Kickstarter is the leading crowdfunding platform for creative projects across film, games, music, art, design, and technology. Since our founding in 2009, our mission to help bring creative projects to life has been powered by the people behind the work.
Together, we’ve helped creators around the world launch creative projects that have generated billions of dollars in pledges. That same commitment extends inward. Rooted in shared values, Kickstarter invests in the growth and success of our team, treating employees as whole people and empowering them with the autonomy and space to participate in decisions that shape their work and our company.
Kickstarter is seeking an experienced Director, Tax to lead our tax function and set the strategic direction for tax across the company and its subsidiaries globally. This role is focused on indirect tax (e.g., VAT, GST, and sales tax) strategy related to Kickstarter’s marketplace sales products. Direct tax matters will also sit under this role. You'll be the company's primary internal tax authority, advising executive leadership and collaborating with cross-functional stakeholders including legal, product, and finance on the tax implications of new markets, product offerings, and structures, while modernizing and scaling Kickstarter's tax technology and processes for our global user base. This is a high-visibility role for a strategic tax leader who is highly curious, stays ahead of evolving tax guidance across jurisdictions, and wants to build a function, not just run one.
Candidates based in the United States and United Kingdom are strongly preferred.
The salary range for this role in the United States is $185,000 - 225,000.
In This Role, You Will:
- Own the company's global indirect tax strategy globally, setting priorities and risk tolerance in partnership with Finance and Legal leadership.
- Build, manage, and develop a tax team, establishing standards, workflows, and career development paths as the function scales.
- Set the roadmap for the Company's tax technology stack (including Avalara and adjacent tools), leading automation and process initiatives that reduce manual operations and support global expansion.
- Design and implement indirect tax processes and controls purpose-built for a marketplace model, drawing on prior experience standing up this kind of process at another marketplace or online platform.
- Serve as the primary relationship owner for the Company's external tax advisors across jurisdictions, directing engagement priorities and ensuring advice and assumed risk are clearly communicated to executive stakeholders.
- Act as the primary resource when assessing tax impact and explaining Kickstarter’s tax policy with strategic new and existing creators and high value partners
- Ultimately own the accuracy, timeliness, and integrity of VAT, sales tax, and corporate filings across all applicable jurisdictions, overseeing the team and advisors who execute them.
- Partner directly with Legal, Product, and executive leadership to evaluate and structure the tax implications of new offerings, markets, and business models, including entity structuring and cross-border considerations.
- Own transfer pricing policy and documentation across subsidiaries, in partnership with external advisors.
- Lead the Company's response to tax notices and audits, including managing outside counsel and advisors on higher-stakes or multi-jurisdiction matters.
- Partner with the Insights team to establish reconciliation standards between internal data and filed returns, and resolve discrepancies at a structural level.
- Direct product testing standards for tax calculation accuracy as the Company launches new features or expands into new jurisdictions.
- Own the tax input into the Company's audited financial statements, partnering with Accounting leadership on technical positions, disclosures, and month-end close for all tax-related entries.
- Act as the executive-level point of contact for tax matters in board and audit committee materials, as needed.
- Set the strategy and standards for the Company's tax help center and customer-facing indirect tax content, ensuring accuracy and consistency as the product evolves.
About You
- You have extensive experience in indirect tax leadership, ideally including time at a two-sided marketplace or platform business, with an understanding of how those models complicate tax treatment.
- You have hands-on technical proficiency with Avalara and comparable tax engines, not just oversight, but the ability to work inside the tooling to configure, troubleshoot, and improve it.
- You have Big 4 accounting experience at the Senior Manager level or above, or equivalent experience at a top law firm, with a track record built in fast-paced, high-precision environments.
- You have experience working at companies both big and small, and understand how tax function needs change as a company scales.
- You have experience building training and enablement for internal, non-tax-expert audiences in partnership with Finance and Legal, helping teams outside of tax make sound day-to-day decisions.
- You have deep technical grounding in how tax code actually works, and you’re pragmatic in your approach to tax. You’re able to quickly discern what's real and actionable risk versus theoretical risk.
- You have strong instincts for audit preparedness, with experience building the documentation and processes that make audits smoother rather than scrambling when one arrives.
- You are comfortable operating with ambiguity and determined to find the right path forward. This role requires sound judgment where the "right answer" isn't written down anywhere yet.
- You are a builder: someone who wants to construct the tax function's team, technology, and processes from the ground up, not just maintain what exists.
- You are collaborative, with experience partnering closely with Product, Legal, and other departments to build solutions together rather than issuing top-down rulings.
You can read more about our benefits and working at Kickstarter at our Jobs page: https://jobs.kickstarter.com/
Our Fully Virtual Team
We’re currently able to support employees based in the following US locations: CA, CO, CT, GA, IL, MA, MD, NC, NJ, NY, OR, SC, VA, VT, and WA. We're also able to support employees in the United Kingdom. If you live in—or are willing to move to—any of these locations, we look forward to your application! If there is a required or preferred location for an open role, it will be listed in the job description.
Kickstarter is an equal opportunity employer. As part of our commitment to fight for equality, we work to ensure a fair and consistent interview process. We celebrate diversity, and we are committed to an inclusive work environment.
Reminder to applicants: Authentic communications from Kickstarter will always originate from official Kickstarter email domains (@kickstarter.com). Exercise caution and verify the legitimacy of anyone who claims to be representing Kickstarter on other platforms.
Please reach out to Kickstarter’s Help Center to report potentially fraudulent contact here: https://help.kickstarter.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
