Director of Operations, Tax & Business Management

KBK Management•Los Angeles, CA

44d•Hybrid

About The Position

We need a leader who can do it all — controller, tax director, operations manager, team builder — and who doesn't see those as separate jobs. You'll report directly to the founder, oversee our bookkeeping staff, Tax Manager, and business management team, and serve as the connective tissue across every function of the firm. You are comfortable leading cross-functionally — moving fluidly between tax, accounting, operations, and client relationships without needing a lane assigned to you. Our founder has deep tax and controller experience, which means you'll never have to explain why something matters. What you will have is full ownership — this is your function to build, not to maintain. This role is hands-on in the near term by design — you need to know the work deeply to build the team that eventually owns it. The goal isn't for you to be doing tax prep forever. The goal is for you to understand every function well enough to hire right, delegate intelligently, and build something that runs without you in the weeds.

Requirements

CPA required
IRS representation experience required — audits, offers in compromise, penalty abatement
Controller-level accounting and serious tax experience — you do both fluently and don't think of them as separate disciplines
You think naturally in systems and checklists — when you see a repetitive task, your first instinct is to ask why it isn't automated yet
You understand how software thinks, which means you learn new tools quickly and can hold your own in a client meeting while still getting up to speed — technology is leverage to you
You surface problems up, not sideways — delegate with purpose, develop your people, and have hard conversations when they're needed

Nice To Haves

Entertainment, music, or sports business management experience a significant plus — our clients are musicians, touring artists, entertainment executives, and international clients with cross-border complexity
Personal finance and insurance/risk management familiarity — you think about the whole client picture, not just the business side

Responsibilities

Managing and developing staff — bookkeeping team, Tax Manager, business management staff — with clear direction and real accountability
Controller-level financial oversight — balance sheet, P&L, year-end close, quality review before anything reaches a client
Strategic tax planning — PTET elections, shareholder payroll, ISR rules, proactive across complex entertainment structures
Tax preparation and review — complex individual and business returns, multi-entity, multi-state, international, cross-border
Tax compliance — owning the 1099 and 1042 processes end to end
Personal financial management for clients — budgets, cash flow, insurance and risk management — using Monarch
Operations and workflow — building systems, automating what should be automated, setting tiered delivery standards by client size
Business development — bringing relationships, developing new clients, helping the firm grow