Tax Manager

Distinct | North America; Cockeysville (MD); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity ownership

4 weeks PTO

Hybrid working

Healthcare plans

401(k) match

8 holidays

Bonus opportunity

Annual firm trip

Job summary

Distinct | North America is seeking a Tax Manager to lead engagements and manage client relationships in a growing, employee-owned firm. The role offers real ownership in client success and a fast track to Partner as you help shape the practice.

You’ll mentor staff, drive tax strategy, and work across specialist teams while pursuing business development opportunities and high-impact client service.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of public accounting tax experience.
• CPA preferred.
• Experience with Big 4, national or established regional firms.

Responsibilities

• Leading tax engagements and overseeing compliance and consulting work.
• Becoming a primary contact for a portfolio of middle market clients.
• Advising businesses on tax strategy and technical developments.
• Identifying planning and advisory opportunities.
• Mentoring, training and developing Seniors and staff.
• Working alongside other specialist teams across the wider firm.
• Supporting business development and new client relationships.
• Building towards Partner for someone with that ambition.

Skills

Tax experience (5+ years)

Education

CPA certification

Job description

$120,000 to $160,000 + bonus + employee ownership

Most Tax Managers don't need another job with the same responsibilities and a slightly different logo.

By this point, you've already proved you can review complex work, manage deadlines, develop staff and keep clients happy. The more interesting question is what all of that is actually building towards.

This opportunity has a pretty clear answer.

You'd be joining a rapidly growing, 100% employee owned consulting and financial services firm where Tax Managers are given genuine ownership of client relationships, exposure to business development and, importantly, a fast track route towards Partner.

And because every colleague becomes an owner after their first year, helping the firm grow isn't just good for somebody else's balance sheet. You actually participate in the value you're helping to create.

Why they're hiring

The firm has become one of the faster growing businesses in its space and is expanding its Tax team to keep pace. Rather than viewing Managers as another layer between Seniors and Partners, they want people capable of becoming an important part of where the practice goes next.

You'll become a focal point for middle market clients, taking responsibility for relationships and engagements whilst working closely with senior leadership.

That means your role will include:

• Leading tax engagements and overseeing compliance and consulting work
• Becoming a primary contact for a portfolio of middle market clients
• Advising businesses on tax strategy and technical developments
• Identifying planning and advisory opportunities
• Mentoring, training and developing Seniors and staff
• Working alongside other specialist teams across the wider firm
• Supporting business development and new client relationships
• Helping improve processes rather than simply inheriting them
• Building towards Partner for someone with that ambition

It's considerably broader than sitting at the end of a review queue.

The client work gets more interesting at this level

The firm works with everyone from rapidly growing businesses through to major national organisations, which gives Managers the opportunity to deal with more sophisticated questions and become properly embedded in their clients' businesses.

You'll still need to be technically strong, but the bigger value at this level is judgement.

What does this change in legislation actually mean for the client? Is there another service within the firm that could solve a problem they're having? Where could planning now save them a headache twelve months down the line?

The firm has multiple specialist practices spanning finance, technology, consulting and accounting, so when a client's problem stretches beyond tax, there's usually somebody internally who can help.

That's a very different client conversation from simply getting the return filed in time.

The Partner track is worth talking about

Every firm talks about progression.

This one is specifically hiring Managers with the appetite to become future Partners.

You'll get exposure to the pieces that matter at that level: client relationships, team development, business development, commercial thinking and growing the wider Tax practice.

They want someone who can eventually help build the business, not simply manage the work already sitting inside it.

And there's another unusual piece to this.

The firm is 100% employee owned.

Once you've completed a year with the business, you receive genuine equity ownership. As your tenure increases and the firm succeeds, your stake can grow alongside it.

There's something rather sensible about that.

If you're helping create the value, you should probably share in some of it.

Big firm opportunity without feeling quite so corporate

There are around 400 people across the wider business, so you're getting the infrastructure, specialist resources and sophisticated client exposure of a substantial firm.

But relationships remain a major part of how the business operates.

The culture is built around collaboration and trusted personal relationships, with Managers expected to develop the people underneath them rather than simply distribute work to them.

The firm has also received workplace recognition from organisations including Inc., Accounting Today, Inside Public Accounting and the Baltimore Business Journal, while its organic growth has previously been recognised nationally.

For someone coming from Big 4, national or larger regional public accounting, it could be a particularly interesting middle ground: keep the quality and complexity, but gain more ownership over where your own career goes.

And the benefits are genuinely good

There are some benefits you skim over in a job advert.

These probably aren't those.

Alongside the $120,000 to $160,000 base salary, you'll receive a comprehensive package including:

• Equity ownership after one year
• At least 4 weeks PTO
• Hybrid working – 2 days in office
• Multiple healthcare plan options
• 401(k) with employer match
• 8 firm paid holidays
• Bonus opportunity
• An annual firm trip for you and a guest to an all inclusive tropical destination

That final one isn't a typo.

Accountancy may never compete with Formula 1 for glamour, but taking your partner on an all inclusive tropical trip courtesy of the firm isn't a terrible start.

Who they're looking for

You'll need around 5+ years of public accounting tax experience, including strong preparation and review experience and the confidence to advise businesses on their wider tax strategy.

A CPA is preferred, and experience within a Big 4, national or established regional firm would translate particularly well.

Beyond the technical requirements, you'll probably thrive here if you:

• Enjoy owning client relationships rather than sitting behind them
• Like developing Seniors and staff
• Want more advisory and strategic exposure
• Have an interest in business development
• Want your ideas to influence how the practice operates
• Genuinely see Partner as somewhere you'd like your career to go

Because that's really the distinction with this opportunity.

They're not simply looking for someone capable of being a Tax Manager.

They're looking for someone who might eventually outgrow the title.

What happens next matters more than the title today

You could probably find another Tax Manager position fairly easily.

The rarer thing is finding one where the next chapter is already part of the conversation.

Here, you can manage sophisticated clients, develop people, build your commercial experience and work towards Partner whilst owning a piece of the firm you're helping grow.

That's a rather different proposition from simply becoming responsible for a bigger review queue.