Director Tax

Deepgram is the leading platform underpinning the emerging trillion-dollar Voice AI economy providing real-time APIs for speech-to-text (STT) text-to-speech (TTS) and building production-grade voice agents at scale. More than 200000 developers and 1300+ organizations build voice offerings that are ‘Powered by Deepgram’ including Twilio Cloudflare Sierra Decagon Vapi Daily Cresta Granola and Jack in the Box. Deepgram’s voice-native foundation models are accessed through cloud APIs or as self-hosted and on-premises software with unmatched accuracy low latency and cost efficiency. Backed by a recent Series C led by leading global investors and strategic partners Deepgram has processed over 50000 years of audio and transcribed more than 1 trillion words. There is no organization in the world that understands voice better than Deepgram.

At Deepgram we expect an AI-first mindset—AI use and comfort aren’t optional they’re core to how we operate innovate and measure performance.

Every team member who works at Deepgram is expected to actively use and experiment with advanced AI tools and even build your own into your everyday work. We measure how effectively AI is applied to deliver results and consistent creative use of the latest AI capabilities is key to success here. Candidates should be comfortable adopting new models and modes quickly integrating AI into their workflows and continuously pushing the boundaries of what these technologies can do.

Additionally we move at the pace of AI. Change is rapid and you can expect your day-to-day work to evolve just as quickly. This may not be the right role if you’re not excited to experiment adapt think on your feet and learn constantly or if you’re seeking something highly prescriptive with a traditional 9-to-5.

Deepgram is hiring a Director Tax to stand up our tax function from foundation and run it through our first external audit and into public markets. You'll be our first dedicated tax hire — reporting directly with the CAO and working directly alongside our CFO and our small finance team building from a clean slate supported by outside advisors.

There's a lot to figure out. You'll set the tax positions scope and direct external advisors and be the senior technical voice with our auditors the IRS and state revenue agencies.

At Deepgram we expect an AI-first mindset. AI use isn't optional — it's core to how we operate. Every team member is expected to use and experiment with advanced AI tools and build their own into everyday work.

• Stand up the tax function from foundation. You're our first dedicated tax hire working from a clean slate with outside advisors. Set the operating model the positions the calendar the tooling.

• Own the multi-state nexus picture — payroll customer and economic nexus across our remote workforce and customer footprint. Build the registration and compliance roadmap and execute it.

• Define and defend US federal tax positions — R&D credit (§41) §174 capitalized software equity comp deductions pre-IPO restructuring.

• Build our international tax foundation. We're early in global expansion and you'll own the design from the ground up — transfer pricing model and intercompany agreements IP location and migration GILTI/FDII entity structure permanent establishment risk.

• Build the sales and use tax operating model — taxability nexus monitoring registrations returns exemption certificates. Strong opinions on the right tooling.

• Quarterback external tax advisors — direct scope and decide what stays in-house. Today: Big 4 federal compliance. You'll scope SALT international and transfer pricing engagements as needed.

• Partner with the Director Technical Accounting & FR on equity comp (ASC 718 / IRC 409A) business combinations (ASC 805 / §338 PPAs) capitalized software and complex financing instruments.

• When the time comes build our first ASC 740 provision from scratch — workpapers footnotes disclosures tie-outs — with the rigor an external audit and S-1 require. We're not yet running a provision; you'll stand it up as audit prep requires it.

• Lay the foundation for public-company tax disclosure and SOX readiness — workflows controls and calendars to support 10-K / 10-Q tax footnotes.

• Use AI extensively — research memo drafting nexus analysis transfer pricing benchmarking peer disclosure scraping workflow automation — and build your own tooling where it helps.

• Build the team as we scale.

• Active CPA JD with tax LLM or MST. Big 4 or national firm tax foundation.

• 8+ years of progressive corporate tax experience. Deep fluency in US federal and multi-state plus hands-on international tax — transfer pricing IP structuring GILTI/FDII intercompany. We're early in our international exposure and you'll be the one who builds it; experience at a company that's done this before is required.

• Hands-on technical range across what'll define our audit and S-1 — federal positions including R&D credit and §174 multi-state SALT indirect tax equity-comp tax ASC 740. You can take a gnarly issue and come back with a defensible position you reasoned through yourself.

• Experience preparing or rebuilding tax provisions footnotes and disclosures from scratch — not just reviewing them.

• Experience managing external auditors and tax consultants — scope direct push back.

• Comfort vibe-coding scripts and small automations (Python SQL or equivalent) — for nexus monitoring provision tie-outs exposure modeling pulling structured data from messy sources. Required not optional. We're looking for a leader who'll write the scripts that replace the work not just describe what should be automated.

• A builder's instinct — comfort with ambiguity no waiting for playbooks strong bias to ship.

• AI-native working style — you use LLMs daily and can talk concretely about what they do well and where they fall short for tax.

• Strong written and verbal communication — you can translate tax for non-tax stakeholders without losing precision.

• High integrity high ownership low ego.

• Prior experience preparing a company for its first external audit and S-1 / IPO.

• Prior experience standing up an in-house tax function at a high-growth company.

• SaaS or AI-business tax experience — capitalized software sales tax for SaaS customer-base international expansion.

• Multi-state employee mobility RSU/ISO equity-comp tax mobility and §83(b) coordination at scale.

• Working knowledge of provision tools (OneSource Corptax Longview) sales tax engines (Avalara Anrok Vertex) and research platforms — and strong opinions about them.

• Medical dental vision benefits

• Annual wellness stipend

• Mental health support

• Life STD LTD Income Insurance Plans

• Unlimited PTO

• Generous paid parental leave

• Flexible schedule

• 12 Paid US company holidays

• Quarterly personal productivity stipend

• One-time stipend for home office upgrades

• 401(k) plan with company match

• Tax Savings Programs

• Learning / Education stipend

• Participation in talks and conferences

• Employee Resource Groups

• AI enablement workshops / sessions

*For candidates outside of the US we use an Employer of Record model in many countries which means benefits are administered locally and governed by country-specific regulations. Because of this benefits will differ by region — in some cases international employees receive benefits US employees do not and vice versa. As we scale we will continue to evaluate where we can create more alignment but a 1:1 global benefits structure is not always legally or operationally possible.

Backed by prominent investors including Y Combinator Madrona Tiger Global Wing VC and NVIDIA Deepgram has raised over $215M in total funding. If you're looking to work on cutting-edge technology and make a significant impact in the AI industry we'd love to hear from you!

Deepgram is an equal opportunity employer. We want all voices and perspectives represented in our workforce. We are a curious bunch focused on collaboration and doing the right thing. We put our customers first grow together and move quickly. We do not discriminate on the basis of race religion color national origin gender sexual orientation gender identity or expression age marital status veteran status disability status pregnancy parental status genetic information political affiliation or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate.

We are happy to provide accommodations for applicants who need them.

What We Do

Deepgram is the leading voice AI platform for developers building speech-to-text (STT) text-to-speech (TTS) and full speech-to-speech (STS) offerings. 200000+ developers build with Deepgram’s voice-native foundational models – accessed through APIs or as self-managed software – due to our unmatched accuracy latency and pricing. Customers include software companies building voice products co-sell partners working with large enterprises and enterprises solving internal voice AI use cases. The company ended 2024 cash-flow positive with 400+ enterprise customers 3.3x annual usage growth across the past 4 years over 50000 years of audio processed and over 1 trillion words transcribed. There is no organization in the world that understands voice better than Deepgram.

Why Work With Us

Our culture like our product is constantly learning and evolving but the heart of our team is enduring. We are a self-motivated positive passionate and competitive group of people. At Deepgram we put an emphasis on being ourselves being curious growing together and being human. We are a unique bunch who celebrate our differences.

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