Senior Director, Partner Insights

Role Description

The Senior Director of Partner Insights leads analytics for Avalara's partner ecosystem — referral and technology partnerships — owning the metrics, models, and executive-facing narrative that inform how the company invests in and manages partner channels. This is a data and analytics leadership role first: you'll build and run a high-performing team that turns partner and BD funnel data into decisions, and you'll be the analytical backbone for partner-related board and executive reporting.

You'll sit inside the Data & Analytics organization, embedded in the Partner domain — with a mandate to define, defend, and evolve the metrics partner leadership runs on (referral/tech partner performance, commission economics, BD funnel conversion), consistent with the definitional standards Data & Analytics owns company-wide.

Responsibilities

• Team & Function Leadership
  • Own and grow the Partner Insights team, setting the analytics roadmap and quality bar for all partner-facing reporting and analysis.
  • Establish Partner Insights as the authoritative source for partner performance metrics and definitions, in alignment with company-wide metric standards owned by Data & Analytics.
  • Help drive the team's adoption of AI-enabled analytics and self-service BI — including semantic layer design that makes partner metrics consistent, governed, and directly queryable by business stakeholders and AI tools alike.
• Analytics & Decision Support
  • Build and maintain the financial models and business cases that inform partner strategy, investment decisions, and executive/board-level positioning.
  • Run the BD funnel analysis — lead generation through deal close — using Salesforce and warehouse data to surface revenue optimization opportunities for the partner and sales organizations.
  • Partner with Revenue Operations on channel/technology partner performance deep-dives and commission structure analysis, providing the analytical foundation for commission model design.
• Executive & Board Reporting
  • Own the preparation and quality of partner-related content for monthly business reviews and board decks; partner with CRO/CFO on positioning.
  • Translate partner and BD funnel performance into a clear, decision-ready narrative for executive and investor audiences.
• Cross-Functional Partnership
  • Partner with Finance on annual planning, budgeting, and target-setting for the partner organization.
  • Work with Marketing on top-of-funnel drivers, campaign performance, and lead qualification/conversion metrics as they relate to partner-sourced pipeline.
  • Collaborate with Data Engineering and Analytics Engineering to ensure partner data pipelines and semantic models meet the team's analytical needs.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in analytics, FP&A, or business intelligence leadership, ideally in SaaS or technology-platform businesses at scale (750+ employees); partner/channel or BD-adjacent experience a strong plus.
• Track record building and leading data/analytics teams that operate as strategic partners to executive stakeholders, not just a reporting function.
• Deep fluency in translating complex data into financial models and business cases that hold up under executive and board scrutiny.
• Experience partnering with Data Engineering/Analytics Engineering teams — comfortable operating in a modern warehouse/BI stack, not just consuming finished dashboards.
• Experience advancing semantic layer and self-service BI initiatives, and a point of view on where AI fits into analytics workflows and decision support.
• Proven experience managing global, cross-functional stakeholders (GTM, Finance, Revenue Operations) and driving alignment without formal authority over those functions.
• Strong people leadership and team-building track record.
• MBA a plus, not required.

Technical Skills

• Advanced SQL required; Python fluency strongly preferred.
• Experience with Salesforce and Snowflake (or equivalent cloud data warehouse).
• Experience with next-generation BI tools such as Hex or Omni preferred.
• Familiarity with Fivetran or similar ELT/pipeline tooling — enough to collaborate effectively with data engineering, not to build pipelines directly.
• Fluent in Excel and PowerPoint for executive-grade presentation building.

Benefits

• Total Rewards: In addition to a great compensation package, paid time off, and paid parental leave, many Avalara employees are eligible for bonuses.
• Health & Wellness: Benefits vary by location but generally include private medical, life, and disability insurance.
• Inclusive culture and diversity: Avalara strongly supports diversity, equity, and inclusion, and is committed to integrating them into our business practices and our organizational culture.

Company Description

Avalara is an AI-first Company. AI is embedded in our workflows, decision-making, and products. Success here requires embracing AI as an essential capability.

You’ll bring experience using AI and AI-related technologies, ready to thrive here. You’ll apply AI every day to business challenges - improving efficiency, contributing solutions, and driving results for your team, our company, and our customers.

You’ll grow with AI by staying curious about new trends and best practices, and by sharing what you learn so others can benefit too.