What You'll Do As the Director of AI & Machine Learning, you will spearhead the development and implementation of AI strategies that align with Avalara’s business goals. You will lead a team of talented ML engineers to create scalable AI solutions that significantly enhance our core tax compliance product offerings. Key Responsibilities: Leadership and Management: Provide strong leadership to the team, cultivating a collaborative and innovative work environment. Manage and mentor team members to enhance their skills and career progression. Technical Expertise: Stay abreast of industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices in AI & ML. Provide technical guidance and expertise to the team in adopting new technologies effectively, fostering innovation and continuous improvement. Project Management: Oversee the planning, execution, and delivery of engineering projects within established timelines and budget constraints. Coordinate cross-functional teams to ensure smooth project execution and successful outcomes. Quality Assurance: Establish and enforce quality standards and best practices to ensure the delivery of high-quality products and solutions. Define and track KPIs educating partner teams on AI methodologies. Implement rigorous testing processes and quality control measures to identify and address any issues or defects. Resource Allocation: Manage engineering resources effectively, including budget allocation, staffing, and resource planning. Hire the best talent to advance the team’s goals. Ensure that the team has the necessary tools, skills, and support to deliver on ambitious project objectives. Strategic Planning: Collaborate with senior management in developing and implementing an AI & ML strategy that aligns with the company's overall objectives. Drive initiatives to enhance product development processes, improve efficiency, and maintain a competitive edge in the market. Stakeholder Engagement: Foster strong collaboration and communication with other teams, such as product management, design, security and operations, to ensure alignment and synergies across the organization. Work closely with stakeholders to understand the requirements of our customers and incorporate feedback into the engineering processes and delivered systems. Continuous Improvement: Drive a culture of continuous improvement within the AI & ML team, promoting innovation, efficiency, and excellence in all aspects of the engineering operations. Encourage experimentation and learning to stay ahead of technological advancements and industry shifts. What You'll Need to be Successful Bachelor's or Master's degree in Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science, Mathematics or a related field. Proven experience in a leadership role within an engineering organization, with a track record of successfully managing teams and delivering complex projects in production enterprise environments. Strong technical background with 10 years of expertise in AI & ML, software development methodologies, technologies, and tools. A person close to the action, working with teams and fluent in AI & ML, GenAI, NLP and driving projects by defining KPIs and tracking them. Strong problem-solving skills and a results-oriented mindset, with a focus on driving outcomes and delivering value to the organization. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams and stakeholders. Strategic thinker with the ability to translate business goals into actionable engineering strategies and initiatives. Experience working in a fast-paced, dynamic environment within the technology industry. About the Team We are the AI & ML enablement group in Avalara. We empower Avalara's Product and Engineering teams with cutting-edge AI & ML capabilities, driving easy-to-use, automated compliance solutions that position Avalara as the industry AI technology leader and the go-to choice for all compliance needs. About Avalara We’re Avalara. We’re defining the relationship between tax and tech. We’ve already built an industry-leading cloud compliance platform, processing nearly 40 billion customer API calls and over 5 million tax returns a year. Last year, we became a billion-dollar business, and our tribe expanded by a cool thousand people - there’s nearly 5,000 of us now. Our growth is real, and we’re not slowing down - not until we’ve achieved our mission - to be part of every transaction in the world. We’re bright, innovative and disruptive, like the orange we love to wear. It captures our quirky spirit and optimistic mindset. It shows off the culture we’ve designed, that empowers our people to win. Ownership and achievement go hand in hand here. We instill passion in our people through the trust we place in them. We’ve been different from day one. Join us, and your career will be too. EEO Statement We’re an Equal Opportunity Employer. Supporting diversity and inclusion is a cornerstone of our company — we don’t want people to fit into our culture, but to enrich it. All qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, age, gender, national orientation, disability, sexual orientation, US Veteran status, or any other factor protected by law. If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know.