Senior Tax Manager

About Us

Highland Electric Fleets’ electrification-as-a-service (EaaS) model aims to make electric school buses and other clean heavy duty vehicles attainable for every district across the US and Canada. Our turnkey solution tackles financing, vehicle procurement, infrastructure upgrade and maintenance to create a reliable and affordable fleet for our customers.

We know that cleaner buses create healthier communities and it’s our mission to eliminate the barriers to better student health and cleaner air - just 10 electric buses will reduce the pediatric asthma risk for 1,500 students!*

We are looking for candidates that want to help support this mission…

*Source: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Based on estimates for Highland customer with large fleet

Summary:

We are looking for a Senior Tax Manager to help lead Highland’s tax operations, including our federal and state income tax compliance, sales and use taxes, and our tax provision and related financial reporting requirements.

We currently partner with outside accounting firms and tax legal counsel and this role will be responsible for managing this work and the relationships with a long-term goal of transitioning certain tax functions in-house as the business grows.

Our short-term objective is to start developing and retaining tax knowledge within Highland as we navigate complexities around tax equity financings, electrification tax credits, grant funding, etc. This will be Highland’s first tax professional hire and will initially report to our Controller.

We’ve done our best to provide a comprehensive list of responsibilities understanding that we are not tax professionals ourselves. This role and the individual who fills it will have the opportunity to help us shape and redefine our tax needs and operations as time goes on.

Key Responsibilities:

Income Tax Compliance & Strategy

• Work with an outside firm to ensure timely and accurate federal and state income tax return filings, including the preparation of reports and other documentation needed.
• Review all federal and state returns for completeness and accuracy prior to filing.
• Serve as the subject matter expert for the executive team on all income tax matters, including working cross-functionally to help prepare reports and models as needed.
• Prepare technical memos to document all significant tax positions and policies.
• Work directly with owners, outside investors, legal counsel, and consultants to manage projects around tax structuring and tax efficiency.

Indirect Tax Compliance & Operations

• Work with an outside firm to ensure timely and accurate registrations and sales/use tax filings with state and local jurisdictions.
• Manage and maintain our state-level taxability matrix.
• Work with our legal, origination, and finance teams to ensure sale/use taxes are appropriately planned for and considered in our pricing for customer contracts, project-level financing arrangements, vehicle registrations, etc.
• Support our customer billing processes with respect to sales tax compliance.

Tax Provision and Financial Reporting

• Manage the Company’s tax provision, including our reconciliation from GAAP to tax and deferred taxes, in accordance with ASC 740.
• Manage the allocation of indirect cost for the purposes of establishing our tax basis in project assets.
• Lead the valuation allowance assessment process and manage the accounting for deferred tax balances as our valuation allowance begins to reverse.
• Support our financial reporting process specific to income tax disclosures requirements and provision for income taxes.
• Manage all requests and interactions with external auditors relating to our tax provision and related disclosures.

Tax Credits

• Work cross-functionally with legal and project finance to help maximize the generation and monetization of tax credits related to vehicle electrification and alternative fueling.
• Work with our fleet operations team, including supply chain and construction and development, to ensure we meet all tax credit requirements.
• Monitor and track our tax credit activity, including ongoing valuation and management reporting.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting; Master’s degree preferred
• Active CPA
• 6+ years of progressive experience in corporate taxation; combination of industry and public accounting experience preferred
• Experience working on both corporate tax returns and tax provisions required
• Experience working with indirect taxes is a big plus
• Exposure to any of the following industries or topics would be a plus: vehicle fleet operations, solar development, project-based accounting, renewable energy/zero emissions, government grants and incentives
• Strong communication skills and detail-oriented
• Able to work independently, identify issues and areas for improvement, and be solution-oriented
• Ability to operate effectively and thrive in an agile, fast-moving, and sometimes ambiguous environment

What You Can Expect from Highland:

· Competitive base salary and performance-based bonus program

· A supportive, highly collaborative, team-oriented environment

· Opportunities to make a difference, be heard, add value, and be recognized

· Growth and development with a leader in this new and exciting industry

· Ability to work with bright, innovative, and forward-thinking colleagues

· Health, Vision, and Dental coverage for employees & their dependents

· Life insurance, public transportation assistance

· Generous Paid Time Off

· 401(k) program and company match

Highland Electric Fleets provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, Highland Electric Fleets complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.