Director of Operations, Tax & Business Management

Director of Operations, Tax & Business Management

Los Angeles, CA  |  Full-Time   |  Hybrid (3–4 days in office)  |  Reports to Founder  |   $168,000 - $175,000 + performance bonus tied to firm growth and client retention 

Who We Are

KBK Management is a tech-forward entertainment business management firm — five years in, serving musicians, touring artists, and entertainment executives who deserve a team that treats their career with the seriousness it requires. We build systems out of hard-learned lessons, leverage technology intentionally, and put our name on every piece of work we deliver.

We are a team of 15, roughly half based in Los Angeles. We operate out of a converted home in Highland Park — which tells you something about us. Intentionally human, unpretentious, and built for the work rather than the appearance of it. No suits required. There are hills behind the office if you need to clear your head at lunch. We mean it when we say the people and things you love outside of work aren't distractions — they're the reason for it.

Our culture runs on honesty, integrity, creativity, curiosity, and humor. We believe one person shining brightly doesn't dim anyone else's light — it raises it. So we invest in each other, give real feedback, and have hard conversations, because that's what a team that actually cares looks like.

The Role

We need a leader who can do it all — controller, tax director, operations manager, team builder — and who doesn't see those as separate jobs. You'll report directly to the founder, oversee our bookkeeping staff, Tax Manager, and business management team, and serve as the connective tissue across every function of the firm. You are comfortable leading cross-functionally — moving fluidly between tax, accounting, operations, and client relationships without needing a lane assigned to you.

Our founder has deep tax and controller experience, which means you'll never have to explain why something matters. What you will have is full ownership — this is your function to build, not to maintain.

This role is hands-on in the near term by design — you need to know the work deeply to build the team that eventually owns it. The goal isn't for you to be doing tax prep forever. The goal is for you to understand every function well enough to hire right, delegate intelligently, and build something that runs without you in the weeds.

What We Need

• CPA required
• IRS representation experience required — audits, offers in compromise, penalty abatement
• Controller-level accounting and serious tax experience — you do both fluently and don't think of them as separate disciplines
• Entertainment, music, or sports business management experience a significant plus — our clients are musicians, touring artists, entertainment executives, and international clients with cross-border complexity
• Personal finance and insurance/risk management familiarity — you think about the whole client picture, not just the business side
• Managing and developing staff — bookkeeping team, Tax Manager, business management staff — with clear direction and real accountability
• Controller-level financial oversight — balance sheet, P&L, year-end close, quality review before anything reaches a client
• Strategic tax planning — PTET elections, shareholder payroll, ISR rules, proactive across complex entertainment structures
• Tax preparation and review — complex individual and business returns, multi-entity, multi-state, international, cross-border
• Tax compliance — owning the 1099 and 1042 processes end to end
• Personal financial management for clients — budgets, cash flow, insurance and risk management — using Monarch
• Operations and workflow — building systems, automating what should be automated, setting tiered delivery standards by client size
• Business development — bringing relationships, developing new clients, helping the firm grow
• Tech stack: ProConnect, QuickBooks, Xero, Monarch, Canopy — and genuinely excited about our transition to CCH
• You think naturally in systems and checklists — when you see a repetitive task, your first instinct is to ask why it isn't automated yet
• You understand how software thinks, which means you learn new tools quickly and can hold your own in a client meeting while still getting up to speed — technology is leverage to you
• You surface problems up, not sideways — delegate with purpose, develop your people, and have hard conversations when they're needed

Why This Role

You're good at your job. You've built something before — a process, a team, a function that didn't exist until you created it. You think cross-functionally by nature — tax, accounting, operations, client relationships don't feel like separate worlds to you, they feel like one complete picture. And you're ready to work somewhere that actually wants all of it.

Our clients are musicians, executives, and artists with genuinely complex financial lives — and they deserve someone who treats that complexity as an opportunity, not an obstacle. We're five years in, we know exactly where we're going, and we're looking for the person who wants to help get us there.

What Success Looks Like in Year One

• Bookkeeping review process is running without founder involvement — work is reviewed, accurate, and delivered on time
• Tax deadlines are owned and never missed — the team knows what's due, when, and who is responsible
• Service standards are documented and tiered by client size — the team knows what good looks like for every client type
• Delivery standards for each client tier are defined and implemented — every team member knows what is expected, by when, and to what standard
• Staff are developed and clear on their roles — bookkeepers, the Tax Manager, and business management staff all have direction and accountability
• Strategic tax planning is proactive — PTET elections, shareholder payroll, and cross-border considerations are being addressed before clients have to ask
• Systems and workflows are documented — institutional knowledge lives in the firm, not in any one person's head
• The founder is out of the operational weeds and focused on growth

How to Apply

Upload your resume and a short note.

In your note — not a cover letter, just a few honest paragraphs — tell us why this role caught your attention, describe a system or process you built that you're proud of, and share a tax situation you navigated that required real strategic thinking. We read everything. We move quickly when we find the right person.

KBK Management, LLC is an equal opportunity employer. We believe the best teams are built from different backgrounds, different experiences, and different ways of seeing the world.