Senior Tax Manager and Service Lead (EA or CPA)

KTF INVESTMENTS, LLC; Seal Beach (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision and 401(k)

Job summary

KTF Investments, LLC in Seal Beach, California, is seeking a Senior Tax Manager and Service Lead to design and deliver a private client tax service. You will own year-round tax planning, return preparation for affluent clients, and coordinated estate/gift tax strategies.

Join a growing in-house team and partner with investment advisors and operations to provide proactive, tax-aware planning and execution. This role is in-office in Seal Beach.

Qualifications

• Active Enrolled Agent or CPA with PTIN in good standing.
• Three to five years of recent personal-tax experience.
• Proactive multi-year tax planning including estate and gift tax.
• Experience preparing returns for affluent clients with investment income and K-1s.
• Ability to explain tax choices clearly to clients.
• Willing to build a service from scratch with oversight.

Responsibilities

• Year-round tax planning and estimated tax calculations.
• Prepare and file federal and California personal returns, including investment income and K-1 activity.
• Model and coordinate estate and gift tax planning with clients and attorneys.
• Respond to IRS and state notices and client inquiries.
• Collaborate with investment advisors and client services to align tax with broader planning.
• Design service delivery, secure intake, and documentation workflows.

Skills

Tax planning

Personal tax

Client communication

Privacy & compliance

Collaboration with advisors

Service development

Education

Active Enrolled Agent or CPA with PTIN

Tools

Tax software

Job description

Title: Senior Tax Manager and Service Lead

Credential: Schedule Full-time, exempt

Pay range: $130,000 to $170,000 annual base

Benefits: Medical, dental, vision and 401(k)

Reports to Josh Axel, Partner

Compliance oversight KTF's Chief Compliance Officer

About KTF Investments

KTF Investments, LLC is a registered investment advisor in Seal Beach, California. We work with

families on their long-term financial health across generations, and we believe everything is personal.

We are now building an in-house private client services team so the households we already know well

can hand off important work, such as taxes, travel and care for aging family members, to a trusted

specialist who sees it through.

The opportunity

Our clients already rely on KTF for their investments. Many of them would rather hand their tax

planning and personal returns to someone who knows their portfolio, their family and their goals than

to a separate firm they talk to once a year.

You’ll be the first tax specialist on our team. We’ll define what clients can expect from the service, who is eligible, how it fits with their KTF relationship and the safeguards around their information. You’ll design how the professional work gets done, then deliver it. We expect to begin with a small first

group of 2026 returns, with outside review support, and grow as capacity allows.

Who you'll serve

• Clients and their spouses or partners from a hand-selected group of existing KTF households
• Personal returns with investment income, capital gains, rental income and passive investment K-1s,
• within your expertise
• Clients meet you in person, by video or by phone, whichever they prefer

What you'll own

• Year-round planning. Year-end planning, estimated tax calculations and reminders, the tax impact of gains and losses proposed by KTF's advisors, the tax impact of Roth conversions, estate tax planning, deduction review and charitable giving tax coordination.
• Return preparation. Prepare and file federal and California personal returns, including investment, rental and K-1 activity, and federal gift tax returns (Form 709).
• Estate tax planning. Model estate and gift tax exposure, review lifetime gifting and transfer strategies, prepare related gift tax returns and coordinate with clients' attorneys on tax questions tied to estate structures, without drafting legal documents.
• Notices and questions. Handle routine IRS and state notices and everyday tax questions for returns you prepared.
• Collaboration. Partner with KTF's investment advisors, client services team and other key members of each client's professional team to coordinate tax planning within the client's broader KTF Investments | Senior Tax Manager and Service Lead Page 2 financial and personal circumstances. Join household reviews when tax is on the agenda and collaborate with legal counsel, patient advocates and other specialists as appropriate. Your role is the tax analysis; investment decisions stay with KTF's investment advisors.
• Service design. Recommend software, secure document intake, filing authorizations, review arrangements, deadline and extension rules, seasonal support and absence coverage.
• Records. Obtain the client's signed written consent before any tax return information is shared with KTF's advisors or recorded in our shared client tracker (Wealthbox). Keep tax files in restricted systems and, once consent is on file, record status and next steps in Wealthbox so the team knows where things stand without seeing the full file.

What this role does not include

• Investment advice, including recommending securities, products, allocations or which positions to buy or sell. Investment decisions stay with KTF's investment advisors.
• Business, partnership, trust, estate (Form 706) or other entity returns. Gift tax returns (Form 709) are included.
• Returns for clients' children or parents in the initial service
• Making tax payments or holding client funds. Clients make their own payments.

How you'll work with the KTF team

• Our client-service team handles intake, consolidated updates and integrated review meetings.
• You work directly with clients on their taxes and keep the shared record current, so messages don't have to go through the general team.
• Melissa Godinez, Partner and VP of Operations, coordinates recruiting and day-to-day operations.
• Jess Sansone, Partner, leads financial planning and charitable giving; you'll review the tax side of
• You follow KTF's compliance policies, including its privacy and information security procedures, under the oversight of KTF's Chief Compliance Officer.

Your first 90 days

• Propose the service's procedures, software and review arrangements, with checkpoints along the way
• Draft the service's written information security plan with KTF's compliance team
• Recommend a realistic first-season client group based on your actual capacity
• Arrange independent review support for the first filing season
• Test the full process, from intake to filed return, on a partner's household before serving clients

Required qualifications

• Active Enrolled Agent credential or active CPA license in good standing, with a valid PTIN
• Three to five years of recent personal-tax experience, or exceptional equivalent experience
• Proactive, multi-year tax planning experience, including estate and gift tax considerations
• Hands-on preparation of returns for affluent individuals with investment income, rental property and passive K-1s
• Strong judgment on privacy, conflicts, the limits of your expertise and when to elevate; open to second-person review before filing
• Ability to explain tax choices clearly to clients and to work with investment advisors
• Comfortable building a service from scratch rather than working inside an established tax department

Preferred qualifications

• Experience inside or alongside a wealth management or family office practice
• Familiarity with equity compensation, the tax impact of tax-loss harvesting and charitable strategies such as donor-advised funds
• Experience choosing and setting up professional tax software and secure client portals

What success looks like

• Clients use the planning service during the year, understand their returns and file on time
• Advisors and clients make tax-aware decisions, informed by your tax analysis, instead of reacting at filing time
• The service runs on documented, reviewable procedures that can grow beyond the first group

Compensation and location

• $130,000 to $170,000 annual base salary, based on experience and credentials
• Competitive benefits, including medical, dental and vision coverage and a 401(k)
• Primarily in-office at 13001 Seal Beach Blvd., Suite 250, Seal Beach, CA 90740. Local candidates preferred.

KTF Investments is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status or any other protected characteristic. Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered in accordance with applicable law.