Software Engineer

About Instead

Instead is a tax platform designed to help taxpayers and tax professionals collaborate to save money on taxes. As the first company in decades to receive IRS approvals to E-file 1040, 1041, 1120, 1120S, and 1065 — we're re-inventing a complex category. Founded in 2023, Instead combines LLMs with tax law to make tax management a continuous, proactive process rather than a dreaded annual deadline.

Instead's investors include Sarah Guo from Conviction (conviction.com) and many of our customers who believe in our mission and vision. The Instead team comprises talented leaders from leading tax, financial services and fintech companies — Gusto, Intuit, Zenefits, Thomson Reuters, Wolters Kluwer, Bloomberg — as well as top tax & accounting firms such as PwC, BDO, RSM, and KPMG.

Instead was a 2024 Innovation Award Finalist in CPA Practice Advisor. Instead's CEO, Andrew Argue, is a CPA and has been named Top 100 Most Influential People in the Accounting Profession twice - Ones To Watch and CPA Practice Advisors 20 under 40.

About the Role

In this role, you will get the chance to build innovative tax software alongside a dynamic team in our Hyderabad office. You'll work on exciting projects such as developing barcode systems for tax forms, processing XSD/XML schemas, and creating features that empower our tax analysts. Enjoy a fast-paced environment where you'll refine tax return rules and collaborate closely with both local and US teams. If you're a quick learner with at least 3 years of software development experience and a keen eye for detail, you'll thrive as you help us drive innovation in tax technology.

What You'll Do

• Develop tax form barcode generation in accordance with US government published guidelines and specifications
• Parse, process and update data structures based on XSD/XML schemas issued by US government jurisdictions
• Aid our growing team of tax analysts, based in Hyderabad, on tax form calculation development
• Develop new features in our in house development tool to enable our tax analysts to do more in less time
• Review and refine tax return business rules
• Additional projects as needed by the internal tax team and US based engineering team

What You'll Need

• 3 years of software development experience
• High attention to detail
• Fast learner
• Enjoy working in a fast pace, innovative environment

Nice to Have

• Experience developing tax software
• Experience developing barcode generation
• Experience with Javascript and modern web frameworks
• Experience with XML, JSON and other data structures
• Experience programming using AI copilots such as github copilot, cursor, chatgpt, claude, windsurf, etc

Equal Opportunity Employer - M/F/D/V

As a global business, we rely on diversity of culture and thought to deliver on our goals. To ensure we can do that, we seek talented, qualified employees in all our operations around the world regardless of race, color, sex/gender, including pregnancy, gender identity and expression, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, citizen status, veteran status, or any other protected classification under applicable law. We also make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and for sincerely held religious beliefs in accordance with applicable law.

We trust our team with sensitive information, so all candidates who receive and accept employment offers must complete a background check before joining us.