R&D Tax Incentive Consultant – Short-Term Contract

We are seeking an experienced Australian R&D Tax Incentive consultant to support the preparation and submission of R&DTI applications across three related Australian entities operating in formulation development, manufacturing and dermatology / healthcare innovation.
The successful candidate should have hands-on experience preparing R&DTI registrations for Australian companies, including identifying eligible core and supporting R&D activities, preparing technical narratives, reviewing R&D expenditure, reconciling financial information and supporting submission-ready documentation.
The R&DTI is a self-assessment program, and applicants need to be able to demonstrate that eligible core R&D activities involve an outcome that could not be known in advance and a systematic progression of work involving hypothesis, experiment, observation, evaluation and logical conclusions. ---------- The role therefore requires someone who can combine technical understanding, financial discipline and strong written documentation.
Key responsibilities
- Review R&D activities undertaken across Arete Labs, AJJ Labs and Curezma during the relevant financial year.
- Work with founders, scientists, technical staff and finance personnel to identify and document eligible core and supporting R&D activities.
- Assess whether activities satisfy Australian R&DTI eligibility requirements.
- Develop clear, defensible technical narratives covering:
- technical uncertainty / unknown outcomes;
- hypothesis;
- experimentation;
- observations and results;
- evaluation;
- conclusions;
- generation of new knowledge.
- Identify the relationship between supporting activities and eligible core R&D activities.
- Review supporting records including laboratory work, formulation development, trials, testing, scale-up work, manufacturing/process development and technical documentation.
- Review R&D-related expenditure and help reconcile eligible expenditure to accounting records.
- Review staff, contractor, materials, prototype, testing and other potentially eligible R&D costs.
- Develop and document appropriate cost allocation / apportionment methodologies.
- Identify gaps in technical or financial documentation and work with the team to address them.
- Prepare submission-ready R&DTI registration documentation for each entity.
- Assist with completion of relevant R&DTI portal information and coordinate with our accountant / tax adviser where required.
- Create a clear evidence file and audit trail supporting the claims.
- Highlight areas of uncertainty, risk or potential eligibility concern before submission.
- Recommend improvements to our ongoing R&D record-keeping processes for future claims.
Current Government guidance places significant emphasis on contemporaneous records that link R&D activities to expenditure, including what work was undertaken, when, by whom, resources used and how costs were allocated to eligible activities. ----------
Required experience and skills
We would consider the following essential:
- Demonstrated experience preparing Australian R&D Tax Incentive applications.
- Experience with AusIndustry / Department of Industry R&DTI registrations and the associated application process.
- Strong understanding of the distinction between core R&D activities and supporting R&D activities.
- Ability to translate complex scientific or technical work into clear, compliant R&DTI narratives.
- Strong attention to detail and ability to identify inconsistencies or gaps in evidence.
- Experience reviewing and reconciling R&D expenditure.
- Strong Excel / spreadsheet capability.
- Excellent written English and ability to draft concise technical documentation.
- Ability to work independently and manage several R&D projects across multiple entities.
- Comfortable interviewing scientists, founders and technical staff to extract the information required for the application.
Highly desirable
- Accounting, finance, tax or commercial finance background.
- Experience working with R&D-intensive SMEs, startups or manufacturing companies.
- Experience with formulation development, chemistry, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, cosmetics, medical products, manufacturing or process development.
- Experience reviewing payroll, contractor, material and overhead allocations for R&DTI purposes.
- Experience preparing claims that have subsequently been reviewed by the ATO or Department of Industry.
- Familiarity with R&DTI audit / review readiness.
- Previous experience working alongside accountants or registered tax agents on the R&D tax offset component.
- Experience improving R&D record-keeping frameworks for subsequent financial years.
Given the nature of Arete, AJJ and Curezma, exposure to biotechnology, medical sciences, formulation development or manufacturing R&D would be particularly valuable. The Government's current biotechnology and medical sciences guidance also emphasises maintaining evidence that demonstrates both eligibility and expenditure. ----------
What success looks like
At the end of the engagement, we would expect:
- three well-structured, submission-ready R&DTI application packages;
- clearly defined core and supporting activities;
- strong technical narratives supported by available evidence;
- reconciled R&D expenditure schedules;
- documented allocation methodologies;
- a clear list of assumptions and areas requiring management sign-off;
- an organised evidence / substantiation file; and
- recommendations for strengthening our R&D documentation processes going forward.
We are not looking for someone who has only general accounting or grant-writing experience. Direct practical experience with Australian R&DTI claims is important.