Director of Tax Operations

🚀 Join the Future of Commerce with Whatnot!

Whatnot is the largest livestream shopping platform in North America and Europe to buy, sell, and discover the things you love. Whether it's trading cards, fashion, electronics, or live plants, our sellers are building real businesses across hundreds of categories. We're building live commerce at a scale that's never been done in the West, and there's no playbook to copy. The people here are shaping how an entirely new industry develops.

As a remote co-located team, we're inspired by our values and anchored in hubs across the US, UK, Ireland, Poland, Germany, and Australia. We move fast, stay close to our users, and focus on the work that drives the most impact.

We're one of the fastest growing marketplaces and were recently named the #1 Best Startup Employer in America by Forbes. Check out the latest Whatnot updates on our news and engineering blogs and join us as we enable anyone to turn their passion into a business and bring people together through commerce.

💻 Role

We are seeking a Director of Tax Operations to lead global direct taxes. This pivotal role involves leading the daily execution and ongoing development of both U.S. and foreign income tax provision and compliance processes. You will collaborate closely with key internal partners from Controllership, Finance, and Strategic Finance, to grow our international operating model, manage effective tax rates, optimize cash tax flows, and minimize risks and tax exposures. This role reports directly to the Head of Tax.

What you’ll do:

• Own the preparation and review of the quarterly and annual tax provision in compliance with ASC 740, FIN 18, IFRS and other related standards.

• Manage all aspects of global income tax reporting, including deferred tax assets/liabilities, valuation allowances, uncertain tax positions, and effective tax rate calculations.

• Own all tax-related accounts on the financial statements, including accurate accounting and reconciliation of global indirect taxes.

• Support documentation and tax research for income tax strategies, policies and positions.

• Oversee forecast modeling with respect to future effective tax rates and cash taxes in collaboration with FP&A.

• Oversee the preparation and filing of federal and state tax income tax returns.

• Ensure timely and accurate return-to-provision reconciliation adjustments.

• Drive R&D tax credit studies, ensure compliance with applicable regulations, and collaborate with relevant teams to optimize credit opportunities.

• Lead tax aspects of M&A, and other strategic transactions, including tax due diligence, structuring analysis, integration planning, and post-transaction compliance.

• Own global transfer pricing strategy and compliance, including intercompany agreements, calculations, documentation (inc. country-by-country reporting (CbCR), master file, and local file obligations), economic analyses, and support for audits and inquiries.

• Monitor and analyze legislative and regulatory changes, assessing their impact on the organization's tax positions and financial statements.

• Lead process optimization initiatives, including evaluating and implementing tax technology tools for greater efficiency and accuracy.

• Represent the tax team in discussions with external auditors, advisors, and relevant authorities as needed.

• Support the business on ad-hoc tax inquiries and various tax analyses and filings.

• Manage and oversee income tax audits and inquiries, working closely with external advisors and internal stakeholders to address and resolve issues

This role is required to be within commuting distance of our San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, or New York City hubs.

👋 You

People who do well at Whatnot tend to be comfortable figuring things out as they go, biased toward action, and genuinely curious about what they're building. They care more about outcomes than credit and stay close to the product and the people using it.

This role could be a great fit if you have:

• 12+ years of progressive tax experience, with expertise in ASC 740, SBC, Section 174, R&D tax credits, transfer pricing and tax compliance.

• Background in public accounting (Big 4 preferred) and corporate income tax in a multinational technology company (two sided marketplace a plus).

• Strong understanding of global tax compliance and reporting issues.

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field required; CPA and/or MST (Master’s in Taxation) strongly preferred.

• Expert-level knowledge of U.S. GAAP, international tax principles, and related reporting requirements.

• Proven track record of process improvement, including the use of tax technology to drive efficiencies.

• Proven success building and working in high-performing teams. You’re known for empathetic leadership, honest feedback, and developing talent into trusted partners.

• Solid track record of cross-functional collaboration across finance, engineering, product, and other teams across time zones.

• A strong ownership mindset. You’re comfortable moving quickly, rolling up your sleeves, and driving results in a rapidly changing environment.

🎁 Benefits

• Generous Holiday and Time off Policy

• Health Insurance options including Medical, Dental, Vision

• Work From Home Support

  • Home office setup allowance

  • Monthly allowance for cell phone and internet

• Care benefits

  • Monthly allowance for wellness

  • Annual allowance towards Childcare

  • Lifetime benefit for family planning, such as adoption or fertility expenses

• Retirement; 401k offering for Traditional and Roth accounts in the US (employer match up to 4% of base salary) and Pension plans internationally

• Monthly allowance to dogfood the app

  • All Whatnauts are expected to develop a deep understanding of our product. We're passionate about building the best user experience, and all employees are expected to use Whatnot as both a buyer and a seller as part of their job (our dogfooding budget makes this fun and easy!).

• Parental Leave

  • 16 weeks of paid parental leave + one month gradual return to work *company leave allowances run concurrently with country leave requirements which take precedence.

💛 EOE

Whatnot is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We value diversity, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, parental status, disability status, or any other status protected by local law. We believe that our work is better and our company culture is improved when we encourage, support, and respect the different skills and experiences represented within our workforce.