Senior Director, Tax

Senior Director, Tax

We are seeking an experienced, strategic, and execution-focused Senior Director, Tax to lead enterprise tax operations and partner with Finance leadership on tax risk management, planning, and governance. This role provides executive-level oversight of U.S. federal income tax (including ASC 740 processes and return compliance oversight) and insurance-specific tax matters (including premium tax, multi-state and regulatory filings, and support for insurance examinations).

The Senior Director, Tax will oversee the relationship with our third-party tax service provider, lead process improvements and internal controls, and develop internal tax talent. This role requires both strong generalist tax leadership and deep insurance tax specialization, ensuring comprehensive coverage across insurance specific tax matters and enterprise tax strategy.

This is a high-impact leadership role that partners with Controllers, Financial Reporting, Treasury, Legal, and business leaders to ensure accurate reporting, timely compliance, strong audit readiness, and proactive tax planning. The role collaborates closely with our service provider tax specialists and internal stakeholders to drive quality, efficiency, and consistency across tax-related activities and controls.

Location:

• This is a hybrid role, on-site three days per week at our Bethesda, MD, New York, NY or Chicago, IL offices.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide strategic and operational leadership for the tax function, including governance, risk management, and process modernization across U.S. federal income tax, state income/franchise tax, and insurance premium tax.
• Oversee quarterly and annual ASC 740 income tax provision processes, including effective tax rate analysis, current/deferred computations, uncertain tax positions, and coordination of income tax footnotes and related financial statement disclosures.
• Ensure timely and accurate filings of all tax returns across federal, state, and insurance specific jurisdictions.
• Lead technical tax research and develop position papers/memos on complex matters (federal, state, and insurance-specific), including business transactions, method changes, capitalization/expense issues, and evolving guidance impacting the insurance industry.
• Direct end-to-end compliance oversight for U.S. federal income tax returns and related filings (extensions, estimated payments, and information reporting), including review of workpapers, coordination of data requests, and management of federal and state notices, audits, and controversy matters.
• Own the relationship with our service provider and other external advisors: define scope, manage budgets, align priorities, ensure quality of deliverables, and drive timely execution across provision, compliance, planning, and audit support.
• Manage a team of tax specialists through our service provider managed services, ensuring alignment on deliverables, quality, and execution across provision, compliance, and advisory work.
• Lead, mentor, and develop the internal tax team; set objectives, coach performance, and build scalable capabilities through training, documentation, and succession planning.
• Partner with Finance and business leaders on tax planning and transaction support, including insurance-specific considerations such as premium tax exposure, reinsurance and intercompany arrangements, entity structuring, and multi-state implications. Apply deep insurance tax specialization across premium tax, statutory reporting alignment, and regulatory considerations, beyond general corporate tax responsibilities.
• Enhance and maintain internal controls and documentation over tax processes (including SOX-ready controls where applicable), ensuring audit readiness, strong data governance, and effective coordination with Financial Reporting for GAAP/STAT impacts.
• Provide oversight of insurance premium tax reporting and filings across jurisdictions; support state insurance department inquiries and examinations by coordinating data, responses, and technical positions with internal stakeholders and advisors.
• Develop and communicate the tax strategy, including forecasting cash taxes and ETR, monitoring legislative/regulatory developments, and presenting key tax matters, risks, and opportunities to senior Finance leadership.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field; CPA strongly preferred.
• Minimum of 10+ years of progressive tax experience with significant depth in U.S. federal income tax (ASC 740 provision and compliance oversight); insurance industry and/or large corporate experience strongly preferred.
• Deep understanding of U.S. federal income tax rules and the ability to translate technical guidance into practical, defensible positions; working knowledge of state income/franchise taxes and insurance premium tax concepts (including multi-state compliance and regulatory considerations).
• Demonstrated experience as both a tax generalist and an insurance tax specialist, with the ability to operate across broad enterprise tax matters and highly specialized insurance tax domains.
• Demonstrated ability to lead and influence across functions, manage external advisors, and drive outcomes in a complex environment; proven people leadership, coaching, and talent development experience.
• Strong analytical, communication, and organizational skills.
• Experience with tax software, Workday, and ERP systems is a plus.
• Insurance industry tax experience (e.g., premium tax processes, state insurance department interactions/exams, and collaboration with statutory reporting teams) is strongly preferred.