Director of Tax

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end relationship with external tax compliance advisors: scope of work, engagement terms, fee negotiation, timeline management, quality review, and performance evaluation.
• Review all externally prepared returns and filings for accuracy, completeness, and optimization of filing positions before submission.
• Manage the annual tax advisory budget; track spend against scope and challenge fees where deliverables don’t justify cost.
• Continuously evaluate the in-house vs. outsourced compliance model — identify opportunities to bring high-value work internal or to restructure advisor engagements for better economics.
• Identify and engage specialized advisory firms for specialized advisory needs (e.g., transfer pricing, R&D credits, state incentive programs, M&A structuring).
• Maintain a competitive awareness of alternative advisory firms to ensure the company has access to best-in-class tax advice and is not over-reliant on a single provider.
• Oversee preparation of the consolidated federal income tax return and all related schedules by external advisors; perform detailed review and approve final filing.
• Manage the Canadian federal tax return and ensure compliance with cross-border reporting requirements.
• Oversee preparation and review of all state and local income/franchise tax returns across applicable jurisdictions.
• Ensure all filing positions are defensible, well-documented, and aligned with the company’s risk tolerance.
• Manage sales and use tax filings across all applicable states.
• Oversee premium tax return preparation and filing for insurance-regulated entities.
• Prepare or supervise gross receipts, B&O, and other transaction-based tax filings.
• Manage property tax filings and assessments; evaluate and challenge valuations where appropriate.
• Ensure timely completion of various local tax returns and specialty filings.
• Calculate the monthly income tax provision (current and deferred) and prepare all related journal entries.
• Manage federal and state estimated tax payment calculations and ensure timely remittance.
• Maintain deferred tax asset/liability schedules; track and reconcile all significant book-to-tax differences.
• Own the tax footnote disclosures for the annual audited financial statements; support the external audit on all tax-related matters.
• Maintain book/tax difference tracking for intangible asset amortization in coordination with the Controller.
• Coordinate with the Controller on deferred tax calculations related to equity compensation and goodwill/intangible amortization differences, using the Controller’s option amortization worksheet and valuation schedules as the source for monthly inputs.
• Lead all tax audits (federal, state, and local); manage information requests, negotiate with authorities, and drive matters to resolution.
• Monitor and track all outstanding tax matters; maintain a tax contingency inventory and assess exposure.
• Identify tax planning opportunities and engage appropriate advisory resources for structuring, credits, incentives, and rate optimization strategies.
• Evaluate tax implications of new business initiatives, product structures, entity formations, and potential M&A transactions.
• Provide tax structuring recommendations directly to the CFO.
• Monitor legislative and regulatory developments that could impact the company; communicate implications and recommended actions to the CFO and Controller.
• Ensure compliance with casualty statutory basis reporting requirements and other state regulatory filings with tax implications.
• Contribute to sponsor-level reporting and Board presentations on tax matters as needed.
• Make Canadian subsidiary dividend recommendations to the CFO based on tax implications.
• Evaluate and implement tax technology tools (provision software, indirect tax engines, filing automation) to improve accuracy and reduce cycle time.
• Develop standardized workpapers and documentation practices that support both audit readiness and institutional knowledge transfer.

Qualifications

• CPA required; MST (Master of Science in Taxation) or JD/LLM in Taxation strongly preferred.
• 10+ years of progressive tax experience, including a mix of public accounting (Big 4 or national firm) and industry roles.
• Deep expertise in corporate income tax compliance, multi-state taxation, and ASC 740 tax provision.
• Hands-on experience managing indirect taxes (sales/use, gross receipts, property tax) across multiple jurisdictions.
• Proven track record of managing external tax advisors — scoping work, controlling spend, holding firms accountable on quality and deadlines, and knowing when to bring work in-house vs. keep it outsourced.
• Experience leading tax audits and managing tax authority relationships.
• Strong ERP fluency; ability to extract, manipulate, and reconcile tax data from complex general ledger environments (Workday preferred).
• Comfort operating in a PE-backed environment with sponsor-level reporting expectations and a bias for precision and speed.
• Cross-border tax experience (US/Canada) preferred.
• Familiarity with tax technology platforms (OneSource, Vertex, Avalara, Corptax, or comparable).
• Subscription or membership-based business model experience preferred.
• Experience with tax aspects of M&A transactions (due diligence, structuring, integration) preferred.
• Exposure to equity compensation tax treatment (ISOs, NSOs, profits interests) preferred.
• Experience managing and developing junior tax professionals preferred.
• Experience with insurance or premium tax compliance (regulated entity experience) is a plus, though this is a limited portion of the current workload given ongoing state deregulation.