Senior Accountant, Indirect Taxes

Duolingo Duolingo · Consumer · New York, NY +1 · Accounting

Senior Accountant, Indirect Taxes role at Duolingo, focusing on day-to-day indirect tax operations and compliance (sales/use tax, VAT/GST) in the U.S. and internationally. Responsibilities include partnering with external advisors, resolving notices/audits, building scalable processes, improving tax data quality (vendor onboarding, 1099 readiness), and owning fixed assets accounting. The role collaborates with AP, FP&A, and Internal Audit, and requires experience in indirect tax operations and/or public company accounting, documentation skills, and cross-functional communication. Exceptional candidates will have experience with global VAT/GST, implementing tax engines, SOX controls, and consumer tech/subscription businesses.

What you'd actually do

  1. Lead U.S. sales and use tax compliance end-to-end: nexus monitoring, data prep, return review/approval flows with partners, payment scheduling, and notice resolution.
  2. Coordinate international VAT/GST compliance with external partners, supporting registrations, return reviews, and audits; ensure timely, accurate filings and documentation.
  3. Own tax data readiness across procure-to-pay: strengthen vendor onboarding to capture complete tax documentation and IDs, and establish year-round 1099 preparedness to avoid year-end crunch.
  4. Serve as the primary operational liaison to our indirect tax partners (indirect tax advisor and co-sourced tax provider), facilitating calendars, data requests, and status tracking.
  5. Own fixed assets accounting: maintain the subledger, validate capitalization vs. expense judgments, perform monthly close activities, and prepare reconciliations with clear support.

Skills

Required

  • 3–5 years of experience in indirect tax operations and/or public company accounting
  • hands-on exposure to U.S. sales/use tax and international VAT/GST workflows
  • Experience partnering with external tax advisors on registrations, return preparation/review, audits, and notices
  • Exposure to AP/procure-to-pay workflows
  • Exposure to fixed assets accounting
  • Excellent documentation and organization
  • Clear, concise communication and stakeholder management

Nice to have

  • Experience coordinating multi-country VAT/GST compliance with global partners and fiscal reps
  • Prior work implementing or improving sales/use tax engines and related P2P data flows
  • Experience designing and operating SOX controls for tax and fixed assets processes
  • Background in consumer tech or subscription businesses with digital services and cross-border VAT
  • CPA or equivalent certification with indirect tax emphasis

What the JD emphasized

  • hands-on exposure to U.S. sales/use tax and international VAT/GST workflows
  • partnering with external tax advisors on registrations, return preparation/review, audits, and notices
  • improving vendor onboarding and year-end information reporting (e.g., 1099)
  • fixed assets accounting
  • documentation and organization; ability to stand up repeatable processes and maintain audit-ready evidence
  • coordinating multi-country VAT/GST compliance with global partners and fiscal reps
  • implementing or improving sales/use tax engines and related P2P data flows
  • designing and operating SOX controls for tax and fixed assets processes