Head of Tax Operations | AI-native accounting firm

Atomic HR; New York (NY); Remote; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Founding equity

Remote work

Direct access to founder & engineering

Job summary

Atomic HR is partnering with a remote US-based accounting firm to hire a licensed CPA who signs final returns prepared by an AI engine. You will review 1040s, 1065, 1120S, and C corporations, and decide when to sign, return, or hold, with ownership of your license and final judgment.

You’ll shape the review rules, QA processes, handle K-1s and multi-state allocations, log engine errors for engineers to fix, and lead a lean reviewer team.

Qualifications

• Active US CPA license, valid PTIN and a clean disciplinary record.
• 5+ years preparing and reviewing complex individual and small-business returns (1040s, K-1s, S corps, partnerships, C corps).
• Final sign-off experience with returns signed under own license, with justification for Holds.
• Professional tax software and hands-on use of automation/AI tools; explain outputs.
• Written instructions for junior staff or engineers: checklists, rules, error reports.

Responsibilities

• Sign-off AI-prepared returns or decide to sign, return, or hold.
• Define edge-case rules, QA steps, and collaborate with engineering.
• Log engine errors by form, line and cause with reproducible examples.
• Trace numbers to source documents and verify accuracy.
• Help build and mentor a lean reviewer team.

Skills

Active US CPA license

5+ years US tax prep & review

Final sign-off experience

Professional tax software + AI tools

Clear instruction writing

Multi-state returns experience

Education

Certified Public Accountant (CPA)

Tools

Tax software suites

OCR/Automation tools

Job description

Company Overview

Our client is a remote, cloud-based accounting firm offering bookkeeping, tax and fractional CFO services to owner-operated businesses nationwide, including short-term rentals, campgrounds and hotels. Founded in 2022 by a serial founder, the firm now also covers tax planning, equity management and data engineering. It’s building an AI engine that prepares returns, so licensed CPAs spend their time on judgment, not data entry.

Your Role

This is not a “review returns against someone else’s checklist” role. The firm’s AI engine already prepares 1040, 1065, 1120S and C corp returns, and each needs a licensed CPA’s signature before it reaches the IRS. You’re that signature, and the person who decides what it takes to earn it. The review workflow is still being set up, so the rules for catching the engine’s mistakes are yours to write: K-1s, basis tracking and multi-state returns. You work directly with the founder and the engineers. When the engine gets something wrong, you’re talking to the people who can fix it. Success looks like this: the errors you log early stop appearing, other reviewers work from your playbook, and review time per return drops without accuracy slipping.

You’ll:

• Return sign-offReview AI-prepared 1040, 1065, 1120S and C corp returns, and decide under your own license whether each is signed, sent back or held
• Focus where software tends to slip: K-1 pass-throughs, basis tracking and multi-state allocations
• Trace figures back to the source documents the engine read
• Review rules and QAWith the founder and engineers, define the edge-case rules, AI error checks and QA steps around the engine
• Write each rule in plain steps and mark it as a hard stop or a judgment call
• Decide which returns get a light pass and which need a full read
• Feedback to productLog each engine error by form, line and cause, with an example an engineer can reproduce
• Help work out whether a wrong number came from document scanning, a prompt or the schedule logic, then test the fix alongside engineering
• Compliance and tax strategyHold the firm’s work to IRS regulations, state guidelines and Circular 230
• Identify legal tax-optimization strategies for clients and document the reasoning
• Reviewer teamHelp build and mentor a lean team of fractional or full-time reviewers working from your playbook

You Bring:

• Active US CPA license, valid PTIN and a clean disciplinary record
• 5+ years preparing and reviewing complex individual and small-business returns: 1040s with multiple K-1s, S corps, partnerships, C corps and multi-state clients
• Final sign-off experience: returns you signed under your own license or reviewed last with no partner behind you, and a reason for each one you held back
• Professional tax software plus hands-on use of automation, OCR or AI tools on real client work, and you can explain where their output couldn’t be trusted
• Written instructions others can follow: checklists, review rules or error reports a junior reviewer or engineer could act on without asking
• Something you built and ran yourself: a solo practice, an early seat at a tech-enabled firm, or a review process you ran through a full filing season at real volume

Bonus points:

• Handling IRS or state notices for small-business clients
• Training or reviewing junior, offshore or fractional preparers
• Prompts or automations you set up for tax or accounting work
• Reporting recurring errors to a product team at a tax software, fintech or tech-enabled firm
• Tax-planning memos for S corp owners (reasonable compensation, entity choice)

What’s Offered

• US-based, remote or hybrid
• Full-time role with founding equity
• No billable-hour tracking: work is measured on output, leverage and accuracy
• Real authority: you set the firm’s tax review standard and own final sign-off
• Direct access to the founder and engineering team, so your feedback shapes the product

Recruitment process

• Screening call with atomic HR (30 min: what you’ve built, working terms, what you want next)
• Profile review by the founder
• Interviews with the founder on the work in the role