Founding Accountant

Luca IQ (YC S26); Illinois; On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Luca IQ is building a modern tax platform that handles returns from documents through preparation, review, and filing in one place. We seek a tax expert with 6+ years of CPA experience to join the product team and shape how real-world tax workloads translate into software.

You’ll review returns, identify edge cases, and collaborate with engineers to embed tax knowledge into the roadmap. This role blends tax expertise with product development.

Qualifications

• CPA with 6+ years of experience
• Experience preparing and reviewing individual and business returns
• Proficiency with major tax software (Drake, UltraTax, CCH, Lacerte, ProSeries)

Responsibilities

• Prepare and review individual income tax returns
• Identify edge cases and complex scenarios
• Contribute tax expertise to product roadmap
• Explain tax rules to engineers and product teams

Skills

Tax expertise

CPA 6+ years

EA considered

Education

Certified Public Accountant (CPA)

Enrolled Agent (EA) considered

Tools

Drake

UltraTax

CCH

Lacerte

ProSeries

Job description

If you’ve spent tax seasons inside UltraTax, CCH, Drake, Lacerte, or similar software, you already know the problem. Tax professionals still rely on decades-old tools, rigid workflows, repetitive data entry, and disconnected systems.

Luca IQ is building the tax platform professionals should have had years ago: modern software that takes a return from client documents through preparation, review, and filing in one place.

We’re looking for tax experts who have lived through tax seasons firsthand and want to help shape the future of tax accounting.

The Role

About the role

If you’ve spent tax seasons inside UltraTax, CCH, Drake, Lacerte, or similar software, you already know the problem. Tax professionals still rely on decades-old tools, rigid workflows, repetitive data entry, and disconnected systems.

Luca IQ is building the tax platform professionals should have had years ago: modern software that takes a return from client documents through preparation, review, and filing in one place.

We’re looking for tax experts who have lived through tax seasons firsthand and want to help shape the future of tax accounting.

The Role

You’ll work closely with the founding team to review returns, identify edge cases, and translate real-world tax workflows into product improvements.

This is not a traditional accounting firm role. You’ll bring your tax expertise into the product-building process, working at the intersection of tax, technology, and product.

What You'll Do

• Prepare and review individual income tax returns
• Identify tax edge cases, complex scenarios, and ways to break the product
• Bring your tax preparation experience to help shape the product roadmap
• Work directly with engineers to explain tax rules and expected outcomes
  

Who You Are

• Certified Public Accountant for 6+ years. Experienced Enrolled Agents may also be considered
• Experienced preparing individual + business tax returns using professional tax software such as Drake, UltraTax, CCH, Lacerte, ProSeries, or similar platforms
• Experienced reviewing tax returns, not just preparing them
• Strong understanding of U.S. federal individual income tax
  

What Makes This Role Different

At a traditional accounting firm, your work ends when the return is finished.

At Luca IQ, the tax knowledge you bring can improve how thousands of future returns are prepared.

You’ll have a direct line between what you see in real tax work and what gets built into the product. You’ll work alongside engineers, founders, and customers to help create the tax software you wish you had when preparing and reviewing returns.

If you’ve spent years working around the limitations of traditional tax software and have thought, there has to be a better way to do this, this is an opportunity to help build it.

If you’re an experienced tax professional who enjoys technology and wants to help build the next generation of tax software, we’d love to hear from you.

About Luca IQ

Luca IQ is building a modern tax engine for accounting firms.

Nearly every tax return prepared by a CPA in America runs through one of a small number of tax engines built decades ago. Rebuilding that infrastructure means translating tens of millions of words of tax law, regulations, and IRS guidance into software that can calculate returns correctly and consistently.

We're building an API-first tax engine designed from the ground up to calculate, validate, and file U.S. tax returns.