Tax Manager

Job Description

Job Description

About BW&O CPAs  

Beebout, Williams & Olds CPAs (BW&O CPAs) is a growing, tech-forward, and mission-driven public accounting firm serving individuals and a range of businesses. We value innovation, team collaboration, and meaningful work. 

We're obsessed with: 

• Delivering exceptional client service 
• Building a team culture of critical and analytical thinking with a growth mindset 
• Leveraging technology to work smarter and keep up with the rapidly changing industry 

Why this role exists  

BW&O has grown quickly, and our client base and team have expanded faster than our management layer. Today, too much day-to-day oversight of tax work still lands on the firm's principals. This role exists to change that. 

As a Tax Manager, you'll lead a pod (a dedicated team of tax seniors, associates, and administrative support, and including members of our global team) and manage a defined group of clients. Your job is to make both run well: work reviewed thoroughly and delivered on time, a team that's developing and accountable, and clients who experience proactive, organized service. You'll report directly to the firm's principals, and your success frees them to focus on strategy, growth, and the firm's highest-value relationships. 

This is a true management role, not a senior preparer position with a bigger title. If you want to lead people and own outcomes, not just work through a review queue, keep reading. 

Not a task list. Real ownership: 

• How your week splits. Expect roughly 70% of your time hands-on — reviewing returns and working directly with clients — and 30% running your pod: assignments, capacity, coaching, and workflow in Karbon. Both halves are the job. If the 30% feels like a distraction from "real work," this isn't your role. 
• Own your pod's scorecard. You track and report a short set of numbers monthly: on-time delivery, review turnaround, client response time, and pod capacity. Around here, if it isn't measured, it doesn't count. 
• Run the rhythm. You own your pod's standing weekly meeting — same day, same time, every week — and you bring your numbers to a monthly ops check-in with firm leadership. Rhythms are how we keep chaos out of busy season. 
• Lead your pod. Execute the scheduled work and assignments, run check-ins, coach, and hold your team accountable. You own their development and their performance, including the direct conversations when work falls short. 
• Deliver for your client group. Engagements for high-net-worth individuals, S/C corporations, partnerships/LLCs, closely held businesses, exempt organizations, and trusts, from planning/scheduling out work item production through delivery, completed ahead of key filing dates. 
• Review in a way that teaches. Review complex individual, business, partnership, and fiduciary returns with notes that make your preparers better, not just corrected. 
• Be your clients' point of contact. Proactive status updates, organized requests, and planning ideas surfaced before clients ask. No surprises. 
• Escalate like a manager. When something needs a principal, bring context and a recommended solution, not just a problem. 
• Work smarter with technology. Run your pod's workflow in Karbon and embrace the AI and automation tools that raise capacity and quality. 
• You'll have the authority to match. Inside your pod, you decide work assignments, deadlines, review priorities, and client communications — you don't ask permission to manage. Pricing exceptions, scope changes, and anything that risks a client relationship come to the principals, with your recommendation attached. 

Your first 90 days  

• Weeks 1–2: Get inside our systems: Karbon workflows, review standards, and communication standards. Meet your pod, get familiar with your client group, and take your first returns through review. 
• By day 30: Run your pod's day-to-day. Work assignments, deadlines, and check-ins are yours. Your review queue is moving and your notes are teaching. 
• By day 60: Own the relationships in your client group. You're the primary contact, communicating proactively, and you've had your first real performance conversations with your team. 
• By day 90: Your pod runs on a rhythm. Deadlines are tracked and hit without principal intervention, you have a clear development read on each team member, and you've proposed your first process improvement to firm leadership. 

And by month 12:  

• Your team is clear on expectations, and you've addressed it directly and constructively when someone fell short 
• Your engagements are delivered ahead of deadlines, without fire drills landing on the principals' desks 
• Your clients see you as a trusted, proactive point of contact 
• Your seniors and staff are visibly growing in capability and responsibility 

Who thrives here  

• Organized and deadline-driven. You track everything in your group; nothing slips through the cracks. 
• Proactive. You see a problem, you bring a solution. 
• Client experience matters as much as technical correctness. Responsiveness and organization are part of quality, not extras. 
• Tech-forward. You see AI and automation as tools that elevate the practice, and you invest in your own learning to stay ahead of the curve. 
• People development is the job, not a side task. You genuinely like coaching, and watching your team level up is part of the reward. 
• Direct conversations don't scare you. You give honest, respectful performance feedback early and often enough that nothing festers. 

Qualifications  

Required  

• Active CPA license in good standing 
• 7+ years of recent tax experience at a CPA firm 
• Experience reviewing individual, S corporation, partnership, and trust returns 
• Demonstrated experience supervising and developing staff, including giving direct performance feedback, not just assigning and reviewing work 
• Proven ability to manage multiple engagements, deadlines, and priorities without missing deliverables 
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to explain complex concepts in plain language to clients and team members 
• Comfort working in cloud-based practice environments 

Bonus points  

• Depth in one or more of: real estate and partnership tax structures, high-net-worth individuals and family groups, trusts and estates 
• When you spot a planning opportunity, you don't just mention it — you turn it into a planning engagement helping us ensure we deliver the real value to our clients. 
• Experience with Karbon or a similar cloud practice management platform 
• You've used automation or AI tools to modernize tax workflows 
• You've worked at a small to mid-sized firm and helped build or improve a team or process 

How we work & what we offer  

• Hybrid schedule anchored to our El Dorado Hills, CA office 
• Competitive base salary of $120,000–$180,000, plus performance-based bonus 
• Paid time off, holidays, and comprehensive benefits including healthcare, dental, vision, and IRA with employer match 
• Direct access to firm principals and a real voice in how the tax practice runs 

About the interview  

We move quickly. Our process is two conversations, then a decision. 

• Video interview with our COO and Owner. We hit the ground running: an in-depth conversation about our firm, our leadership, and our goals for this position, along with a deeper look at your experience and career goals. 
• Second interview with our COO, Owner, and tax managers. We go deeper on your technical expertise and work through situational questions, and you'll meet some of the people you'd work alongside. 
• Offer. From there, we're ready to move. 

How to apply  

Send your resume and a brief note to View email address on ziprecruiter.com with the subject line "Tax Manager – [Your Name]" . In your note, tell us the types of returns you review and give us a specific example of how you've developed a team member or improved a process. We read every note, and it's the fastest way to stand out.