Associate Director, Tax Operations

Director (alternatively Associate Director), Tax Operations & State Allocation (SALT)

Position Summary

The Director (Asst. Dir), Tax Operations & State Allocation is responsible for leading the strategy, governance, and execution of multi-state taxable income sourcing and allocation for wages and equity compensation in a publicly traded company. This role serves as the enterprise-wide subject matter expert and escalation point for state tax allocation methodologies, ensuring scalable, compliant, and audit-ready processes across Payroll, Equity Administration, Finance, and HR systems. This role will be the primary contact person for executives and employees of Natera, Inc. This role will report to the Chief Accounting Officer.

This leader will drive operational excellence, oversee SOX-compliant controls, and partner cross-functionally to design and implement systems and processes that support growth, complexity, and regulatory change. The Associate Director plays a critical role in shaping tax policy interpretation, influencing system architecture, and ensuring end-to-end integrity of tax data.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership: Multi-State Tax Allocation & Sourcing

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  Define and evolve enterprise-wide state sourcing and allocation methodologies for:
  
  

  
  
  
  
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    Employee wages
    
    

    
    
  
  
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    Equity compensation (RSUs, ESPPs, stock options)
    
    

    
    
  
  
  
  


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  Interpret complex and ambiguous state tax regulations and translate them into scalable operational frameworks.
  
  

  
  


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  Establish governance over residency, mobility, reciprocity, and sourcing rules across jurisdictions.
  
  

  
  


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  Serve as the final decision-maker and escalation point for complex tax allocation issues.

  
  


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  Oversee automated calculations, data completeness and accuracy

  
  


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  Ensure all SOX related controls are executed timely and accurately
  
  

  
  

Operational Oversight: Payroll & Equity Data Enablement

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  Oversee the certification and delivery of state-level taxable wage and equity data prior to payroll execution.
  
  

  
  


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  Ensure seamless integration and accuracy of tax data within payroll systems (e.g., Workday HRIS and Workday Payroll and Etrade).
  
  

  
  


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  Partner with Equity Administration to guide tax treatment of grants, vesting, exercises, and mobility events.
  
  

  
  


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  Establish SLAs, controls, and performance metrics for tax data delivery.
  
  

  
  

Tax Operations, Systems & Data Governance

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  Own the end-to-end data lifecycle for state-allocated tax data across systems and reporting functions.
  
  

  
  


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  Lead the design and optimization of data flows, reconciliation frameworks, and system integrations.
  
  

  
  


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  Partner with IT and HRIS teams to embed tax logic into systems in alignment with SDLC and ITGC standards.
  
  

  
  


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  Drive automation and scalability initiatives to support company growth and increased complexity.
  
  

  
  

Controls, Compliance & Audit Leadership

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  Establish and oversee SOX-compliant control frameworks related to tax allocation and payroll tax processes.
  
  

  
  


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  Lead tax sign-off processes supporting payroll releases and financial reporting.
  
  

  
  


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  Serve as primary liaison for internal and external audits (e.g., EY), including strategy, walkthroughs, and remediation.
  
  

  
  


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  Ensure continuous improvement of control effectiveness and audit readiness.
  
  

  
  

Cross-Functional Leadership & Influence

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  Act as a strategic partner to Payroll, Equity Administration, HR, Finance, Legal, and external advisors.
  
  

  
  


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  Influence cross-functional decision-making related to tax, mobility, and compensation design.
  
  

  
  


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  Build and deliver training programs to elevate tax knowledge across the organization.
  
  

  
  


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  Lead, mentor, and develop a team (if applicable), fostering strong technical and operational capabilities.
  
  

  
  

Qualifications

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  Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Tax, or related field
  
  

  
  


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  10–15+ years of progressive experience in:
  
  

  
  
  
  
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    State and local taxation (SALT)
    
    

    
    
  
  
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    Payroll tax and/or equity compensation taxation
    
    

    
    
  
  
  
  


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  Deep expertise in multi-state wage sourcing, employee mobility, and equity tax rules
  
  

  
  


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  Experience in a publicly traded company, large multinational, or Big 4 environment
  
  

  
  


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  Proven experience designing and operating SOX-compliant controls
  
  

  
  


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  Demonstrated ability to translate complex tax regulations into scalable processes and systems
  
  

  
  


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  Experience leading cross-functional initiatives and influencing senior stakeholders
  
  

  
  

Preferred

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  CPA
  
  

  
  


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  Experience with Workday Payroll and E*trade
  
  

  
  


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  Exposure to global payroll or international mobility frameworks
  
  

  
  


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  Prior experience managing or leading Big 4 SALT audits
  
  

  
  


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  Strong background in data analytics, automation, and systems implementation
  
  

  
  

Key Competencies

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  Strategic thinker with deep technical tax expertise
  
  

  
  


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  Strong leadership and ownership mindset
  
  

  
  


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  Executive-level communication and stakeholder influence
  
  

  
  


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  Ability to operate in ambiguity and make defensible, high-impact decisions
  
  

  
  


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  Scalable process design and systems orientation
  
  

  
  


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  Audit-ready mindset with a focus on controls and compliance

  
  

OUR OPPORTUNITY

Natera™ is a global leader in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) testing, dedicated to oncology, women’s health, and organ health. Our aim is to make personalized genetic testing and diagnostics part of the standard of care to protect health and enable earlier and more targeted interventions that lead to longer, healthier lives.

The Natera team consists of highly dedicated statisticians, geneticists, doctors, laboratory scientists, business professionals, software engineers and many other professionals from world-class institutions, who care deeply for our work and each other. When you join Natera, you’ll work hard and grow quickly. Working alongside the elite of the industry, you’ll be stretched and challenged, and take pride in being part of a company that is changing the landscape of genetic disease management.

WHAT WE OFFER

Competitive Benefits - Employee benefits include comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life and disability plans for eligible employees and their dependents. Additionally, Natera employees and their immediate families receive free testing in addition to fertility care benefits. Other benefits include pregnancy and baby bonding leave, 401k benefits, commuter benefits and much more. We also offer a generous employee referral program!

For more information, visit www.natera.com.

Natera is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to ensuring a diverse and inclusive workplace environment, and welcome people of different backgrounds, experiences, abilities and perspectives. Inclusive collaboration benefits our employees, our community and our patients, and is critical to our mission of changing the management of disease worldwide.

All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply, and will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, age, veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with applicable laws.

If you are based in California, we encourage you to read this important information for California residents. 

Link: https://www.natera.com/notice-of-data-collection-california-residents/

Please be advised that Natera will reach out to candidates with a @natera.com email domain ONLY. Email communications from all other domain names are not from Natera or its employees and are fraudulent. Natera does not request interviews via text messages and does not ask for personal information until a candidate has engaged with the company and has spoken to a recruiter and the hiring team. Natera takes cyber crimes seriously, and will collaborate with law enforcement authorities to prosecute any related cyber crimes.

For more information:
- BBB announcement on job scams 
- FBI Cyber Crime resource page