Sr Manager, Indirect Tax Compliance
Position Overview:
The Senior Manager, Indirect Tax Compliance is accountable for end-to-end U.S. indirect tax compliance, covering multi-state Sales & Use Tax and highly specialized Federal and State Excise Tax obligations for tobacco, smokeless, and modern nicotine products. The role ensures accurate tax determination, timely filing and payment, robust audit defense, and strong governance over tax engines and source data. This position operates at the intersection of tax policy, systems, and operations and is critical to maintaining license-to-operate in a heavily regulated nicotine and smokeless products environment.
Key Responsibilities:
A. Sales & Use Tax Compliance
- Own multi-state sales & use tax compliance across all U.S. jurisdictions, including nexus assessment, registrations, return preparation, filing, and remittance.
- Oversee taxability determinations for products, services, promotions, and new business models, ensuring correct application of state and local rules.
- Serve as business owner for the U.S. sales tax engine (e.g., Avalara AvaTax), including configuration, testing, tax code mapping, exemption certificate handling, and ongoing maintenance.
- Partner with IT, Commercial, and Finance teams to ensure accurate upstream data (product master, ship-to/ship-from logic, pricing, customer exemptions) feeding the tax engine.
- Monitor economic and physical nexus thresholds post-Wayfair and ensure timely registrations and compliance as thresholds are crossed.
B. Federal & State Excise Tax (Tobacco & Nicotine)
- Lead Federal and State excise tax compliance for tobacco, smokeless tobacco, and modern nicotine products, including calculation, filing, and payment obligations.
- Serve as business owner for the U.S. excise tax engine (e.g., IGEN), including configuration, testing, tax code mapping, and ongoing maintenance.
- Oversee compliance with federal excise tax requirements administered by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), including return preparation, inventories, and supporting records where applicable.
- Manage complex state excise tax regimes that vary by product type, tax base (unit, weight, volume, or ad valorem), and jurisdiction.
- Ensure accurate product classification and tax base determination for emerging nicotine categories, working closely with Legal and Regulatory affairs on interpretation of state statutes.
- Coordinate excise tax audits, information requests, and assessments; lead responses, remediation plans, and settlement discussions as needed.
C. Governance, Controls & Audit Readiness
- Establish and maintain strong internal controls over indirect tax processes, including reconciliations, variance analysis, and management review.
- Define and track KPIs (on-time filing, error rates, audit findings, cash tax variances) and report regularly to U.S. Tax Operations leadership.
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives to automate filings, improve data quality, and reduce manual interventions.
- Lead and develop a team of indirect tax professionals; set clear objectives, provide coaching, and ensure appropriate workload prioritization.
Who we're looking for:
- Bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, or related field (CPA, MST, or similar preferred).
- 8+ years of progressive experience in U.S. indirect tax compliance, including multi-state Sales & Use Tax and excise tax.
- Demonstrated experience supporting excise tax compliance for tobacco, smokeless tobacco, and/or nicotine products in a highly regulated environment.
- Hands-on experience owning or administering a sales tax engine (e.g., Avalara AvaTax, Vertex, ONESOURCE), including configuration and controls.
- Strong understanding of post-Wayfair economic nexus rules and their operational impact on large, multi-entity organizations.
- Proven ability to manage audits, interact with tax authorities, and resolve complex compliance issues.
- People leadership experience with the ability to lead technical specialists and influence cross-functional stakeholders.
What's nice to have:
- Experience with emerging nicotine and smoke-free product categories (e.g., nicotine pouches, heated tobacco, etc.) and their evolving excise tax treatment.
- Experience in integrating indirect tax requirements into ERP, e-commerce, and order management systems.
- Prior experience in consumer products, tobacco, alcohol, or other excise-taxed industry.
Relevant Open Sourcing Considerations
- Be legally authorized to work in the US
- International relocation support is not available for this job
- If you have been in your current job for less than 12 months or if you are on a Performance Improvement Program, you must get the approval of your current manager before applying for the job.
- If you are not a PMI employee and employed by a third an agency, please make a formal application via the external career site at https://join.pmicareers.com/
- To find out more about eligibility to apply for internal jobs, please refer to the Open Sourcing Employee Guidebook on the Internal Careers Portal.
What we offer
- We offer a competitive base salary, annual bonus (applicable based on level of position), great medical, dental and vision coverage, 401k with a generous company match, incredible wellness benefits, commuter benefits, pet insurance, generous PTO, and much more!
- We have implemented Smart Work, a hybrid model of working that promotes flexibility in the workplace.
- Seize the freedom to define your future and ours. We'll empower you to take risks, experiment and explore.
- Be part of an inclusive, diverse culture where everyone's contribution is respected; Collaborate with some of the world's best people and feel like you belong.
- Pursue your ambitions and develop your skills with a global business - our staggering size and scale provides endless opportunities to progress.
- Take pride in delivering our promise to society: To improve the lives of millions of smokers.
