Head of Tax, State and Local

WHO WE ARE We are a modern, embedded payroll provider that helps empower companies to build their own unique payroll service. On top of our easy-to-use payroll API, we are pioneering an all-inclusive tax engine to democratize a broken and cumbersome process providing accessibility to small, medium, and large businesses and helping Americans get paid.

Backed by over $14 million in funding from top investors such as Y Combinator, Spark Capital (Marqeta, Coinbase, Affirm), and Robinhood's Founder; Vlad Tenev we are projected to be a forerunner in embedded payroll with an industry amassing billions of dollars in untapped revenue.

Our mission is to empower companies to become their own fin-tech company using our simple, seamless, and forward-thinking payroll technology and we'd love to learn more about you and how you could be a fit for our growing team!

‼️ This role has a preference for hybrid, San Francisco-based employment, but we will consider remote work arrangements with a few company-sponsored trips per year as well, so we encourage you to apply!

ABOUT THE ROLE Our Head of Tax will run the tax department here at Zeal and will report directly to our CEO and Co-Founder as part of the Tax & Compliance department. Your mandate is to power Zeal's product and go to market with your passion, knowledge, and service-oriented approach. You will be the strategic owner overseeing large-scale tax operations for internal and external parties which means you will get to help us scale how we organize payroll tax for enterprise customers in the US.

SOME THINGS YOU MAY BE WORKING ON

• Provide support to Zeal in all aspects of tax provision, tax compliance, and tax audit on US payroll state and local taxes
• Monitor legislative and regulatory tax law developments, communicate the impact to internal stakeholders, and implement the changes as applicable.
• Handle evaluation, risk assessment, and counseling on various complicated tax problems
• Act as an SME to help Zeal’s products grow and thrive from a tax policy and compliance perspective
• Work collaboratively with various internal and external stakeholders and teams
• Execute project-related tax research and analysis based on Federal and State tax laws
• Undertake tax basis calculations and other related tax studies
• Correspond with and substantively respond to relevant tax authorities

YOU HAVE

• 7+ yrs of tax experience holding a CPA OR 3+ yrs of tax-specific attorney experience
• 2-3 years experience in state and local taxes with either a CPA or JD or LLM credentials
• Experience in managing others, including supervising and mentoring a team. Ability to provide guidance and support to the Tax Manager who oversees a team of tax employees.
• Experience serving as a subject matter expert (SME) in tax policy and compliance, contributing to the growth and compliance of products from a tax perspective. Strong ability to write internal tax policy documents and effectively communicate tax-related information to internal and external parties
• Extensive experience dealing with various state and local tax agencies, understanding their requirements and compliance obligations
• Previous experience in client-facing roles, demonstrating the ability to thrive in fast-paced and sometimes stressful situations. Strong interpersonal skills to build and maintain relationships with clients
• A proven track record of making decisions that align with both the business objectives and legal/tax requirements

NICE-TO-HAVE

• Experience working at a startup or tax consulting firm or a tax-specific law-firm
• Credentials: LLM
• Interest in joining a fun fast-paced start-up in the fintech industry!

SELLING POINTS 1. Leadership and Strategic Vision: you’ll have the ability to manage the tax department at Zeal, providing leadership and strategic direction. You’ll make notable contributions to how Americans get paid through innovative tax solutions. 2. Career Growth Potential: there is potential to grow into a Director or VP of Tax role within a rapidly growing startup. Alternatively, the opportunity to learn from the General Counsel and gain exposure to the commercial aspects of law within the SaaS space. 3. Advisory Role: Ability to act as a strategic advisor to Zeal in building tax-related products, particularly in relation to payroll APIs. You will get to learn and contribute to the company's understanding and utilization of payroll APIs.

OUR INTERVIEW PROCESS This is our process for most of our roles, but sometimes stages are subject to change from time to time, but we will definitely notify you of the change ahead of time.

Step 1: Chat with our recruiter Step 2: Chat with the hiring manager Step 3: Paid Take-Home Assignment Step 4: Presentation/Final Interview with the team

After a few days to 1 week, we will get back to you with a decision

ZEAL CULTURE Zeal is located in the SoMa district of San Francisco and we value in-person collaboration and communication as we grow and scale our business. We are a tight-knit, inclusive community that is into music 🎵, cocktails 🍹, pets 🐈🐕, ping-pong 🏓 and above all else ~ high-quality espresso ☕ but more importantly we value championing for our employees to bring their authentic true selves to work and aim to provide a fun and collaborative work environment for everyone!

OUR BENEFITS

• 100% health coverage premium paid by the company; vision, dental, and 80% for dependents with HSA options
• Life Insurance, Accidental Insurance, and access to free EAP services
• Generous salary and equity for all staff
• 10-year equity option exercise window for all employees
• 401k option; helping you save for the future
• Commuters Stipend for all SF-based employees
• Yearly Professional Development Stipend to use on courses, books, events, etc
• Monthly Happy Hours, Team Lunches, Boba breaks, and lots of Events (board games, trivia, bowling, VR, golfing, hiking)
• Company Wide Offsite every year (Sept 2023, Coronado Island 🏝 2022 was Sonoma and Napa 🍷)
• Awesome Zeal Swag - did you know a group of Zebra is called a Zeal, that’s why we have a Zebra mascot!

OUR COMPENSATION & PHILOSOPHY The range for this role is between $150,000-170,000 for California-based candidates Check out our Job Leveling, Salary, and Equity Guide to learn more! {https://www.notion.so/Job-Leveling-Salary-and-Equity-at-Zeal-ae4900f63acd465e871a76c5afa9cbbe}

❤️ If you are curious to know more about our culture, check out our Notion Culture Doc https://www.notion.so/Do-remarkable-things-at-Zeal-0d9af42e7dd2498391e1ccfde42c0137

Zeal is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.