Job SummaryKairos is seeking a Director of Tax to lead the company's tax strategy, compliance, reporting, and incentive monetization activities. This role is central to maximizing the value of federal and state tax incentives-including R&D tax credits; clean electricity and advanced nuclear investment and production tax credits; and other energy-, manufacturing-, and technology-related programs-while ensuring disciplined management of the company's broader tax obligations.
The Director of Tax will serve as the company's senior tax advisor, partnering with Finance, Accounting, Legal, Strategy, Business Development, Engineering, Operations, Procurement, and other teams to integrate tax considerations into business decisions, financial planning, new ventures, geographic expansion, transactions, and capital investment. The role will be highly hands-on initially and will build the processes, systems, controls, and team required as Kairos transitions from a development-stage company to a scaled industrial enterprise and moves toward public-company standards.
This is not a narrow compliance role. The Director of Tax will be a value-creation leader and strategic business partner-converting Kairos' innovation and capital investment into cash benefits, integrating tax into major decisions, and building the infrastructure, controls, systems, and team required for scale and future public-market access.
ResponsibilitiesEnterprise Tax Strategy & Business Partnership- Develop and execute an enterprise tax strategy that supports business objectives, optimizes tax outcomes, and manages tax risk while maintaining full compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
- Advise senior leadership on the tax implications of significant business decisions, including capital investments, entity and ownership structures, financings, new ventures, geographic expansion, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and restructurings.
- Partner with Finance, Strategy, and Business Development to incorporate tax implications, incentive economics, and cash-tax impacts into financial models, budgets, forecasts, and investment decisions.
- Monitor legislative, regulatory, and accounting developments and translate changes into clear recommendations, implementation plans, and risk-management actions.
Federal and State Tax Incentives & Credits - Lead the identification, pursuit, documentation, and monetization of federal and state tax incentives, including but not limited to:
- Federal and state clean energy and advanced nuclear incentives, with particular emphasis on investment tax credits for eligible nuclear facilities, as well as production tax credits and other project-specific programs.
- R&D tax credits, including Section 41 qualification and related Section 174 analysis and documentation.
- Manufacturing, energy, and technology-related credits.
- Transferable credits and other monetization mechanisms, including refundable programs where applicable.
- Partner closely with engineering, operations, finance, and legal teams to:
- Identify qualifying activities, assets, and expenditures.
- Establish defensible methodologies for credit calculation and allocation.
- Prepare qualitative and quantitative workpapers, audit-ready documentation, and substantiation.
- Manage external advisors supporting incentive studies, filings, credit transferability, monetization, and examinations.
- Oversee credit utilization, carryforwards, refunds, transfer proceeds, and cash-realization timing.
- Establish processes to track and report the financial impact of credits and incentives and confirm that approved benefits are fully realized.
- Establish processes to monitor ongoing incentive conditions and commitments, identify potential recapture or repayment exposure, and coordinate corrective actions with responsible teams.
Income, Partnership & Financial Reporting- Own U.S. federal, state, and local income tax compliance and reporting, as well as international filings and planning if required by the company's activities.
- Oversee partnership and owner-reporting matters for entities taxed as partnerships, including partnership returns, Schedule K-1s, allocations, distributions, and owner inquiries, as applicable.
- Manage amended or restated returns, administrative adjustment requests, and related owner reporting when required.
- Manage income tax provision calculations, financial statement disclosures, and related reporting in coordination with Accounting and external advisors.
- Forecast tax liabilities and cash-tax requirements and ensure appropriate assumptions are reflected in budgets, forecasts, and long-range plans.
- Support tax planning related to entity structure, state and local taxes, intercompany arrangements, transfer pricing documentation, and future growth.
- Manage income-tax audits and inquiries and ensure that material tax positions are supported by appropriate analysis, documentation, and risk-management strategies.
Sales & Use and Indirect Taxes- Oversee sales and use tax compliance across multiple jurisdictions.
- Establish processes to identify nexus, exemptions, registrations, and filing requirements as the company expands.
- Partner with procurement, construction, operations, and finance teams to ensure proper tax treatment of capital expenditures, construction activities, and operating purchases.
- Manage audits, inquiries, and controversy matters related to indirect taxes.
Property and Other Operational Taxes- Manage real and personal property tax filings, valuations, payments, and appeals.
- Coordinate with facilities, construction, finance, and operations teams to ensure accurate asset classification and reporting.
- Oversee other operational tax filings as required, including gross receipts, franchise, excise, and similar taxes.
Governance, Controls, Technology & Public-Company Readiness- Establish scalable tax policies, procedures, documentation standards, and internal controls that support effective tax-risk management.
- Support the design, documentation, and implementation of tax-related internal controls in preparation for Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance frameworks as the company matures.
- Drive the implementation and enhancement of tax technology and data solutions to automate compliance, improve accuracy, and support scale.
- Define useful performance measures for tax compliance, incentive realization, process quality, and team effectiveness.
- Coordinate with auditors and advisors to maintain audit-ready tax processes and support quarterly and annual financial reporting, including tax-related disclosures.
- Support IPO-readiness planning and preparation for public-company tax reporting and compliance requirements.
Team Leadership & External Relationships- Operate as a hands-on functional leader while designing the long-term operating model for the tax function.
- Build, develop, and mentor a high-performing internal tax team as the company's needs and scale warrant, including appropriate training and upskilling.
- Manage relationships with external tax advisors, service providers, auditors, and governmental agencies.
- Lead special tax projects and continuous process-improvement initiatives across the organization.
Qualifications- Progressive tax experience in a combination of public accounting and/or in-house tax leadership roles, including experience leading tax functions or significant tax engagements.
- Demonstrated, hands-on experience successfully identifying, securing, and realizing benefits from federal and state tax incentives, including clean energy investment or production tax credits and R&D tax credits, with strong working knowledge of Sections 41 and 174.
- Deep knowledge of U.S. federal and state tax regimes, including partnership, state and local, and tax-accounting matters.
- Experience overseeing income, partnership, sales and use, property, and other operational tax compliance, as well as tax provisions, financial statement disclosures, forecasting, audits, and tax-risk management.
- Experience leading cross-functional tax projects involving technical, operational, financial, and legal teams.
- Ability to balance strategic planning and executive-level advising with detailed, hands-on execution.
- Experience supporting manufacturing, energy, infrastructure, nuclear, or advanced-technology companies, preferred.
- Experience with investment, refundable, and/or transferable tax credit programs, preferred.
- Experience with partnership and owner reporting, transfer pricing, international tax matters, or tax-efficient transaction structuring, preferred.
- Prior involvement in mergers and acquisitions, new ventures, geographic expansion, IPO preparation, or public-company environments, preferred.
- Experience implementing tax technology or materially improving tax processes and reporting systems, preferred.
- Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Juris Doctor (JD), or Master of Science in Taxation (MST) strongly preferred.
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities- Expert knowledge of U.S. federal and state tax regimes, including partnership, state and local, and tax-accounting matters.
- Ability to evaluate complex tax positions, identify documentation gaps, and apply professional judgment to assess and communicate tax risk.
- Ability to prioritize competing tax obligations and projects, manage deadlines, and adjust plan as business requirements change.
- Ability to develop practical solutions to complex tax issues and perform detailed, hands-on work to implement them.
- Ability to communicate complex tax concepts clearly to executives and non-tax stakeholders.
- Ability to obtain and reconcile information from technical and business stakeholders and resolve tax issues collaboratively with internal teams, external advisors, and governmental agencies.
- Ability to translate business needs into a scalable tax operating model, including staffing, external support, processes, controls, and technology.
Physical Demands- Remaining in a stationary position, often standing or sitting, for prolonged periods.
- Moving about to accomplish tasks or moving from one worksite to another.
- Communicating with others to exchange information.
Environmental Conditions- General office environment
- Assessing the accuracy, neatness and thoroughness of the work assigned
- High-concentration, demanding and fast-paced
Safety and PPE- Reading and interpreting hazardous warning signs
- Reporting issues with equipment or unsafe conditions
- Wearing proper PPE, to include face mask, face shields, gloves, safety footwear, or other PPE as required
Travel- Some travel may be required, up to 5%
Certification/Licensure- Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license is strongly preferred.
Additional Requirements- Occasionally requires working weekends
- Occasionally requires schedule flexibility
- Occasionally required non-standard work-week hours
- Occasionally requires extended hours to support launch and critical project timelines
The salary range for this position is $209,400 to $261,700 for employees working onsite at our Alameda, CA headquarters. The range provided in this job posting represents the typical range or starting rate of candidates hired in California. Factors that may be used to determine your actual salary may include your education, experience, knowledge, skills, abilities, the market data for your work location, and a comparison to other employees already in the role.
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About our BenefitsWe know that we have some of the most talented and dedicated employees, and we believe in rewarding them accordingly. If you work here, full-time employees (excludes interns) expect to have access to the benefits below:
- Competitive compensation packages
- Medical, dental and vision benefits for employees and their dependents
- Paid Vacation
- 401(k) and pre-tax health insurance, dependent care, and commuter benefits (FSA)
