Senior Tax Manager

About the role

At Hopper, we’re redefining how people travel by building the most customer-friendly and transparent travel marketplace. With rapid global expansion and a complex mix of products, transactions, and jurisdictions; tax compliance and planning are critical to our success.

We’re looking for a Senior Tax Manager to take ownership of North American (U.S. and Canada) federal, state and local tax compliance, reporting, and planning. You will support our monthly provisions, coordinate with external advisors, and help scale the company’s tax processes as we grow. This role is perfect for someone who enjoys being hands‑on, thrives in a fast‑paced environment, and wants to help shape the tax function at a late‑stage, high‑growth startup.

• Tax Compliance and Audits

  • Indirect Tax Compliance:
    Ensure timely and accurate compliance of all indirect tax filings (Sales, Hotel/Lodging GST/HST/QST, Gross Receipts & Excise). Specifically, lead registrations, co‑manage tax policy and product taxability decisions with legal team, and own end‑to‑end filings, payments, and reconciliations across all North American filings.

  • Income Tax Compliance:
    Prepare and review U.S. and Canada federal, state, and provincial income tax returns, estimated payments, and extensions.

  • Credits and
    
    Incentives:
    
    Partner with engineering/product teams to identify qualifying activities, gather substantiation, and prepare defensible U.S. R&D (Form 6765) and Canadian SR&ED (T661/T2
    
    SCH
    31) claims.

  • External Partner Coordination:
    Liaise with external advisors (Avalara, Accounting Firms and similar) and auditors to support compliance and reporting needs.

  • Tax Audit & Controversy Support:
    Support legal team in coordinating end‑to‑end responses to any federal, state & local examinations—manage IDRs, data pulls, and walkthroughs; preparing substantiation; and interfacing with auditors, advisors, and counsel.

• Tax Provision & Reporting

  • Prepare monthly indirect tax provision and annual income tax provision under ASC 450 and 740.

  • Support tax disclosures for financial statements and management reporting.

• Planning & Research

  • Work with the Legal team to monitor legislative changes in tax law and assess implications for Hopper’s business.

  • Research hotel partner and/or customer tax issues and provide recommendations to the business.

  • Partner with Finance and Legal on new product launches, state/intl. nexus issues, and tax‑efficient structuring.

• Cross Functional Partnership

  • Build proactive relationships with Legal, Product, Finance/FP&A, and Hotel teams to embed tax into day‑to‑day decisions, surface risks/opportunities early, and strategic initiatives.

  • Liaise with the Tax Engineering team to implement and QA changes to Hopper’s tax logic for travel transactions, providing tax technical input to ensure accurate tax determination across complex booking flows.

  • Partner cross‑functionally to anticipate tax implications of new features and markets.

• Process & Systems

  • Develop and support implementation of tools and automation to streamline tax workflows.

  • Develop scalable processes for compliance as the company expands into new jurisdictions.

  • Maintain documentation and controls to support audits and internal governance.

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field; CPA or Master’s in Tax preferred.

• 4–7+ years of experience in U.S. state and local sales tax, including transaction taxes for a digital marketplace. The ideal candidate will have a mix of public accounting (Big 4 / regional firm) and in‑house tax experience. Lodging and travel‑related tax experience are huge plus).

• Working knowledge of income tax concepts and processes.

• Knowledge of, and experience in federal and income taxes.

• Strong knowledge of ASC 450 (contingencies on non‑income taxes) and working knowledge of ASC 740 (corporate income taxes) Familiarity working with product and engineering teams on tax logic and automation.

• Experience with Avalara and Netsuite software desired.;
  Proficiency in Excel required. Working knowledge of Sequel and Google BQ a plus.

• Strong research and analytical skills with the ability to clearly communicate complex tax concepts.

• Ability to thrive…