Head of Tax

ABOUT US:

Fireworks is the platform for specialized intelligence, enabling companies to build, train, and serve AI models tailored to their own data, workflows, and products. Founded by the team behind PyTorch and backed by AMD, Atreides, Benchmark Capital, Index Ventures, Lightspeed, NVIDIA, Sequoia Capital, and TCV, Fireworks powers production AI with hundreds of state-of-the-art open models across text, image, embedding, audio, and multimodal workloads. Today, Fireworks is a Series D company valued at $17.5 billion, bringing together an ambitious, collaborative team that's building the future of enterprise AI.

POSITION OVERVIEW

We are seeking an experienced Head of Tax to lead and manage the organization’s indirect tax function. This role will be responsible for indirect tax compliance, reporting, planning, audits, and risk management, while serving as a key advisor to Finance, Accounting, Legal, Operations, and other business stakeholders.

The successful candidate will bring strong technical expertise in indirect taxation, excellent judgment, and the ability to translate complex tax requirements into practical business solutions. This role is well suited to a tax professional who can operate strategically while maintaining strong oversight of day-to-day compliance and execution.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

INDIRECT TAX COMPLIANCE & REPORTING

- Lead and oversee indirect tax compliance activities, including sales and use tax, VAT/GST, excise taxes, and other transaction-based taxes, as applicable.

- Ensure accurate and timely preparation, review, and filing of indirect tax returns and related payments.

- Maintain appropriate controls, documentation, reconciliations, and supporting workpapers for indirect tax accounts.

- Monitor filing obligations, registrations, nexus requirements, and changes in the organization’s tax footprint.

- Oversee third-party service providers supporting indirect tax compliance and reporting.

TAX ADVISORY & PLANNING

- Serve as the organization’s subject-matter expert on indirect tax matters.

- Advise business partners on the indirect tax implications of new products, services, customer arrangements, geographic expansion, supply-chain changes, and other strategic initiatives.

- Research and interpret complex indirect tax legislation, regulations, and administrative guidance.

- Identify opportunities to improve tax efficiency, reduce risk, and recover overpaid taxes where appropriate.

- Partner with Legal and Finance teams on contracts and commercial arrangements to ensure appropriate indirect tax treatment.

AUDITS & RISK MANAGEMENT

- Lead indirect tax audits, examinations, inquiries, and correspondence with tax authorities.

- Develop audit strategies and coordinate responses, documentation, and negotiations with relevant authorities.

- Proactively identify areas of indirect tax exposure and implement appropriate remediation plans.

- Maintain and enhance the organization’s indirect tax control framework and ensure appropriate governance over key tax processes.

- Monitor legislative and regulatory developments and assess their impact on the business.

SYSTEMS, TECHNOLOGY & PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

- Partner with Finance, Accounting, IT, and Operations to ensure appropriate indirect tax configuration within ERP, billing, procurement, and tax determination systems.

- Drive automation and process improvements to increase the accuracy, scalability, and efficiency of indirect tax processes.

- Support system implementations, upgrades, integrations, and business transformation initiatives from an indirect tax perspective.

- Improve the use of data and analytics for compliance, reconciliations, audit defense, and tax risk management.

LEADERSHIP & STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

- Manage, coach, and develop indirect tax team members, as applicable.

- Establish priorities and ensure effective execution across compliance, advisory, audit, and project responsibilities.

- Build strong relationships with Accounting, FP&A, Treasury, Legal, Procurement, Sales, Operations, IT, and other business teams.

- Communicate complex tax matters clearly to both tax and non-tax stakeholders, including senior leadership.

- Manage relationships with external tax advisors, consultants, and service providers.

QUALIFICATIONS

- Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Taxation, Business, or a related field.

- CPA, CA, JD, LLM, or other relevant professional qualification preferred.

- 8+ years of progressive tax experience, with significant experience in indirect taxation.

- Strong technical knowledge of sales and use tax and/or VAT/GST; experience with additional indirect taxes is advantageous.

- Experience managing indirect tax compliance, audits, research, and advisory matters.

- Experience in a Big Four/public accounting firm, multinational organization, or complex corporate tax environment preferred.

- Strong understanding of accounting processes, financial systems, and internal controls.

- Experience with ERP and indirect tax technology platforms such as NetSuite, Anrok ,Vertex, similar systems is preferred.

- Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities and complex projects in a fast-paced environment.

- Strong analytical, problem-solving, project-management, and communication skills.

- Ability to work effectively across functions and influence stakeholders at multiple levels of an organization.

PREFERRED ATTRIBUTES

- Strategic thinker with a strong understanding of how tax considerations affect broader business decisions.

- Hands-on leader who is comfortable moving between technical analysis and operational execution.

- Strong attention to detail while maintaining a commercial and risk-based perspective.

- Ability to simplify complex tax concepts and provide clear, actionable recommendations.

- Comfortable operating in an evolving environment and building scalable tax processes.

- Demonstrated commitment to developing people, improving processes, and strengthening controls.

SUCCESS IN THIS ROLE

Success will be measured by the accuracy and timeliness of indirect tax compliance, effective management of tax risks and audits, quality of advice provided to the business, improvements in processes and technology, and the ability to build a scalable indirect tax function that supports the organization’s growth.

WHY FIREWORKS?

- Solve Hard Problems: Tackle challenges at the forefront of AI infrastructure, from low-latency inference to scalable model serving.

- Build What’s Next: Work with bleeding-edge technology that impacts how businesses and developers harness AI globally.

- Ownership & Impact: Join a fast-growing, passionate team where your work directly shapes the future of AI—no bureaucracy, just results.

- Learn from the Best: Collaborate with world-class engineers and AI researchers who thrive on curiosity and innovation.

Fireworks AI is an equal-opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all innovators.