Senior Director of Tax

Location: London

Employment Type: Full time

Location Type: Hybrid

Department: Finance

We power people’s progress. At Preply, we’re all about creating life‑changing learning experiences. We help people discover the magic of the perfect tutor, craft a personalised learning journey, and stay motivated to keep growing. Our approach is human‑led, tech‑enabled – and it’s creating real impact. We’ve just reached unicorn status with a $150M Series D, accelerating our vision to transform education through human‑led, AI‑enhanced learning. Today, 100,000+ tutors teach 90+ languages to learners in 180 countries – and we’re only getting started. As a category‑defining company, we’re shaping what the future of learning looks like at global scale. Every Preply lesson sparks change, fuels ambition, and drives progress that matters. Joining Preply means helping define the future of education at global scale, and building something that truly matters for millions of people, every day.

About the Role

We are seeking a strategic and hands‑on Senior Director of Tax to build our global tax function from the ground up as we scale toward becoming a public company. Operating in 180 countries, our business is inherently cross‑border and complex. This is not a role to optimise an existing function – it is an opportunity to design, build, and lead one. This leader will play a critical role in developing, implementing, and managing a robust global tax framework that supports rapid growth, ensures full compliance, and advances the company’s IPO readiness. As a senior member of the finance team reporting directly to the VP of Accounting (CFO‑1), the Senior Director of Tax will oversee global tax compliance, reporting, structuring, and planning across all jurisdictions.

The ideal candidate combines deep technical tax expertise with the judgment to prioritise effectively across a highly complex international footprint – knowing where to go deep, where to engage external advisors, and where a pragmatic approach is the right call. They thrive in high‑growth environments, have experience building or scaling tax functions in complex multinational settings, and are energized by ambiguity and pace. This is a career‑defining opportunity to build the tax function of a global, technology‑enabled company at a pivotal inflection point in its growth journey.

What you’ll be doing:

• Build and Scale the Global Tax Function: Lead the design, build‑out, and scaling of Preply's global tax exposure and tax team from its early‑stage foundations.
• Lead Global Tax Compliance & Reporting: Manage worldwide direct and indirect tax compliance, including income tax provision (ASC 740), transfer pricing, VAT/GST, withholding, 1099/DAC7 reporting, and local statutory requirements. Ensure timely and accurate filings while strengthening documentation, controls, and processes in preparation for future SOX readiness.
• Apply a Risk‑Prioritised Approach to Global Compliance: Exercise rigorous cost‑benefit judgment across a highly complex international footprint.
• Support Strategic Tax Planning & IPO Preparation: Partner with Finance leadership to implement tax strategies that support growth, operational expansion, and capital markets readiness. Lead execution of tax structuring initiatives, legal entity optimisation, intercompany arrangements, and Pillar Two preparedness, while supporting M&A activity and new market entry from a tax perspective.
• Collaborate Cross‑Functionally on Public Company Readiness: Work closely with Finance, Legal, and external advisors on tax‑related structuring, disclosures, and regulatory filings as part of IPO preparation efforts.
• Strengthen Tax Governance & Transparency: Enhance global tax risk management, reporting discipline, and documentation to ensure readiness for increased scrutiny from auditors, regulators, and future public market stakeholders.
• Drive Executive Communication on Tax: Serve as the primary voice of tax to executive leadership, including the VP of Accounting and CFO. Proactively communicate tax status, risks, and roadmap progress – translating complex, multi‑jurisdictional topics into clear, actionable updates for non‑tax stakeholders.

What you need to succeed:

• 12–15+ years of progressive international tax experience, including leadership roles in high‑growth or multinational environments.
• Experience building, scaling, or materially enhancing a global tax function, ideally in a pre‑IPO, newly public, or rapidly expanding private company.
• Strong technical expertise in U.S. and international corporate tax, ASC 740, transfer pricing, global indirect tax regimes, and evolving OECD developments.
• Experience supporting IPO readiness, public reporting requirements, and SOX implementation or preparedness.
• Demonstrated ability to operate both strategically and operationally in fast‑paced, evolving environments.
• CPA, MST or JD/LLM in Tax preferred.
• Demonstrated success operating in a fast‑paced, high‑growth technology and international company.
• Proven ability to work cross‑functionally with global teams across multiple time zones, managing competing priorities and tight timelines.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with comfort collaborating asynchronously when needed.
• Experience managing audits, strengthening internal controls, and supporting SOX compliance efforts.
• Thrives in ambiguity and enjoys building scalable processes and infrastructure from the ground up.
• AI‑forward mindset: track record of applying AI tools to tax workflow and process optimisation.
• Experience in SaaS, marketplace, or other technology‑enabled businesses.

Our Principles:

• Care to change the world: We are passionate about our work and care deeply about its impact to be life changing.
• Do it for learners: For both Preply and tutors, learners are why we do what we do. Every day we focus on empowering tutors to deliver an exceptional learning experience.
• Keep perfecting: To create an outstanding customer experience, we focus on simplicity, smoothness, and enjoyment, continually perfecting it as every detail matters.
• Now is the time: In a fast‑paced world, it matters how quickly we act. Now is the time to make great things happen.
• Disciplined execution: What makes us disciplined is the excellence in our execution. We set clear goals, focus on what matters, and utilize our resources efficiently.
• Dive deep: We leverage business acumen and curiosity to investigate disparities between numbers and stories, unlocking meaningful insights to guide our decisions.
• Growth mindset: We proactively seek growth opportunities and believe today's best performance becomes tomorrow's starting point. We humbly embrace feedback and learn from setbacks.
• Raise the bar: We raise our performance standards continuously, alongside each new hire and promotion. We build diverse and high‑performing teams that can make a real difference.
• Challenge, disagree and commit: We value open and candid communication, even when we don’t fully agree. We speak our minds, challenge when necessary, and fully commit to decisions once made.
• One Preply: We prioritize collaboration, inclusion, and the success of our team over personal ambitions. Together, we support and celebrate each other's progress.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion:

Preply.com is committed to creating an inclusive environment where people of diverse backgrounds can thrive. We believe that the presence of different opinions and viewpoints is a key ingredient for our success as a multicultural Ed‑Tech company. That means that Preply will consider all applications for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age or veteran status.