Head of Tax - Alpaca

Who We Are

Alpaca is a US-headquartered, global leader in agent-first brokerage infrastructure for stocks, ETFs, options, crypto, fixed income, 24/5 trading, and more. Serving hundreds of financial institutions across 40 countries with institutional-grade APIs, our platform supports broker-dealers, investment advisors, wealth managers, hedge funds, and crypto exchanges, totalling over 10 million brokerage accounts.

Our global team is a diverse group of experienced engineers, traders, and brokerage professionals working to open financial services to everyone on the planet. Alpaca is proudly backed by $400 million in funding from top-tier global investors.

Your Role

The Head of Tax will report directly to the Global Controller and lead the company’s global tax function. This role will own tax strategy, governance, compliance, reporting, and planning across a growing multinational organization. You will serve as the primary tax subject-matter expert, partnering closely with Finance, Legal, Treasury, Product, and business leaders to ensure tax considerations are thoughtfully incorporated into new products, international expansion, transactions, and broader business decisions.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the company’s global tax function, including tax strategy, governance, risk management, compliance, reporting, and planning.
• Manage U.S. federal, state, and international income tax compliance, including foreign reporting requirements and coordination of local-country filings.
• Oversee indirect tax and withholding obligations, including sales and use tax, VAT/GST, and cross-border withholding taxes.
• Own the annual and interim tax provision under U.S. GAAP and ASC 740, including deferred taxes, valuation allowances, uncertain tax positions, and related financial statement disclosures.
• Develop and maintain a global tax compliance calendar, internal controls, policies, and supporting documentation appropriate for a scaling, audit-ready organization.
• Lead tax planning related to legal entity structuring, capitalization, intercompany arrangements, repatriation, and expansion into new markets.
• Develop and maintain transfer pricing policies, intercompany agreements, documentation, and implementation across international entities.
• Assess permanent establishment, nexus, tax residency, and other risks arising from global operations and workforce.
• Partner with Finance, Legal, Treasury, Product, and business operations teams to provide tax guidance on contracts, new products, regulated financial-services activities, and operational decisions.
• Support M&A tax due diligence, transaction structuring, purchase accounting, and post-acquisition integration.
• Manage tax authority inquiries, examinations, notices, and disputes, ensuring timely resolution and appropriate remediation.
• Monitor legislative and regulatory tax developments and communicate their financial, operational, and strategic impact to leadership.
• Lead tax forecasting and cash-tax planning in coordination with FP&A and Treasury.
• Oversee tax residency certificates, treaty-relief documentation, and related filings, including Forms 8802 and 6166.
• Manage external tax advisors, budgets, deliverables, and service quality while developing scalable internal tax capabilities.
• Identify and implement opportunities to improve tax efficiency, controls, data quality, processes, and automation.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field; CPA and/or Master’s in Taxation strongly preferred.
• 8-10+ years of relevant tax experience, combining public accounting and in-house corporate tax experience.
• Strong knowledge of U.S. federal and state taxation, with meaningful experience managing international tax matters and foreign entity compliance.
• Strong knowledge of ASC 740 and demonstrated experience owning the tax provision process.
• Experience overseeing tax matters across multiple legal entities and jurisdictions.
• Experience with transfer pricing, intercompany arrangements, indirect taxes, withholding taxes, and international expansion.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and implement scalable tax policies, processes, and internal controls.
• Experience managing external tax advisors, audits, tax authority matters, and competing filing deadlines.
• Strong analytical and project-management skills with exceptional attention to detail.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain complex tax matters to non-tax stakeholders and senior leadership.
• Experience within a multinational fintech, financial-services, brokerage, or digital-assets business is strongly preferred.
• Experience supporting M&A transactions and post-acquisition integration is preferred.

Benefits

• Competitive Salary & Stock Options
• Health Benefits
• New Hire Home-Office Setup: $500 USD one-time
• Monthly Stipend: $150 USD per month via a Brex Card