State and Local Tax Director- HNW/Private Wealth (Residency)

Overview

Baker Tilly is a leading advisory, tax and assurance firm, providing clients with a genuine coast-to-coast and global advantage in major regions of the U.S. and in many of the world’s leading financial centers – New York, London, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston. Baker Tilly Advisory Group, LP and Baker Tilly US, LLP (Baker Tilly) provide professional services through an alternative practice structure in accordance with the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct and applicable laws, regulations and professional standards. Baker Tilly US, LLP is a licensed independent CPA firm that provides attest services to its clients. Baker Tilly Advisory Group, LP and its subsidiary entities provide tax and business advisory services to their clients. Baker Tilly Advisory Group, LP and its subsidiary entities are not licensed CPA firms.

Baker Tilly Advisory Group, LP and Baker Tilly US, LLP, trading as Baker Tilly, are independent members of Baker Tilly International, a worldwide network of independent accounting and business advisory firms in 141 territories, with 43,000 professionals and a combined worldwide revenue of $5.2 billion. Visit bakertilly.com or join the conversation on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.  

Please discuss the work location status with your Baker Tilly talent acquisition professional to understand the requirements for an opportunity you are exploring.

Baker Tilly is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability or protected veteran status, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other legally protected basis, in accordance with applicable federal, state or local law.

Any unsolicited resumes submitted through our website or to Baker Tilly Advisory Group, LP, employee e-mail accounts are considered property of Baker Tilly Advisory Group, LP, and are not subject to payment of agency fees. In order to be an authorized recruitment agency ("search firm") for Baker Tilly Advisory Group, LP, there must be a formal written agreement in place and the agency must be invited, by Baker Tilly's Talent Attraction team, to submit candidates for review via our applicant tracking system.

Job Description:

 

Baker Tilly, one of the fastest growing CPA advisory firms in the nation, has an incredible career opportunity for a State & Local Tax Director focused on High Net Worth Individual, Estate, and Trust tax consulting to join and help expand our State & Local Tax (SALT) Residency practice!

Our SALT practice is made up of 300+ professionals across the U.S., providing a full spectrum of state and local tax services. In this role, you will be a senior leader in Baker Tilly's delivery of residency, domicile, controversy, and related state income tax services to high net worth individuals and families.

Working closely with leaders in our Private Wealth practice, you will build a differentiated national capability serving high net worth individuals, families, business owners, executives, and family offices. You will lead our most complex and significant residency matters, strengthen key client and referral relationships, drive business development, oversee technical quality and risk, and develop the next generation of leaders within the practice.

Must be located in California near a Baker Tilly office.

You will enjoy this role if:

• You want to be recognized as a senior advisor and subject matter leader in high-net-worth residency and state income taxation.
• You enjoy advising sophisticated high net worth clients and their families on significant decisions and complex state tax controversies.
• You have the judgment to lead high-stakes matters involving significant tax exposure, sensitive client circumstances, and challenging state tax authorities.
• You enjoy building a business—originating opportunities, expanding client relationships, and developing strong referral networks across the Private Wealth ecosystem
• You enjoy developing senior professionals, building high-performing teams, and creating opportunities for others to lead with increasing independence.

What you’ll do:

• Serve as a senior strategic advisor to high net worth individuals, families, business owners, executives, and family offices on their most significant state income tax matters.
• Lead the firm's most complex residency, domicile, and multistate individual income tax matters, including significant planning engagements, audits, appeals, and controversies. Serve as the senior escalation point for difficult technical and judgmental issues and guide clients through significant risk and resolution decisions.
• Provide executive-level quality and risk oversight for significant engagements, including review of higher-risk positions, technical analyses, controversy strategies, documentation, and client communications.
• Partner with leaders in Baker Tilly's Private Wealth practice to establish and execute a coordinated strategy for delivering residency and state income tax services to high net worth clients nationally.
• Develop strong relationships with Private Wealth partners and senior professionals and proactively identify opportunities within the firm's existing client base where residency and state income tax expertise can provide additional value.
• Take a leadership role in business development and revenue growth, including originating new opportunities, developing new client relationships, expanding existing relationships, and maintaining a strong pipeline of prospective engagements.
• Build and maintain a network of external referral sources, including attorneys, wealth advisors, family offices, investment professionals, bankers, and other trusted advisors to high net worth individuals.
• Lead significant prospective client meetings and proposals, articulate Baker Tilly's value proposition, develop engagement strategies and pricing, and help convert opportunities into long-term client relationships.
• Establish a visible market presence through thought leadership, including articles, technical alerts, external speaking engagements, webinars, conferences, and relationships with organizations serving high net worth individuals and their advisors.
• Monitor important legislative, regulatory, administrative, and judicial developments and help establish the firm's technical positions, client messaging, and market response to significant developments.
• Help define and continuously improve the practice's methodologies, technical resources, engagement approaches, documentation standards, and quality control processes.
• Maintain executive oversight of a portfolio of significant client relationships and engagements, focusing on client satisfaction, technical quality, risk management, engagement economics, and long-term relationship development rather than day-to-day project administration.
• Provide strategic direction and appropriate oversight to Senior Managers and Managers while holding engagement leaders accountable for independent execution and delivery.
• Develop Senior Managers, Managers, and emerging leaders, providing coaching on technical judgment, executive presence, client relationship management, business development, delegation, and team leadership.
• Create opportunities for team members to develop client relationships and market visibility, intentionally transitioning appropriate responsibilities and relationships to build depth and succession within the practice.
• Participate actively in recruiting, retention, performance management, promotion, succession planning, and other talent initiatives important to building a sustainable and high-performing team.
• Collaborate with SALT and Private Wealth leadership on strategic planning, resource needs, investments, market opportunities, revenue goals, and other initiatives supporting the continued growth of the High Net Worth Residency practice.
• Represent Baker Tilly in the marketplace and contribute to the firm's reputation as a leading advisor to high net worth individuals and families on complex residency and state income tax matters.

Minimum Qualifications

• 4- year degree
• CPA, CMI or Law License/JD, LLM required

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field required; Master's, JD, LLM, or other advanced degree preferred.
• 12 years of professional experience
• Extensive state and local tax experience, including deep technical expertise in individual income taxation, residency and domicile, statutory residency, income sourcing, and significant state tax audits and controversies; professional services experience strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated success generating new business, expanding client relationships, developing referral sources, and building a strong marketplace presence and sustainable pipeline.
• Proven ability to lead through others, including developing senior professionals, delegating effectively, building accountability, and attracting and retaining high-performing talent.
• Executive-level communication, presentation, negotiation, and relationship-management skills.
• Demonstrated thought leadership through writing, speaking, training, or other market-facing activities.
• Ability to balance growth, client service, technical quality, talent development, engagement economics, and risk management across a significant portfolio of relationships and engagements.
• Strong entrepreneurial mindset and demonstrated interest in building and expanding a specialized professional services practice.
• Eligibility to work in the U.S. without sponsorship required.

The pay rate ranges for this position are listed below. This range represents a good-faith and reasonable estimate of the compensation the firm expects to pay for this position at the time of posting. Actual compensation will depend on a variety of relevant factors, including an applicant’s skills, experience, qualifications, professional certifications, work arrangements, geographic location, and other business and organizational needs. It is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range, and compensation decisions depend on the facts and circumstances of each case. Baker Tilly offers a compensation and benefits package to eligible employees.

The national pay rate range is $189,000 to $306,800

In California: pay rate range is $207,900 to $337,800