AI & Automation Lead, People Technology Remote, United States - Information Technology

What You'll Do

Avalara is an AI‑first company operating on a global scale in a private‑equity environment that demands increasing efficiency, talent density, and execution rigor. As our workforce grows and complexity increases, manual processes, fragmented workflows, and inconsistent employee experiences create cost, risk, and scalability constraints.

The Lead, People Technology – AI & Automation exists to fundamentally modernize how People Technology operates by embedding AI and automation into the employee lifecycle. This role ensures AI is applied responsibly and measurably to reduce manual effort, improve workforce insights, elevate employee and manager experiences, and increase the operating leverage of the People & Culture function.

This is not an experimentation role. It is a performance role. Success is measured by measurable improvements in efficiency, adoption, decision quality, and workforce outcomes.

How This Role Elevates Avalara

Elevates the Team

• Raises AI and automation capability across People Technology and People & Culture.
• Establishes scalable standards, governance, and reusable patterns.
• Improves execution rigor through disciplined prioritization and measurable outcomes.

Elevates the Business

• Reduces manual effort and operational cost across HR processes.
• Improves cycle times (e.g., hiring, approvals, case resolution, data updates).
• Enhances workforce data quality and insight generation to support better decisions.
• Increases management leverage through AI‑enabled planning and analytics.

Elevates the Customer Experience

• Enables faster hiring and onboarding of high‑quality talent.
• Improves employee enablement, productivity, and engagement.
• Reduces compliance and operational risk in workforce processes.

This role delivers operational scalability by ensuring People Technology systems are intelligent, automated, and aligned to enterprise priorities.

What Your Responsibilities Will Be

Responsibilities

AI & Automation Strategy Ownership

• Own and evolve the AI and automation strategy for People Technology, aligned to business and workforce priorities.
• Identify and prioritize high‑impact use cases that drive measurable improvements in efficiency, experience, quality, or risk reduction.
• Establish scalable AI workflow, agent, and automation standards to ensure repeatable enterprise value.
• Move initiatives from experimentation to production through disciplined governance and measurable validation.

Product & Portfolio Leadership

• Own prioritization, sequencing, and value realization of the People Technology AI roadmap.
• Define and track measurable success metrics (e.g., % manual effort reduced, cycle time improvement, adoption rates, quality improvements).
• Balance innovation with long‑term maintainability, governance, security, and enterprise alignment.
• Maintain clear accountability for business impact and roadmap outcomes.

Experience & Platform Influence

• Influence the design and optimization of core HR platforms (including Workday) to simplify, standardize, and modernize workforce experiences.
• Partner cross‑functionally with IT (AvaTech), Security, Legal, Privacy, and TPM to ensure responsible AI implementation.
• Improve employee and manager self‑service experiences through AI‑enabled knowledge retrieval, approvals, triage, and workflow orchestration.

Solution Design & Value Realization

• Design AI‑enabled workflows and automation solutions across People Technology systems.
• Prototype and implement targeted internal tools or automations that accelerate measurable value.
• Ensure all AI‑enabled solutions meet enterprise architecture, security, privacy, and compliance standards.
• Document reusable patterns and standards to scale AI capability across the function.

Leadership & Capability Elevation

• Elevate AI and automation literacy across People Technology and People & Culture.
• Mentor peers and influence stakeholders without formal authority.
• Raise performance standards and drive disciplined execution across initiatives.

12‑Month Success Signals

• Establish and gain executive alignment on a prioritized AI & automation roadmap for People Technology.
• Move 3–5 high‑impact AI/automation initiatives from pilot to scaled production.
• Achieve measurable efficiency gains (e.g., 20–30% reduction in manual effort in targeted workflows).
• Improve at least two critical employee lifecycle cycle times (e.g., hiring, onboarding, case resolution).
• Implement documented AI governance standards in partnership with Security, Legal, and IT.
• Increase AI adoption and literacy across People Technology through enablement and coaching.
• Deliver measurable workforce impact aligned to People & Culture KPIs.

AI & Automation Strategy & Research

• Research and evaluate emerging AI, automation, and HR technology trends, including agentic AI, workflow orchestration, and low/no‑code platforms.
• Translate trends into practical, prioritized HR use cases aligned to business and People & Culture strategy.
• Serve as a subject‑matter expert and thought leader on AI and automation within People Technology.
• Partner with People & Culture, IT, Security, Legal, and Privacy teams to help define and evolve responsible AI usage guidelines and guardrails.

Product & Portfolio Ownership

• Own the People Technology AI & automation roadmap, including intake, prioritization, value assessment, and sequencing of initiatives.
• Define success metrics for AI and automation initiatives, such as efficiency gains, adoption, quality improvements, and experience outcomes.
• Establish lightweight governance models to move solutions from experimentation to pilot and production.
• Support change management, documentation, and enablement to drive adoption, trust, and sustained value.

Solution Design & Build

• Design and build AI‑enabled workflows and automations using workflow orchestration tools, AI agents, and HR SaaS configurations.
• Configure and integrate HR and enterprise SaaS platforms to automate processes, improve data flow, and enhance self‑service experiences.
• Prototype and iterate on AI use cases such as employee support agents, knowledge retrieval, approvals, and case triage.
• Partner with IT and platform owners to ensure solutions align with security, data, and architectural standards.
• Document reusable patterns, standards, and best practices to enable scalability and reuse across People Technology.

What You’ll Need To Be Successful

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, or a closely related technical discipline.
• 6+ years of relevant experience in People Technology, HR Technology, HRIS, or enterprise workforce systems aligned to the scope of this role.
• Demonstrated experience leading strategic, cross‑functional technology initiatives.
• Strong familiarity and experience with Workday HCM, business processes, security, and data structures.
• Experience designing and implementing workflow automation or low/no‑code solutions in enterprise environments.
• Practical experience applying AI or generative AI tools to real business workflows with measurable outcomes.
• Experience integrating SaaS platforms using APIs, webhooks, or connectors.
• Proven ability to influence stakeholders across technical and non‑technical audiences without direct authority.

AI Expectations

The successful candidate will:

• Demonstrate applied AI capability – not just tool familiarity.
• Deliver quantifiable business impact through AI‑enabled solutions.
• Embed AI into how People Technology operates at scale.
• Identify AI opportunities tied to revenue enablement, efficiency, workforce quality, or risk reduction.
• Apply AI responsibly, securely, and ethically.
• Elevate AI maturity and best practices across the function.

Avalara is an AI‑first Company

• 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.

How We’ll Take Care Of You

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. We also have a total of 8 employee‑run resource groups, each with senior leadership and exec sponsorship.

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. #J-18808-Ljbffr