurately and on time; keep CT / VAT and JV transfer-pricing working papers. • Lead the external audit (Deloitte) end to end — prepare the file, manage queries, deliver signed financials. • Be the primary point of contact for banks and the FTA on accounts, facilities and correspondence. Controls and intercompany • Run the controls framework — segregation of duties and payment-approval routing. • Keep intercompany balances reconciled and correctly eliminated on consolidation. • Oversee the Dubai cash-control framework: GRO handover reconciliation and deposit discipline. Team and records • Supervise the Senior Accountant (Dubai) and the accounting team (Armenia); review their work. • Maintain the fixed-asset register, accruals and prepayment schedules. • Ensure statutory and licence-linked filings are met on time. Required Qualifications • Qualified accountant (ACCA, CPA, CA or equivalent) with 5+ years, including a senior or chief-accountant role. • Hands-on UAE Corporate Tax and VAT — you have filed both yourself, not only reviewed. • Strong month-end close, consolidation and intercompany across multiple entities. • Audit-firm or audited-company background — you can run a Deloitte-level audit end to end. • UAE-resident, comfortable fronting banks and the FTA; strong written English. • Decisive operator — you make the calls in your remit and report after. We will reference-check this. • AI tools used daily (ChatGPT, Claude) to draft, reconcile and check. Not optional in 2026. Preferred Qualifications • Hospitality, real-estate or property-management sector experience. • Guesty, ERPNext or a similar PMS / ERP finance environment. • Experience supervising a remote (e.g. Armenia) accounting team. • Group / multi-entity and joint-venture accounting. • Arabic for dealing with authorities.