Senior Tax Leader

Job Description

Senior Manager, Tax & Accounting (Technical Lead)

OnTarget CPA · Indianapolis, IN · Full-Time · In-office

About OnTarget CPA

OnTarget CPA is a growing Indianapolis-based accounting and advisory firm serving individuals and businesses across Indiana and beyond. We are scaling the firm, and the one thing that cannot scale by accident is technical quality. This seat exists to make sure it doesn’t.

The Role

You are the firm’s final technical authority on tax. You decide what a complete, accurate, defensible return looks like and hold the practice to it. The highest-risk work crosses your desk before it leaves the building. When the answer isn’t clearly in the code or regs, you resolve it, and you stand behind that answer if it’s ever challenged. You lead the tax team and own our most complex tax relationships. Advisory is a piece of the job; the technical standard is the job.

What You’ll Own

The Technical Standard

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• Define and enforce the firm’s review standard for tax preparation and tax consulting
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• Personally review the highest-complexity and highest-risk returns: multi-entity structures, large estates, returns under examination, and any return where a significant position is taken
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• Resolve the firm’s most ambiguous and novel tax questions, synthesizing primary authority, legislative history, and analogous cases where the code isn’t clear
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• Approve all manager-prepared research memos before they become client positions; you are accountable if a position is later challenged
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• Issue formal technical guidance when the firm’s approach to a recurring issue needs standardizing
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• Drive at least one firm-wide technical initiative per year (standardized review checklists, policy documents, a new tax service offering)
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Tier 1 Clients

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• Own the tax relationships whose complexity, fee level, or strategic importance require senior involvement: annual planning meetings, multi-year retention, and any escalation a manager can’t resolve
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• Lead multi-year tax strategy for those accounts, including the tax side of entity changes and ownership transitions, in coordination with the CAAS Manager
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Technical Team Leadership

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• Lead the firm's tax review process serve as the primary reviewer for complex returns
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• Define what technical competency looks like at hire for each level; partner with the COO on recruiting standards
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• Review CPE plans across the technical team annually
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• Run quarterly performance calibration with the COO; surface promotion readiness or role-fit concerns early
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• Monitor team throughput, flag capacity bottlenecks a quarter in advance, and deliver a weekly workload and capacity report to leadership
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• Coordinate with the CAAS Manager, on shared clients so work and priorities align
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What You’ll Bring

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• Active CPA license
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• Deep public accounting tax experience with final-review authority on complex work: consolidated 1120s, multi-state S-corps with basis, partnerships with complex allocations, 1041s, and estate returns
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• Demonstrated ability to research and resolve novel tax questions from primary authority, and to document a defensible position
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• Experience managing tax professionals, including performance management
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• Willingness to be the name behind the firm’s technical positions
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What will make you stand out

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• Experience under IRS or state examination, defending positions you prepared or reviewed
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• Prior work building or standardizing technical review processes at a firm
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• Depth in S-corp and partnership taxation beyond compliance
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Compensation

This role in eligible for a quarterly performance bonus tied to individual and team results.

OnTarget CPA is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a team that reflects the communities we serve.