Engage Search Partners

TAX PRACTICE LEADER

Practice leadership • Full P&L ownership • Talent development • Client growth

TEAM

20–25 tax professionals

FOOTPRINT

Three-office practice from Philadelphia to New York City.

MANDATE

Lead, grow and elevate

The Opportunity

A well-established professional services firm is seeking a Tax Practice Leader to take full ownership of a multi-office tax practice serving privately held corporations and partnerships, high-net-worth individuals, and family offices. This executive will oversee the practice’s financial performance, people, client experience, operations, and growth strategy across three offices and a team of approximately 20–25 professionals.

This is not a role built around being the firm’s top technician. Strong tax judgment and credibility are essential, but the primary mandate is to lead: develop talent, create accountability, strengthen client relationships, improve practice performance, and help the firm expand its market presence. The successful leader will know when to engage technically, when to coach, when to delegate, and how to bring the right people together to deliver an exceptional client outcome.

Leadership Mandate

The Tax Practice Leader will be accountable for four outcomes:

• Practice Performance — full P&L ownership, disciplined operating management, and profitable growth.
• People Leadership — a strong leadership bench, engaged professionals, clear career paths, and a culture of accountability.
• Client Experience — proactive, highly responsive service that consistently exceeds expectations and earns long-term loyalty.
• Market Growth — deeper client relationships, increased cross-service collaboration, and meaningful contribution to business development.

Key Responsibilities

Practice Leadership & P&L Ownership

• Assume full P&L ownership for the tax practice, including revenue growth, profitability, pricing, realization, utilization, staffing, and expense management.
• Set the strategic direction and annual operating plan for a 20–25 person practice spanning three offices.
• Translate firmwide objectives into clear practice priorities, performance expectations, and measurable results.
• Lead forecasting, capacity planning, resource deployment, workflow management, and investment decisions to support sustainable growth.
• Use operating data and practice metrics to identify performance gaps, improve efficiency, and make timely decisions.
• Maintain strong standards for quality, risk management, compliance, and professional judgment while empowering senior technical leaders to own day-to-day technical execution.

People Leadership & Talent Development

• Lead, coach, and develop professionals at all levels, with particular emphasis on strengthening managers, succession planning, and building future practice leaders.
• Establish clear expectations, provide candid and constructive feedback, recognize strong performance, and address performance issues promptly.
• Create an environment in which people are challenged, supported, and given meaningful opportunities to expand their leadership, client, and business skills.
• Promote collaboration across offices and service lines, reducing silos and ensuring clients benefit from the full capabilities of the firm.
• Attract and retain high-caliber talent while balancing workload, career development, and client commitments.

Client Experience & Relationship Leadership

• Champion an exceptionally high-touch, relationship-driven service model in which responsiveness, anticipation, communication, and follow-through are non-negotiable.
• Serve as executive sponsor and trusted advisor for key relationships involving privately held businesses, partnerships, high-net-worth individuals, and family offices.
• Build a deep understanding of each client’s business, family, wealth, and long-term objectives so the team can deliver coordinated, forward-looking advice.
• Ensure consistent service quality across offices and engagement teams, intervening quickly when a client issue or service gap arises.
• Strengthen client retention and expand relationships by identifying unmet needs and connecting clients with the right expertise across the firm.

Business Development & Practice Growth

• Partner with firm leadership to establish and execute the tax practice’s growth strategy, target markets, service priorities, and go-to-market objectives.
• Support business development by deepening existing relationships, cultivating referral sources, participating in selected prospect opportunities, and helping professionals become more commercially effective.
• Build a culture in which business development is a shared responsibility rooted in curiosity, credibility, and outstanding client service—not a last-minute sales exercise.
• Evaluate new service opportunities, talent needs, alliances, and investments that can expand the practice’s capabilities and market relevance.
• Represent the practice internally and externally as a visible, credible, and relationship-oriented leader.

Technical Oversight & Professional Standards

• Bring broad tax knowledge and sufficient technical depth to exercise sound judgment, challenge assumptions, assess risk, and earn the confidence of clients and professionals.
• Provide executive oversight of complex matters while leveraging partners, directors, managers, and subject-matter specialists for detailed technical execution.
• Ensure the practice maintains rigorous review, documentation, deadline management, and quality-control standards.
• Stay current on material tax developments and help the team translate changes into timely, practical guidance for clients.

Ideal Candidate Profile

• A proven tax practice leader with approximately 12+ years of progressive experience in public accounting, tax advisory, or a comparable professional services environment.
• Demonstrated responsibility for a practice, business unit, office, service line, or substantial client portfolio, with direct accountability for financial and operating results.
• A strong people leader with a record of developing managers, retaining talent, building teams, and creating accountability across multiple levels or locations.
• Experience advising privately held corporations and partnerships, business owners, high-net-worth individuals, and/or family offices.
• A client-service mindset that goes beyond technical accuracy—highly responsive, proactive, commercially aware, and personally invested in the client’s success.
• Business development experience that may include expanding existing accounts, developing referral relationships, supporting pursuit teams, and mentoring others in relationship development.
• Broad technical credibility across closely held business and individual tax matters; expertise in partnerships, trusts, estates, and complex ownership structures is valuable.
• Executive presence and communication skills suited to advising owners, family principals, senior executives, and sophisticated professional colleagues.
• An entrepreneurial, hands-on leadership style: strategic enough to set direction, practical enough to solve problems, and humble enough to listen and build consensus.
• CPA, JD, or other relevant advanced credential strongly preferred.

What Success Looks Like

• The practice operates against a clear plan, with improved visibility into revenue, pipeline, staffing, realization, and profitability.
• Leaders beneath this role are stronger, decision-making is pushed to the right level, and the team has greater clarity and accountability.
• Clients experience consistent, proactive, highly personalized service across offices and engagement teams.
• Retention, referrals, cross-service opportunities, and new business activity strengthen over time.
• The practice grows without sacrificing quality, culture, or the client experience.

Additional Expectations

• Visible leadership across all three offices, with regular travel and in-person engagement based on business and team needs.
• Flexibility to meet the demands of clients and the practice during peak periods.
• Commitment to the highest standards of integrity, discretion, professionalism, and client confidentiality.
• Exempt, at-will position.