Tax Director

MacKai West; West Chester (Chester County); On-site; USD 180,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

MacKai West, in partnership with a rapidly growing CPA firm in the Greater Philadelphia area, seeks a Tax Director to join its leadership team and oversee a talented tax group. The role offers a path toward Partner with high-level tax work, excellent compensation, and a culture focused on balance and collaboration.

The successful candidate will manage a small team, drive planning and advisory engagements, and develop client relationships while expanding the practice and preparing for future

Qualifications

• Significant public accounting tax experience.
• Strong knowledge across 1040s, partnerships/pass-throughs, Trust & Estate, and privately held businesses.
• Experience reviewing complex returns and overseeing engagements.
• Experience managing and developing tax professionals.
• CPA strongly preferred.
• The judgment and personality to eventually operate at the Partner level.

Responsibilities

• Oversee complex tax engagements from planning through delivery; review sophisticated individual, partnership, trust, estate, and business returns.
• Advise HNW individuals and privately held businesses on tax planning opportunities.
• Manage and mentor a small team; serve as a senior point of contact for key client relationships.
• Work closely with Partners on technical and strategic matters; help improve processes as the practice scales.
• Build toward Partner rather than simply perform the duties of a Director.

Skills

Public accounting tax experience

Client-facing

Advisory capabilities

Leadership

CPA preferred

Education

Certified Public Accountant (CPA)

Job description

Tax Director | Clear Path to Partner | ~200k

Big-Firm Caliber Work Without the Big-Firm Lifestyle

There are plenty of Tax Director jobs that promise "great culture" and "work-life balance."

This one actually delivers it.

MacKai West is partnered with a rapidly growing CPA firm in the Greater Philadelphia area seeking a Tax Director to join its leadership team, oversee a talented group of tax professionals, and ultimately grow into a Partner-level role.

The firm was built by professionals who came from larger national accounting firms. They liked the sophisticated work, strong clients, and high standards—but they didn't believe doing great work should require sacrificing your life to do it.

They've created something different: high-level tax work, excellent compensation, ambitious growth, genuinely good people, and a culture where nobody takes themselves too seriously.

And it's working. The firm is growing rapidly, people stay, and this hire will play an important role in where the business goes next.

Why This Opportunity Is Different

A legitimate path to Partner.

This isn't "Partner track" buried at the bottom of a job description. The firm is growing, the opportunity is there, and they're looking for someone capable of becoming part of the future leadership of the practice.

Many members of the team began their careers with larger national firms. They brought the technical standards and quality of work with them—and deliberately left behind the unsustainable hours and bureaucracy.

People actually like working here.

Collaborative gets thrown around constantly in job descriptions. Here, it means something. It's a smart, down-to-earth group of people who help each other, enjoy working together, and don't have much interest in corporate politics or unnecessary hierarchy.

Excellent compensation without the lifestyle tradeoff.

You shouldn't have to choose between being well paid and having a life outside of work. This firm doesn't believe you should either.

A business with real momentum.

This isn't a stagnant practice replacing someone who's been sitting in the same seat for 20 years. The firm is growing aggressively, and there is genuine opportunity for an incoming Director to help shape that growth.

The Role

As Tax Director, you'll take a leadership position within a broad-based tax practice while managing and developing a small team.

The client portfolio offers enough variety to keep the work interesting, with significant exposure across:

• High-Net-Worth Individuals / complex 1040s
• Partnerships & pass-through entities
• Privately held and small-to-midsize businesses
• Tax planning and advisory engagements

This is not intended to be a narrow technical-specialist position. The ideal person is a strong tax generalist who enjoys understanding the complete client relationship and can comfortably move between individual, entity, fiduciary, and planning matters.

At the Director level, you'll increasingly operate as an advisor rather than simply a reviewer—working directly with clients, identifying planning opportunities, developing the team beneath you, and building relationships that can grow with the firm.

What You'll Do

You'll oversee complex tax engagements from planning through delivery; review sophisticated individual, partnership, trust, estate, and business returns; advise HNW individuals and privately held businesses on tax planning opportunities; manage and mentor a small team; serve as a senior point of contact for key client relationships; work closely with Partners on technical and strategic matters; help improve processes as the practice continues to scale; and gradually take on greater responsibility for relationship development and the growth of the firm.

Most importantly, you'll have the opportunity to build toward Partner rather than simply perform the duties of a Director indefinitely.

Who We're Looking For

We're interested in speaking with accomplished public accounting tax professionals who have:

• Significant public accounting tax experience
• Strong technical knowledge across 1040s, partnerships/pass-throughs, Trust & Estate, and privately held businesses
• Experience reviewing complex returns and overseeing engagements
• Experience managing and developing tax professionals
• Strong client-facing and advisory capabilities
• CPA strongly preferred
• The judgment and personality to eventually operate at the Partner level

You may already be a West Chester/Philly Tax Director, or you may be a strong Senior Tax Manager who has reached the point where you're ready for the next step but can't see a compelling path forward at your current firm.

The Bottom Line

If you're successful in public accounting but tired of the idea that advancement has to mean more hours, more politics, and less of a life, this is worth a conversation.

You can work with sophisticated clients.

You can be paid extremely well.

You can continue progressing toward Partner.

You can work alongside talented people.

And you can still have a life outside of tax season.

Those things shouldn't be mutually exclusive—and at this firm, they aren't.