Southern Company · 1 week ago
Tax Planning Director
Atlanta, GA
Full-time
Onsite
Director/Executive
15+ years expSouthern Company is a leading energy provider serving 9 million customers across the Southeast and beyond. The Director of Tax Planning position leads the Tax Planning group, overseeing tax matters and advising the Tax VP on management of the tax practice.
EnergyNatural ResourcesNuclear
Responsibilities
Leading the technical tax capabilities of the SO tax team on Federal and state income tax matters. Requires in-depth knowledge of various sector specific areas of tax law including but not limited to Renewable Energy Tax Credits, M&A activity, and IRS Controversy
Developing, supervising, nurturing and driving tax planning team members to enable team results that drive value for our customers and shareholders. The work is largely integrated into the business of SO which requires solid commercial, communication and client service skills
Producing and/or reviewing technical memorandums, presentations and whitepapers on tax matters of particular strategic importance to the Company. This would include presenting those items to IRS examiners, senior Finance personnel as well as other impacted stakeholders such as the SO project development team
Managing the work-product and financial arrangements on technical projects with outside law and CPA firms. This includes reviewing the accuracy/risk of technical conclusions, ensuring projects are well documented and on time and communicating project results to vested parties within SO
In conjunction with the D.C. office, the position is expected to advance legislative and regulatory guidance/initiatives to maximize value to our customers and shareholder while minimizing enterprise risk. This will include collaborating with other groups within SO tax to quantify benefits of proposed areas of focus
Actively participate and influence outside tax and industry trade groups, such as EEI, ACP, NEI and TEI
Key Advisor to Tax VP and CFO on tax matters including but not limited to risk management, people development, culture building and maximizing tax planning opportunities
Qualification
Required
Master's degree in Tax or JD required
Minimum of 15 years of professional experience in Federal income tax and solid understanding of core state income tax concepts
A minimum of 2 years of experience in public accounting or at a law firm is required, preferably at an international firm (such as Deloitte, EY, KPMG, or PwC) or a nationally recognized law firm
Experience leading tax engagement on significant business transactions such as large asset acquisition and divestitures, business M&A activity and other high-profile commercial transactions
Effective communication skills both written and oral is a 'must-have' skill
Strong risk management skills with ability to see various potential interpretations of tax law and professional courage to advise candidly
Ability to collaborate with and work across the diverse groups within the SO tax team (Tax Compliance, Tax Accounting and Forecasting, Non-Income taxes)
In office professional expectation (4 days a week) with professional flexibility afforded to initiative-taking tax professional
Sense of urgency, when required, and a strong bias for action and timely work product whether individually contributed or through team efforts
Preferred
LLM degree is preferred
Benefits
Competitive base salary
Annual incentive awards for eligible employees
Health, welfare and retirement benefits designed to support physical, financial, and emotional/social well-being
Incentive program
Company
Southern Company
Southern Company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, is the shared services division of Southern Company.
10001+ employees
H1B Sponsorship
Southern Company has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (1)
2023 (4)
2020 (3)
Funding
Current Stage
Public CompanyTotal Funding
$6.16BKey Investors
GRIP Program
2025-10-03Post Ipo Equity· $1.75B
2025-05-20Post Ipo Debt· $1.45B
2024-10-21Grant· $160M
Leadership Team
Thomas Fanning
President and CEO
David Poroch
Chief Financial Officer
Recent News
2026-01-22
Idaho Business Review
2025-12-26
Company data provided by crunchbase