Job Overview

Most CPAs treat R&D credits like a scary side-quest they hope no client ever asks about.

You’re not most CPAs. You’ve read Section 41. You’ve defended a study. You know what a QRE is without Googling it. You’ve told a client “no, that doesn’t qualify” and meant it — and you’ve told another one “yes, and you left $80K on the table last year” and meant that too.

If that’s you, keep reading. If it’s not, no hard feelings — this isn’t your ad.

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WHO WE ARE

Quartermaster Tax Management. Charlotte, NC.

We ran 1,500+ chiropractic R&D studies in the last 12 months. That’s not a typo. That’s a specialty firm doing volume most Big 4 R&D groups don’t touch — because nobody else built the protocol library, the methodology, or the vertical focus we did.

We’re not looking for a generalist who “does some R&D on the side.” We’re looking for the person who, when they see a Form 6765, gets a little excited.

WHAT YOU’LL ACTUALLY DO

Review and sign off on R&D studies our team builds (you’re the technical authority, not the data-entry clerk)

Own the Section 41 defensibility of every study that goes out the door

Advise on §280C elections, payroll tax offset for QSBs, and state R&D stacking (UT, CA, AZ — the big ones for our book)

Sit in on client calls where the credit is > $50K and the client wants a CPA in the room

Help us kill studies that shouldn’t be filed (we’d rather lose a fee than lose a defense)

You are NOT going to:

Chase clients for source documents

Do bookkeeping

Tax Prep

WHAT YOU NEED TO HAVE

Non-negotiable:

Active CPA license (any state — we’re remote-friendly)

5+ years hands-on R&D tax credit work — not “exposure,” not “supervised” — hands on the return

You can name three Section 41 court cases without looking them up

You’ve survived at least one IRS R&D exam and can explain what you’d do differently

Nice to have:

JD/LLM tax on top of the CPA

Experience with the ASC method AND regular credit method (and know when to use which)

Prior work at a specialty R&D firm (alliantgroup, KBKG, Source Advisors, Engineered Tax Services, Clarus, Strike, Neo.Tax — we know the playbooks, we’d rather you already do too)

Deal-breakers:

“I’ve done a few R&D credits for software clients” — not enough

You use ChatGPT to write your technical narratives (we use AI too, but you need to know when it’s wrong)

You think §174 is still a five-year amortization (it’s not, keep up)

WHAT WE PAY

We don’t post ranges publicly because the right person is worth more than the range and the wrong person is worth less than the floor. But here’s the shape:

Base commensurate with senior-manager-at-a-Big-4-R&D-group money

Performance bonus tied to study throughput AND defense record (we pay for BOTH volume and quality — you can’t game one without the other)

Hybrid, flexible hours, no billable-hour tyranny

If you’re currently at a specialty firm eating 2,400 billable hours to hit bonus, we will pay you more to do less of the work you hate and more of the work you actually got into tax to do.

HOW TO APPLY

Do NOT send a resume as your first move. Everyone sends a resume. Resumes tell me where you worked, not whether you can think.

Send an email through Indeed with the subject line: “R&D CPA — [Your Name]”

In the body, three things:

1. Three sentences on the most interesting R&D credit you’ve ever defended. What was the QRE, what was the challenge, how did you win (or lose, and what you learned).

2. One paragraph on where you disagree with the industry. Something you think most R&D firms get wrong. Be specific. “Contemporaneous documentation matters” is not an answer — everyone says that.

3. Your resume, LinkedIn, or a link to your work. In that order of preference.

Read this whole ad before applying. If you send a generic cover letter, I’ll know you didn’t, and I’ll pass. It’s not personal — it’s just the first filter.

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Deadline: Rolling. We’re hiring one person. When we find them, this ad comes down.

Timeline: If you’re a fit, you’ll hear back within 72 hours. First conversation is 30 minutes with me The managing partner. Second is a live technical case with our tax lead. Third is a paid trial engagement — one real study, we pay you your day rate, you get to see how we work and we get to see how you think. If everyone’s happy after the trial, offer letter goes out that week.

If you’ve read this far and you’re already writing the email in your head — we should probably talk.

Quartermaster Tax Management · Charlotte, NC

Pay: $100,000.00 - $150,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Vision insurance
• Work from home

Work Location: Remote