Director of Tax

Ankura Consulting Group•Lexington, WA

15h

About The Position

Ankura is seeking a Director of Tax to lead its global tax function at a private equity-backed professional services firm with a growing domestic and international footprint. The firm has a complex legal structure that includes a partnership, disregarded entities, and corporations, with tax obligations across US federal, state, and local jurisdictions and international jurisdictions. The Director will own the full tax compliance cycle, direct external tax advisors, and partner with finance leadership, firm partners, and the PE sponsor. The position combines hands-on ownership with the technical expertise needed to review, challenge, and manage complex tax work prepared by others. The role leads and develops the tax team, continuously improves tax strategy, controls, and processes, and maintains the tax operating model as the firm grows organically and through acquisitions. It oversees partnership and income tax compliance, state and local taxes, indirect taxes, transfer pricing, tax provisions, and external advisor engagements. The Director also conducts tax research, handles notices and audits, supports partner and business requests, and communicates tax matters clearly to both technical and non-tax stakeholders. The Accounting & Finance team emphasizes collaboration, continuous learning, skill development, career growth, innovation, and process improvement. The position may be hybrid from an Ankura office or potentially remote. The ideal candidate is in the US Eastern time zone, though Central time hours are also considered.

Requirements

At least 8 years of progressive tax experience, ideally combining Big 4 or large regional firm experience with in-house leadership.
Deep, hands-on knowledge of partnership taxation, including Subchapter K, partnership returns, K-1 reporting, allocations, and partner tax distributions.
Working knowledge of complex partnership computations sufficient to review advisor work, including Sections 704(b), 704(c), 743(b), 755, 751, and 752.
Familiarity with US international tax concepts sufficient to oversee advisor work, including Subpart F, GILTI, BEAT, FDII, and foreign tax credits.
Experience with ASC 740 tax provisions, including current and deferred taxes, uncertain tax positions, and related financial statement disclosures.
Solid grounding in state, local, and indirect taxes, including sales and use tax, personal property tax, and gross receipts taxes.
Experience coordinating multi-jurisdiction compliance across US and international jurisdictions.
Experience managing outsourced or co-sourced tax engagements.
CPA required.
Able to build trust quickly and work effectively across finance and the broader business.
Proactive and self-directed, with comfort taking ownership and improving processes.
Able to oversee and review technical work prepared by others and ask appropriate questions, including when not the preparer.
Clear and engaging communicator, able to make complex tax matters understandable to non-tax stakeholders.
Detail-oriented while maintaining a broader perspective, and calm under deadline pressure and change.

Nice To Haves

Experience in a PE-backed, multi-entity, or professional services environment.
An MST, JD, or LLM in taxation.

Responsibilities

Lead the tax function and continuously improve tax strategy, controls, processes, and the operating model across US and international obligations.
Lead and develop the tax team, setting priorities across monthly, quarterly, and annual compliance cycles.
Own the tax filing and payment calendars, maintain tax payment sheets, and coordinate payments across jurisdictions.
Serve as the primary point of accountability for tax matters and communicate technical issues clearly to the CFO, partners, and PE sponsor.
Prepare and review US federal, state, and international income tax workpapers; partner listings and standing supporting K-1s; and federal and state extensions.
Prepare and review tax provision workpapers and return-to-provision schedules, as well as workpapers supporting US and international financial statement audits.
Coordinate information gathering and quarterly estimates, including sales apportionment schedules and state gross receipts tax workpapers.
Prepare and review sales and use tax and international indirect tax accruals and supporting workpapers, along with other SALT workpapers such as personal property, excise, and sales tax.
Prepare business license renewal reports and maintain resale and exemption certificates, tax ID registration listings, and W-9s.
Prepare transfer pricing reports supporting international returns and coordinate official transfer pricing reports and management-fee charge-out analyses with the external tax advisor.
Direct the external tax advisor across the compliance cycle, including returns, estimated payments, extensions, withholding and composite returns, and K-1s.
Review advisor returns and deliverables for accuracy and consistency with supporting workpapers, challenging and refining the work as appropriate.
Oversee the advisor's partnership tax work, including Section 704(c) rollforwards, Section 704(b) tax distribution waterfalls and allocations, disguised sale analysis, Sections 743(b), 755, 751, and 752 analyses, and redemption and recapitalization analysis.
Oversee the advisor's international tax work, including foreign earnings and profits, Subpart F, GILTI, BEAT, FDII, foreign tax credits, and related federal international forms.
Oversee advisor work on depreciation, business personal property renditions and notices of value, sales and use tax filings, and international indirect and income tax returns.
Oversee tax provision assistance, including provision schedules and footnotes, current and deferred taxes, uncertain tax positions, deferred tax assets and liabilities, and valuation allowances.
Oversee transaction support, including Form 8594 asset allocation statements, entity step plans, and diligence on complex matters.
Manage the external tax advisor's scope, deliverables, deadlines, and budget, maintaining high standards for the engagement.
Conduct tax research across topics and jurisdictions and prepare written summaries of tax consequences.
Address tax notices and coordinate and manage tax audits, including ongoing state audits.
Support partners with requests such as tax certifications and proof of sales tax.
Prepare budgeting and forecasting reports and census reports required by US government agencies, working with the People team.
Communicate regularly and clearly with the team, external tax advisor, and auditors.