Tax Incentives & Compliance Manager

About Us

We are a European scale-up dedicated to developing cutting-edge, automated wind-assisted propulsion systems. We aim to provide a turnkey solution for shipowners and shipping companies seeking to reduce fuel costs and emissions. Our vision is simple yet ambitious—we aim to power the world with wind.

Imagine a world where the vast oceans are effortlessly traversed using the clean and boundless power of the wind. At bound4blue, we are turning this dream into reality. We're not just creating wind propulsion systems but revolutionizing the maritime industry, one sustainable voyage at a time. While bringing sails back to ships may seem challenging, we are more than prepared for it. We are innovators who understand the perfect harmony between nature and technology.

About the Role

As Tax Incentives & Compliance Manager, you will lead the development and progressive internalisation of bound4blue's tax incentives capabilities, with an initial focus on incentives associated with R&D and innovation activities.

Reporting to the Chief Governance & Compliance Officer, you will work at the intersection of Finance, Innovation & R&D, Intellectual Property and People, connecting technical, financial and tax information to ensure that available incentives are identified, properly documented and applied within a robust compliance framework.

This is a highly cross-functional and hands-on role. You will coordinate R&D tax deductions, certification processes and Binding Reasoned Reports (Informes Motivados Vinculantes – IMV), ensuring strong traceability between innovation projects, eligible costs, accounting information and supporting documentation.

Beyond managing existing mechanisms, you will help bound4blue build stronger internal expertise, reduce operational dependency on external advisors and progressively explore other innovation-related tax incentives as our international footprint continues to grow.

Key Responsibilities

· Develop and continuously improve bound4blue's framework for identifying, managing and controlling tax incentives related to R&D and innovation activities.

· Identify potential tax incentive opportunities together with Finance, Innovation & R&D and other relevant teams.

· Coordinate the preparation of technical and economic documentation supporting R&D and innovation tax deductions.

· Lead the coordination of certification processes and Binding Reasoned Reports (IMV), working with external advisors and certification entities when required.

· Ensure strong traceability between technical project information, eligible activities and costs, accounting records and supporting evidence.

· Identify and address potential eligibility, cost-allocation, compatibility, double-funding or double-counting risks together with the relevant internal teams.

· Maintain an annual calendar of tax incentive activities, certifications, documentation requirements and relevant deadlines.

· Provide visibility on expected incentives, timelines, documentation requirements and potential risks.

· Support the assessment and management of other innovation-related mechanisms, including Social Security incentives for research personnel, Patent Box opportunities, Innovative SME certification and other applicable incentives.

· Support the assessment of specialised mechanisms such as AIE / Tax Lease structures, working alongside Finance, Legal and external specialists where appropriate.

· Support Finance during tax inspections, audits or information requests involving R&D and innovation incentives, ensuring documentation is complete, consistent and auditable.

· Coordinate external tax advisors, certification entities, auditors and other specialists, ensuring clear deliverables and effective knowledge transfer into the organisation.

· Progressively internalise recurring tax incentive activities while maintaining external specialist support where appropriate.

· Monitor regulatory developments and emerging incentive mechanisms relevant to bound4blue.

· As the company continues expanding internationally, support the identification and assessment of relevant tax and financial incentives in other jurisdictions, initially including China and Singapore.

Requirements

· Bachelor's or Master's degree in Business Administration, Economics, Finance, Accounting, Law, Engineering or a related field.

· Approximately 6+ years of relevant professional experience, with significant hands-on exposure to R&D and innovation tax incentives.

· Demonstrated experience managing multiple R&D tax deduction projects and certification processes.

· Practical experience preparing or coordinating the technical and economic documentation required to support tax incentives.

· Strong knowledge of R&D tax deductions, IMV/certification processes, cost eligibility and traceability, and the fundamentals of Spanish tax and accounting relevant to these mechanisms.

· Experience working across Finance, Tax, technical and R&D stakeholders and translating information between these different areas.

· Experience coordinating external tax advisors, certification bodies, auditors or other specialist providers.

· Ability to assess the eligibility and traceability of costs associated with R&D and innovation activities.

· Strong analytical skills and the ability to connect technical, financial and tax information.

· High level of rigour, organisation and attention to detail, combined with a practical and execution-oriented mindset.

· Ability to challenge and validate information constructively while building effective relationships across different functions.

· High degree of autonomy and professional judgement, including knowing when specialist external expertise is required.

· Professional proficiency in Spanish and English.

· High standards of confidentiality, integrity and professional ethics.

Nice to Have

Experience in one or more of the following areas would be particularly valuable:

· Patent Box.

· AIE / Tax Lease structures.

· Social Security incentives for research personnel.

· Innovative SME certification.

· Spanish and European public funding programmes such as CDTI, PERTE or Horizon Europe.

· Tax inspections or audits involving R&D or publicly funded projects.

· International taxation, transfer pricing or intragroup operations.

· Innovation incentive schemes in China or Singapore.

· Industrial, engineering or technology-driven organisations.

· ERP and project cost-control systems.

What Awaits You at bound4blue

· Build something with real ownership: Take the lead in developing an internal capability that is becoming increasingly important as our R&D activity, international footprint and business continue to grow.

· Work where technology, Finance and compliance meet: Collaborate directly with Finance, engineers, R&D teams and external specialists, turning technically complex innovation projects into robust and traceable tax incentive opportunities.

· See the impact of your work: Help bound4blue capture available incentives while strengthening compliance, reducing risk and building the internal knowledge required to support our next stage of growth.

Join us and contribute to changing the future of ship propulsion!