What does the Burkland Senior Tax Associate, R&D role actually do?

You run client R&D credit and Section 174 / 174A engagements: virtual technical interviews, reports, calculations, workpapers, and form review, across several growth-company files at once. The posting also includes mentoring associates and spotting credit opportunities in financial statements.

Is the Burkland R&D tax role remote?

The employer posting describes it as fully remote in the United States, inside a multi-client delivery team. Confirm location limits on the Ashby page before you apply, because remote policies can exclude some states.

What salary does Burkland list for this R&D tax associate role?

The public posting targets a base of $80,000 to $100,000, with 401(k) and health benefits noted for full-time roles. Offers vary by experience and location. Check the live page for the current range.

Do I need a CPA for the Burkland R&D role?

CPA or EA progress is preferred, and IRS representation experience is a plus. The hard requirement in the posting is 3 to 5 years of hands-on R&D tax, including Section 174 work, plus a degree in accounting, tax, finance, or a related field.

How is this different from a Big Four R&D credit job?

Burkland is an outsourced finance firm for growth companies. The credit work sits next to books you may already see, with a remote team and a smaller client set than a national incentives practice. The technical bar (interviews, 41, 174) is still specialist work.

Does The Credit Index submit my application to Burkland?

No. Use the employer apply link. This page is an attributed index listing with hiring guidance. It is not an application channel and not tax advice.

United States · Remote

Sr. Tax Associate, R&D

Burkland Associates · Remote (United States) · Full-time · Verified 2026-09-12

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Written by Maya, Index Voice at The Credit Index. maya@creditindex.org

Direct answer

Burkland Associates is hiring a remote Senior Tax Associate to run day-to-day US R&D credit and IRC Section 174 / 174A work for growth-stage clients. The public posting asks for 3 to 5 years of hands-on R&D tax, technical interviews, calculation review, and comfort with software or biotech R&D. Apply only on Burkland's Ashby page. This Index page adds the skill list, interview prep, and a sample resume block so you can decide if the role fits before you apply.

The role

What this job actually is

The posting sits in Burkland's Tax Service Delivery Group and is full time and fully remote in the United States. You own assigned R&D tax credit engagements and Section 174 / 174A analyses: virtual client interviews, technical reports, workpapers, tax forms, and credit calculations. You also scan financial statements and tax documents for missed R&D, keep current on credit law, and support internal knowledge so the practice can take more clients without dropping quality.

Senior scope is explicit. The role is not a first study. You balance several engagements at once, review junior work, and are expected to mentor associates. Preferred credentials are CPA or EA progress, with IRS representation experience as a plus. Tools called out on the posting include Kipsi for R&D tax work, plus Alteryx or Power BI, and strong Excel for calculation files.

The employer states a base range of $80,000 to $100,000, with final offers depending on experience, location, and total compensation. Full-time roles are described as eligible for 401(k) and health benefits. Treat that range as the posting's target, then confirm it on the Ashby page before you negotiate.

The employer

Working at Burkland Associates

Burkland Associates is a US outsourced finance and tax practice built for startups and growth companies, not a Big Four audit firm. Clients are typically venture-backed or scaling operators who need a finance team that already understands software, life sciences, and multi-entity cleanup. An in-house R&D tax offering means the credit work sits next to the same people who already see the books, payroll, and entity structure.

That setup changes the job. You will not only write a standalone study. You will pull signals from client financials the firm already holds, then go back to technical leads for the story. Remote-first means interviews, review notes, and file discipline have to work without a shared office. On the Credit Index firm profile, claim status is separate from this job: an unclaimed listing still means the employer is real, not that the Index has verified the practice.

Industry

Program and market context

US R&D credit work in 2026 is still about the four-part test under Section 41, qualified research expenses, and how Section 174 capitalization interacts with the credit after the later amortization relief. Software and biotech claimants are where Burkland's posting points you: founders describe product work in product language, and you have to map that to qualified research without inflating routine engineering.

Growth-company files are messy. Capitalization policies, contractor vs employee wages, and state credit add-ons show up in the same engagement as the federal study. Interviewers will want to hear that you have lived inside that mess, not that you can recite the statute.

US R&D tax credit (Section 41)
IRC Section 174 / 174A

From the posting

Skills this role is hiring for

Section 41 credit studies
The posting is an R&D credit delivery role, not a general tax associate seat. You need owned studies, not exposure.
Section 174 / 174A analysis
Named beside the credit in the responsibilities. Burkland wants the capitalization and credit interaction in the same workpapers.
Technical interviews
You document client and subject-matter interviews, often virtual, then turn them into reports. This is the core daily motion.
Workpaper and form review
You prepare and review deliverables and tax forms. Review skill matters because you also mentor associates.
Software or biotech fluency
The posting asks for comfort speaking with technical leads in software and/or biotechnology, Burkland's typical client mix.
Excel calculation files
Credit math, wage allocations, and 174 tie-outs live in spreadsheets. Intermediate to advanced Excel is a stated requirement on mirrored postings.
Kipsi, Alteryx, or Power BI
Called out as pluses, not gates. Mention only tools you have actually used.
Remote multi-client management
The role is 100 percent remote and multi-client. Capacity planning is part of the job, not a perk footnote.

Maya

Interview at Burkland Associates

Expect a delivery interview, not a campus case. Walk through one engagement where you owned the technical interviews, the calculation, and the review notes. Name the industry (SaaS, biotech, or similar), the uncertainty you documented, and what you cut because it was routine.
Burkland's clients are growth companies with an existing finance relationship. Be ready to explain how you use a trial balance, payroll file, and contractor invoices to find a credit opportunity before you ever book the technical call.
Section 174 will come up. Prepare a two-minute explanation of how you separated specified research expenditures from the credit computation, and what you told the client when the numbers moved. Do not recite a law-firm memo.
They hire for a remote team that reviews each other's files. Describe how you leave a workpaper another associate can pick up: index, source links, open questions, and a review log. Mention mentoring only if you have actually reviewed someone else's study.
If you have Kipsi, Alteryx, or Power BI, show a concrete output (a QRE tie-out, a pivot of wage data). If you do not, say so and show the Excel system you use instead. Inflating tool names is an easy fail on a specialist team.

Preparation from the public posting. Not the employer's interview script, and not tax advice.

Maya

Resume for this role

Put R&D tax in the title line of each relevant role. 'Tax associate' alone will not clear a screen for this posting. Use 'R&D tax credit' and 'Section 174' in the first two bullets of the most recent job.
Quantify file ownership, not firm revenue. Number of studies you ran, industries, whether you led interviews, and whether you reviewed junior work. Skip claim-size boasts you cannot defend.
Add a skills line that matches the posting: Excel, technical interviews, software or biotech domain, and any of Kipsi, Alteryx, Power BI, CPA, or EA. Leave off tools you have only watched in a demo.
Remote readiness belongs in one bullet: time zone, how you run interviews, and a multi-client load you have already carried. Burkland is remote-first, so this is evidence, not a lifestyle note.
Keep the resume to roles that prove delivery. A long list of generic compliance returns dilutes the 3 to 5 years of R&D tax they asked for.

Example

Sample experience block: Senior Tax Associate, R&D

Illustrative only. Replace every line with work you did. Do not invent credit amounts, client names, or tools. This shape matches what Burkland's posting actually screens for.

Owned federal R&D credit studies and Section 174 analyses for software and life-science companies, from scoping through reviewed workpapers.
Led virtual technical interviews with engineering leads and wrote the narrative that tied experiments to qualified research wages and supplies.
Built Excel QRE models from payroll and contractor files, then reviewed associate drafts before partner sign-off.
Flagged missed credit opportunities while reading client financials already in the finance file, and scoped the follow-up interviews.
Kept a written review log so a remote teammate could continue the engagement without a live handoff.

Before you apply

Maya's notes

Apply on Burkland's Ashby link. The Index does not take your resume for this role.
Lead with studies you owned. A sentence about 'exposure to R&D credits' will not match a 3 to 5 year requirement.
Read the Credit Index firm profile for Burkland before you apply so you know the listing may be unclaimed. That is not a reason to skip a real employer posting.
Confirm the salary range and remote policy on the live posting. Those figures move, and the Index only mirrors what was public at verification.

Answers

Questions candidates ask

What does the Burkland Senior Tax Associate, R&D role actually do?: You run client R&D credit and Section 174 / 174A engagements: virtual technical interviews, reports, calculations, workpapers, and form review, across several growth-company files at once. The posting also includes mentoring associates and spotting credit opportunities in financial statements.
Is the Burkland R&D tax role remote?: The employer posting describes it as fully remote in the United States, inside a multi-client delivery team. Confirm location limits on the Ashby page before you apply, because remote policies can exclude some states.
What salary does Burkland list for this R&D tax associate role?: The public posting targets a base of $80,000 to $100,000, with 401(k) and health benefits noted for full-time roles. Offers vary by experience and location. Check the live page for the current range.
Do I need a CPA for the Burkland R&D role?: CPA or EA progress is preferred, and IRS representation experience is a plus. The hard requirement in the posting is 3 to 5 years of hands-on R&D tax, including Section 174 work, plus a degree in accounting, tax, finance, or a related field.
How is this different from a Big Four R&D credit job?: Burkland is an outsourced finance firm for growth companies. The credit work sits next to books you may already see, with a remote team and a smaller client set than a national incentives practice. The technical bar (interviews, 41, 174) is still specialist work.
Does The Credit Index submit my application to Burkland?: No. Use the employer apply link. This page is an attributed index listing with hiring guidance. It is not an application channel and not tax advice.

Informational listing only. Not tax advice. All careers.