# Tax Director

**Company:** [OpenAI](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/openai)
**Location:** San Francisco, CA
**Role:** Finance & Accounting
**Salary:** $266k – $295k/yr
**Experience:** 12+ years
**Skills:** tax strategy, property tax, tax incentives, Financial Modeling, government negotiations, data center development, incentive compliance, tax technology, economic development, infrastructure investments, Cross-Functional Leadership
**Posted:** 2026-07-22

> Lead global tax infrastructure strategy for OpenAI's hyperscale AI data center expansion, negotiating complex government incentives, managing property/indirect taxes, and partnering with executives on site selection and multi-billion-dollar investments. Requires 12+ years in tax incentives and infrastructure projects with strong negotiation and modeling skills.

## Job Description

## Responsibilities
- Lead OpenAI's global tax infrastructure strategy supporting hyperscale AI infrastructure expansion.
- Develop and execute tax strategies supporting site selection, data center development, and long-term infrastructure investments.
- Structure, negotiate, and administer complex state, local, federal, and international incentive programs, including property tax abatements, PILOT agreements, sales and use tax incentives, grants, investment tax credits, and other economic development programs.
- Partner closely with Infrastructure, Real Estate, Finance, Treasury, Legal, Public Policy, Energy, and Engineering throughout the lifecycle of major infrastructure projects - from early site evaluation through construction and ongoing operations.
- Lead tax due diligence, financial modeling, and incentive valuation for new infrastructure investments and strategic expansion opportunities.
- Establish scalable governance processes to manage incentive compliance, reporting obligations, audit readiness, and ongoing stakeholder communications.
- Partner with Tax Technology and Financial Engineering teams to automate property tax, incentive administration, and indirect tax processes while improving data quality and operational efficiency.
- Build executive-level reporting that communicates financial impact, investment returns, tax savings, compliance status, and strategic risks across the infrastructure portfolio.
- Serve as OpenAI's primary tax advisor on infrastructure transactions, public-private partnerships, energy investments, and large-scale capital deployment initiatives.
- Build strong relationships with state and local governments, economic development organizations, utilities, external advisors, and industry partners.
- Monitor legislative and regulatory developments affecting data centers, AI infrastructure, energy, property taxation, and government incentives, translating emerging policy into actionable business strategy.

## Requirements
- 12+ years of experience in state and local tax, property tax, tax incentives, infrastructure tax, or economic development, including significant in-house leadership experience.
- Deep experience supporting large-scale infrastructure investments, data centers, manufacturing, semiconductor, energy, or other capital-intensive industries.
- Demonstrated success negotiating complex economic development incentives with state and local governments.
- Strong understanding of property tax, sales and use tax, construction taxation, and infrastructure-related tax issues.
- Experience building scalable tax processes and governance frameworks supporting multi-billion-dollar capital investment programs.
- Strong financial modeling skills with the ability to evaluate investment returns, incentive value, and long-term financial impacts.
- Experience partnering effectively with executive leadership and influencing cross-functional strategic decisions.
- Exceptional communication and negotiation skills with the ability to represent OpenAI before government officials, external advisors, and senior executives.
- Proven ability to lead highly cross-functional initiatives across Finance, Legal, Infrastructure, Engineering, Treasury, Public Policy, and Operations.
- Experience building, mentoring, and developing high-performing teams in fast-growing organizations.

## Nice-to-Haves
- Experience supporting hyperscale data center development or cloud infrastructure investments.
- Experience negotiating incentives across multiple U.S. states and international jurisdictions.
- Familiarity with energy markets, utility incentive programs, renewable energy investments, or transmission infrastructure.
- Experience implementing tax technology solutions supporting property tax, incentives, and indirect tax processes.
- CPA, JD, MST, or equivalent advanced tax qualification.
- Experience in a high-growth technology company or other rapidly scaling global organization.

## Similar roles

- [Director of Tax](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/276666e3-4d75-4b03-98e6-a4f97437fa91) - Together AI - San Francisco, CA - $259k – $310k/yr
- [Senior Director, FP&A](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/de0dee44-ab70-4cd7-b213-a85d308ddb13) - Vanta - Remote - $275k – $324k/yr
- [Strategic Finance Director](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/34fc90a5-242d-4590-bcf8-12529981b3e6) - Thinking Machines Lab - San Francisco, CA - $275k – $325k/yr
- [Director, Technical Accounting and Financial Reporting](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/a8bf5a01-7273-46e4-a8af-519f361e8dd6) - Brex - Seattle, WA - $252k – $315k/yr
- [Director of Tax](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/fc88b3f0-501c-409e-9df9-641c893ae24c) - Checkr - San Francisco, CA - $252k – $296k/yr

**Apply:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/f0faca6c-ff06-426d-9374-56816338cb28
**Canonical:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/f0faca6c-ff06-426d-9374-56816338cb28