Tax Manager - Product & Operations

Who We Are:

Alpaca is a US-headquartered self-clearing broker-dealer and brokerage infrastructure for stocks, ETFs, options, crypto, fixed income, 24/5 trading, and more. Our recent Series D funding round brought our total investment to over $320 million, fueling our ambitious vision.

Amongst our subsidiaries, Alpaca is a licensed financial services company, serving hundreds of financial institutions across 40 countries with our institutional-grade APIs. This includes broker-dealers, investment advisors, wealth managers, hedge funds, and crypto exchanges, totalling over 9 million brokerage accounts.

Our global team is a diverse group of experienced engineers, traders, and brokerage professionals who are working to achieve our mission of opening financial services to everyone on the planet. We're deeply committed to open-source contributions and fostering a vibrant community, continuously enhancing our award-winning, developer-friendly API and the robust infrastructure behind it.

Alpaca is proudly backed by top-tier global investors, including Portage Ventures, Spark Capital, Tribe Capital, Social Leverage, Horizons Ventures, Unbound, SBI Group, Derayah Financial, Elefund, and Y Combinator.

Our Team Members:

We're a dynamic team of 230+ globally distributed members who thrive working from our favorite places around the world, with teammates spanning the USA, Canada, Japan, Hungary, Nigeria, Brazil, the UK, and beyond!

We're searching for passionate individuals eager to contribute to Alpaca's rapid growth. If you align with our core values—Stay Curious, Have Empathy, and Be Accountable—and are ready to make a significant impact, we encourage you to apply.

Your Role

We are seeking a dedicated Tax Manager - Product & Operations to act as our core Subject Matter Expert (SME) for Germany, while playing a critical role in our expansion into key European markets like Spain and France.

In this highly collaborative, hands-on role, you will sit at the intersection of tax compliance and product management. Working closely with senior management, and our operations and product teams, you will help interpret local tax codes, contribute to the design of our calculation logic, assist in the engineering build-out, and act as a key contact point for tax authorities.

Key Responsibilities

Product Integration & Engineering Support

• Bridge Law and Code: Act as a vital link between tax legislation and our engineering pods. Help translate complex requirements (e.g., German Abgeltungsteuer logic, capital gains offset rules) into clear, actionable requirements for product managers and backend developers.

• Pan-European Expansion Support: While your primary mandate is the German market, you will partner with senior management to research, interpret, and integrate tax calculation and reporting logic for secondary markets, with an immediate focus on Spain and France.

• Product Build-Out: Contribute specialized tax input for new product launches. Assist in reviewing tax logic during the design phase and support the testing of calculation engines to ensure accuracy before launch.

Subject Matter Expertise & Ongoing Compliance

• Primary German SME: Serve as a subject matter expert on German personal income tax, capital gains taxation, and local reporting obligations for financial instruments (equities, ETFs, derivatives, crypto).

• Workflow Automation: Support the continuous improvement and automation of tax-related workflows, helping the operations team minimize manual reviews and optimize cross-border efficiency.

• Regulatory Monitoring: Monitor updates and changes in relevant tax laws across our core and target jurisdictions, summarizing potential impacts on Alpaca's platform logic and end-clients.

Tax Authority & Ecosystem Liaison

• Authority Contact Point: Act as a reliable contact person for the German BZSt (and assist with the Spanish AEAT) regarding routine product tax, withholding inquiries, and client reporting.

• External Coordination: Facilitate interactions with external local tax advisors, auditors, and outsourced compliance partners across different jurisdictions, ensuring they have the data and context they need.

Required Qualifications & Skills

• Experience: 4-7+ years of experience in capital markets taxation, financial services tax advisory (Big 4), or a hands-on Tax/Operations role within a fintech or brokerage.

• Technical Tax Knowledge: Strong, demonstrable knowledge of German personal tax law, particularly regarding financial products and automated withholding models.

• Translational Mindset: Ability to communicate complex tax concepts clearly to non-experts. You must be comfortable working alongside software engineers and reviewing technical workflows.

• Language Fluency: Professional fluency in English and native/near-native fluency in German is strictly required to navigate local regulations and authority interactions.

Preferred Qualifications

• International Exposure: Experience with or exposure to broader European tax regimes—particularly Spain (IRPF) and France (PFU / Prélèvement Forfaitaire Unique)—is highly desirable.

• Additional Languages: Professional proficiency in Spanish or French is a significant advantage.

• Education & Certifications: Relevant degree in Tax, Accounting, Finance, or Law. Official German tax advisor qualification (Steuerberater) is a strong plus, though equivalent practical experience is highly valued.

• Previous exposure to retail brokerage operations, fast-paced tech environments, or international client portfolios.

How We Take Care of You:

• Competitive Salary & Stock Options

• Health Benefits

• New Hire Home-Office Setup: One-time USD $500

• Monthly Stipend: USD $150 per month via a Brex Card

Alpaca is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace dedicated to pursuing and hiring a diverse workforce.

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