Tax Lead

We are building AI to simulate the world through merging art and science.

We believe that world models are at the frontier of progress in artificial intelligence. Language models alone won’t solve the world’s hardest problems – robotics, disease, scientific discovery. Real progress requires models that experience the world and learn from their mistakes, the same way that humans do. And this kind of trial and error can be massively accelerated when done in simulation, rather than in the real world.

World models offer the most clear path to general-purpose simulation, changing how stories are told, how scientific progress is made and how the next frontiers of humanity are reached.

Our team consists of creative, open minded, caring and ambitious people who are determined to change the world. We aspire to continuously build impossible things and our ability to do so relies on building an incredible team. If you are driven to do the same, we'd love to hear from you.

*Open to hiring remote across the US — we also have offices in NYC, San Francisco, and Seattle

We are looking for our first dedicated tax lead. You will build up the tax function from the ground up and partner closely with Finance, People, Legal, and executive leadership, while managing a complex and evolving global tax landscape. From daily compliance to long-term strategic tax planning, the work you own will have company-wide impact.

You bring a strong technical tax foundation, work well cross-functionally, and have sharp judgment about what you own directly versus when to bring in outside expertise.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Indirect tax: build and manage sales & use tax, VAT/GST, and digital-services tax compliance, including nexus analysis across our growing customer footprint

• Income tax compliance and provision: support the ASC 740 provision and the federal, state, and international income tax filings with external preparers, building the close-cycle processes, documentation, and controls to match company scale

• Payroll accounting & operations: own payroll reconciliation, flux analysis, and related journal entries, partnering with Finance and the People team to ensure accuracy across pay runs and periods

• Payroll and employment tax: advise on employer tax obligations across jurisdictions, relying on external advisors as needed; partnering with the People team on payroll withholding and operations, leaning on external advisors where needed

• Equity compensation: manage the tax treatment and compliance for employee equity options, and collaborating with Legal as needed on equity-related tax topics

• Strategic tax planning: identify opportunities to optimize Runway's global effective tax rate (including R&D tax credits, transfer pricing, and more) as international operations scale

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

• 6+ years of corporate tax experience, ideally a mix of Big 4 and in-house at a high-growth company

• CPA required

• Broad range across direct tax, indirect tax, payroll tax, and equity compensation, with the ability to leverage technical tax advisors as needed with the right questions

• Strong communicator who can translate complex tax issues for non-tax stakeholders

• Experience with tax software (e.g. Sphere, Avalara, etc.) and ERP platforms (NetSuite)

• Experience with HRIS Rippling a plus

Runway strives to recruit and retain exceptional talent from diverse backgrounds while ensuring pay equity for our team. Our salary ranges are based on competitive market rates for our size, stage and industry, and salary is just one part of the overall compensation package we provide.

There are many factors that go into salary determinations, including relevant experience, skill level and qualifications assessed during the interview process, and maintaining internal equity with peers on the team. The range shared below is a general expectation for the function as posted, but we are also open to considering candidates who may be more or less experienced than outlined in the job description. In this case, we will communicate any updates in the expected salary range.

Lastly, the provided range is the expected salary for candidates in the U.S. Outside of those regions, there may be a change in the range, which again, will be communicated to candidates.

WORKING AT RUNWAY

Great things come from great teams. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwmj4ato2kw&ab_channel=Runway We’d love to hear from you.

We’re committed to creating a space where our employees can bring their full selves to work and have equal opportunity to succeed. So regardless of race, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, religion, origin, ability, age, veteran status, if joining this mission speaks to you, we encourage you to apply.

More about Runway

• Universal World Simulator https://runwayml.com/world-simulator.html

• GWM-1 https://runwayml.com/research/introducing-runway-gwm-1

• Gen-4.5 https://runwayml.com/research/introducing-runway-gen-4.5

• General World Models https://runwayml.com/research/introducing-general-world-models

• Robotics SDK https://runwayml.com/research/introducing-runway-gwm-1#robotics-section

• Conversational Real-time Agents https://runwayml.com/research/introducing-runway-gwm-1#avatars-section

• Runway Studios https://runwayml.com/studios

We're excited to be recognized as a best place to work:

Crain's https://www.crainsnewyork.com/awards/best-places-work-2023 | InHerSight https://www.inhersight.com/companies/best/city/new-york-city-ny | BuiltIn NYC https://builtin.com/awards/new-york-city/2024/best-places-to-work | INC https://www.inc.com/best-workplaces/2024