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About the Role

Lightning AI is seeking a Global Tax Lead to manage and scale the company's corporate tax compliance function. This high-impact role requires deep technical tax expertise and an operational mindset to build systems, processes, and controls for a fast-growing AI infrastructure company in a complex tax environment. The role offers high leadership visibility and directly supports financial accuracy, compliance, risk management, and long-term business scalability.

Responsibilities

• Build and own the tax function, establishing policies, documentation, controls, and procedures from the ground up.
• Develop the multi-year tax operating roadmap, including process design, automation, and consultant-to-FTE transition.
• Lead U.S. federal and state corporate income tax compliance, including the first consolidated federal return.
• Manage California mandatory combined reporting and multi-state nexus exposure.
• Oversee indirect tax compliance, including sales and use, and gross receipts taxes.
• Oversee property tax compliance, including assessment review, return preparation, and appeals.
• Own quarterly and annual income tax provision work under U.S. GAAP and ASC 740.
• Partner with external auditors and Corporate Accounting for tax workstreams supporting the first-year audit.
• Build tax forecasts and reporting cadences to support Finance, FP&A, and leadership.
• Support technical accounting workstreams for acquisitions, including ASC 805 purchase accounting.
• Lead the tax workstream on future M&A, financing, and restructuring transactions.
• Partner with Strategic Finance and Corporate Development on Deal Desk diligence and structuring.
• Identify, assess, and mitigate corporate tax risks, and monitor evolving tax laws.
• Manage relationships with external tax advisors, auditors, and third-party partners.
• Communicate complex tax matters clearly to non-tax stakeholders.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field.
• CPA or MST strongly preferred.
• 8+ years of progressive corporate tax experience, with a mix of Big 4 public accounting and in-house experience.
• Strong technical command of U.S. federal and state corporate income tax compliance, including consolidated return rules.
• Working knowledge of California combined reporting and multi-state apportionment.
• Demonstrated experience with ASC 740, tax provisions, deferred tax accounting, and effective tax rate analysis.
• Hands-on experience with M&A tax — purchase accounting, opening balance sheet, carryforward analysis, and post-merger integration.
• Experience standing up or significantly rebuilding a tax function; start-up, post-merger integration, or carve-out experience strongly preferred.
• Comfort with the technical accounting demands of an infrastructure or cloud business.
• Track record of partnering effectively with Accounting, Finance, Legal, FP&A, auditors, and external advisors.
• Experience with tax provision and compliance tools such as OneSource, Corptax, or similar.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Bias toward building rather than maintaining; comfort operating in a fast-paced, foundation-building environment with evolving priorities.
• Prior experience at a high-growth AI, cloud, infrastructure, or other capex-intensive technology company is a plus.
• Exposure to GPU financing, vendor financing, or other complex capital structures is a plus.
• Experience supporting a first-year audit or significant compliance remediation is a plus.
• Multi-state intercompany pricing experience across a multi-entity U.S. group is a plus.
• Property tax experience in a capex-heavy environment is a plus.

Skills

• Corporate tax compliance
• Tax accounting
• Tax forecasting
• Risk mitigation
• Process improvements
• U.S. GAAP
• ASC 740
• M&A tax
• Purchase accounting
• Opening balance sheet analysis
• Carryforward analysis
• Deal Desk diligence
• Structuring
• Tax provision tools
• Written communication
• Verbal communication

Location

• San Francisco

Work Type

• Hybrid

Experience Level

• 8+ years

Education Level

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field
• CPA or MST preferred

Salary/Compensations

• $185,000—$200,000 USD

Benefits

• Comprehensive Health Coverage: Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• Meaningful Equity: RSUs.
• Retirement Savings: 401(k) matching (U.S.) and pension contributions (U.K.).
• Flexible Time Off: Unlimited PTO, company holidays, and floating holidays.
• Company-Wide Winter Break: Two weeks of company closure.
• Paid Parental & Family Leave.
• Professional Development: Annual learning and development allowance.
• Wellness Benefits: Wellness and work-from-home stipends.
• Sabbatical Program: Four weeks of paid sabbatical leave after four years of service.
• Flexible Work: Flexible schedules and a hybrid work model.
• In-Office Meals: Complimentary meals at office hubs.

About the Company

• Lightning AI is the company behind PyTorch Lightning, building an end-to-end platform for developing, training, and deploying AI systems.
• Through a merger with Voltage Park, Lightning AI combines developer-first software with cost-efficient, large-scale compute.
• The company serves solo researchers, startups, and large enterprises globally.
• Lightning AI operates globally with offices in New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and London.
• The company is backed by Coatue, Index Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, and Firstminute.

Equal Opportunity

• Lightning AI is committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace.
• We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic.
• We are dedicated to building a culture where everyone can thrive and contribute to their fullest potential.