Job Description
Tax Senior Manager
Location: Brea, California
Work Arrangement: Hybrid, with 3–4 days per week in office
Compensation: Highly competitive and commensurate with experience; the firm is prepared to pay above market for the right candidate
A well-established public accounting firm in Brea, California is seeking an experienced Tax Senior Manager to join its growing tax practice. This is an excellent opportunity for a strong tax professional with deep experience serving family-owned businesses, closely held companies, high-net-worth individuals, trusts, and entities with estate planning and wealth management considerations.
The firm’s client base is heavily focused on privately held and family-owned businesses, where the primary client contact is often the owner or principal decision-maker. The ideal candidate will be comfortable serving as a trusted advisor, managing client relationships, supervising tax team members, and providing thoughtful guidance on complex tax matters.
This role is designed for someone who is looking for long-term growth and aspires to move toward an ownership or partner-level opportunity.
Key Responsibilities
• Manage and review complex individual, S corporation, C corporation, partnership, and trust tax returns.
• Serve as a primary client contact for family-owned businesses, closely held companies, and high-net-worth individuals.
• Provide tax planning, consulting, and advisory services related to business ownership, estate planning, and wealth management matters.
• Supervise and develop members of the tax team, including staff based both domestically and offshore in India.
• Review work prepared by tax staff and provide technical guidance, feedback, and training.
• Make sound decisions regarding client matters, workflow, staff responsibilities, and tax positions.
• Identify planning opportunities and provide proactive recommendations to clients.
• Manage deadlines, client expectations, and overall engagement quality.
• Collaborate with firm leadership on client service, team development, and practice growth.
• Support the continued growth of the tax practice with a long-term path toward ownership or partnership.
Qualifications
• 10–15 years of progressive tax experience in public accounting.
• Strong experience with personal income tax returns, S corporations, C corporations, partnerships, and trusts.
• Experience serving family-owned businesses, closely held companies, high-net-worth individuals, and clients with estate planning or wealth management needs.
• Ideally 5–10+ years of experience in this area within a larger public accounting firm.
• Strong client-facing skills and the ability to communicate directly and confidently with business owners and high-net-worth clients.
• Prior experience supervising, reviewing, and mentoring tax professionals.
• Comfortable managing offshore team members and coordinating work across different locations.
• Strong technical tax knowledge and sound professional judgment.
• Ability to make decisions independently and provide practical tax advice to clients.
• CPA designation strongly preferred.
• Master’s in Taxation preferred but not required.
• Must live within a reasonable commuting distance of Brea, California.
Ideal Candidate Profile
The ideal candidate is a technically strong, client-facing tax professional who enjoys working closely with business owners and family-owned companies. This individual should be confident in leading a team, making decisions, advising clients, and managing complex tax engagements.
The firm is especially interested in candidates who are looking for a long-term opportunity and would be excited about a potential path toward ownership or partnership.
Key Competencies
• Family-owned business tax planning
• High-net-worth individual taxation
• S corporation, C corporation, partnership, and trust taxation
• Estate planning and wealth management tax considerations
• Client relationship management
• Tax team supervision and mentoring
• Offshore team coordination
• Tax research, planning, and advisory
• Strong communication and decision-making skills
• Long-term leadership and partner-track mindset