Senior Accountant

Skookum Educational Programs; Bremerton (WA); On-site; USD 92,000 - 104,000; Full time

Job summary

Tessera, a national leader in creating meaningful employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities and veterans, is seeking a Senior Accountant at our Bremerton, WA home office. You will handle complex accounting, multi-state tax setups, and sales/use tax compliance, partnering across Finance, Payroll, HR, and Operations to establish scalable processes and accurate financial reporting.

The role requires strong analysis, coordination of registrations, and management of monthly,

Responsibilities

• Lead finance-related setup for operations entering new states, including requirements research, registrations, taxability assessment, system configuration, documentation, and readiness validation.
• Coordinate state and local account registrations and ongoing maintenance for applicable sales and use tax, payroll withholding, unemployment, and other business tax accounts.
• Maintain a centralized compliance calendar and state setup matrix documenting registrations, filing frequencies, ownership, deadlines, system status, and supporting records.
• Research state-specific requirements, document conclusions and assumptions, and escalate matters requiring legal, payroll-tax, or indirect-tax advice.
• Serve as the Finance lead for costing allocations and their accounting impacts, including company, cost center, program, project, work location, and other costing attributes.
• Partner with Human Resources and Payroll to review effective-dated transactions for accuracy, completeness, approvals, and alignment with organizational structures; assess downstream impacts to payroll costing, labor distributions, financial reporting, and the general ledger; and lead timely resolution of data, configuration, and reconciliation issues.
• Perform detailed G&A expense analysis, including budget-to-actual and period-over-period variance reviews, trend analysis, forecasting, accrual validation, and allocation assessments by company, cost center, project, supplier, and account. Identify root causes and emerging risks, partner with budget owners on corrective actions, and verify that results reconcile to payroll, subledgers, and the general ledger.
• Coordinate sales and use tax compliance, including taxability research, exemption-certificate management, return preparation or review, payment support, and account reconciliations.

Job description

Join Tessera and make a difference.

Tessera is a national leader in creating meaningful employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities and veterans. We are a dynamic and growing organization of social entrepreneurs dedicated to building strong communities and delivering exceptional service.

About Tessera:

• A recognized leader in inclusive employment and workforce development.
• A mission-driven team of innovative and passionate professionals.
• Operating self-sustaining businesses across 15 states and the District of Columbia, with a workforce of more than 2,000 employees.
• Committed to providing outstanding customer experiences across all service lines.
• Focused on supporting employee growth through robust training, development, and support programs.

Our Bremerton, Washington Home Office supports nationwide operations with a highly skilled and motivated team specializing in finance, human resources, vocational and workforce development, information systems, strategy, business development, communications, marketing, quality, safety, learning, and more.

Location: Bremerton, Washington

Type: Exempt

Compensation: $92,196.00 - $104,442.00 per year

Work Schedule: Full-time, Monday - Friday 7:30 am - 4:00 pm (flexible start and end times depending on scheduling needs)

As a Senior Accountant, you'll...

The Senior Accountant is a high-level individual contributor and subject-matter resource responsible for complex accounting, multi-state business and tax setups, and sales and use tax compliance. The role partners across Finance, Payroll, Human Resources, Operations, and system teams to establish scalable processes, maintain strong controls, resolve complex issues, and deliver accurate, timely financial information.

• Lead finance-related setup for operations entering new states, including requirements research, registrations, taxability assessment, system configuration, documentation, and readiness validation.
• Coordinate state and local account registrations and ongoing maintenance for applicable sales and use tax, payroll withholding, unemployment, and other business tax accounts.
• Maintain a centralized compliance calendar and state setup matrix documenting registrations, filing frequencies, ownership, deadlines, system status, and supporting records.
• Research state-specific requirements, document conclusions and assumptions, and escalate matters requiring legal, payroll-tax, or indirect-tax advice.
• Serve as the Finance lead for costing allocations and their accounting impacts, including company, cost center, program, project, work location, and other costing attributes.
• Partner with Human Resources and Payroll to review effective-dated transactions for accuracy, completeness, approvals, and alignment with organizational structures; assess downstream impacts to payroll costing, labor distributions, financial reporting, and the general ledger; and lead timely resolution of data, configuration, and reconciliation issues.
• Perform detailed G&A expense analysis, including budget-to-actual and period-over-period variance reviews, trend analysis, forecasting, accrual validation, and allocation assessments by company, cost center, project, supplier, and account. Identify root causes and emerging risks, partner with budget owners on corrective actions, and verify that results reconcile to payroll, subledgers, and the general ledger.
• Coordinate sales and use tax compliance, including taxability research, exemption-certificate management, return preparation or review, payment support, and account reconciliations.
• Monitor filing requirements, tax law and rate changes, business activity in new or existing states, and other operational changes that may create new sales and use tax registration or filing obligations.
• Reconcile sales tax payable, use tax accruals, returns, payments, and general ledger activity; investigate and resolve variances promptly.
• Lead assigned monthly, quarterly, and year-end close activities, including complex journal entries, balance-sheet reconciliations, account analysis, and variance explanations.
• Prepare audit schedules, maintain defensible workpapers, document procedures and internal controls, and respond to auditor requests for assigned areas.
• Lead cross-functional projects, support system testing and reporting improvements, provide coaching and cross‑training, and communicate risks, decisions, dependencies, and deadlines early.
• Develop and deliver recurring financial analyses and management reporting for G&A departments, translating complex data into clear findings, recommendations, and actionable insights for Finance and executive leaders. Serve as a backup Project Accountant for operational accounting activities as needed, including transaction review, reconciliations, issue resolution, and coordination with Operations to maintain continuity, accuracy, and timely completion of critical processes.
• All Other Duties as Assigned.

You'd make an excellent Senior Accountant if you: Consider y