Director, Engineering - Avalara Developer Experience Platform

What You'll Do We are seeking a Director/Sr. Director to lead Avalara’s Agentic Developer Experience (DX) Platform — focused on enabling developers and AI agents to seamlessly discover, understand, and integrate with Avalara’s products. This role owns the external developer experience layer , including exposing documentation for agent-facing interfaces (e.g., MCP), documentation and knowledge systems, interactive tooling, and AI-powered integration accelerators. You will partner closely with domain-focused product engineering who own APIs, MCP tools, backend systems and the partner engineering team, and ensure these capabilities are exposed in a consistent, intuitive, and agent-friendly manner for developer and partners . #LI-Remote What Your Responsibilities Will Be Agent Experience Layer Build and evolve the external MCP-based interface and tool catalog for building integrations Standardize how APIs and capabilities are exposed to AI agents Define best practices for agent-tool interactions (schemas, patterns, guardrails) Developer Portal & Knowledge Experience Own the developer documentation platform , IA, and UX Ensure documentation freshness and accuracy via automation (spec ↔ docs sync, drift detection) Deliver task-oriented, cross-product integration guides Interactive Sandbox & Exploration Provide API exploration, testing, and simulation environments Enable safe experimentation for developers and agents (mock + sandbox) Sample Apps & AI Integration Kits Build and maintain reference implementations and starter kits Deliver agent-ready examples , prompts, and integration patterns Define and promote “golden paths” for common integrations Integration Acceleration (AI-first) Develop AI-powered tools and workflows that reduce time-to-integration Create reusable “skills” for common use cases (e.g., tax calculation flows) Enable partners to build faster using AI-assisted approaches DX Standards & Cross-Team Alignment Define and drive adoption of API, MCP, and documentation standards Partner with product teams to ensure consistent external experience Establish versioning, deprecation, and usability guidelines Partner Enablement & Ecosystem Growth Lead developer onboarding and partner integration journeys Support strategic partners with co-build and acceleration frameworks Improve integration success rates across the ecosystem Observability & Continuous Improvement Define and track DX metrics (time-to-first-success, integration success rate, agent task completion) Build feedback loops from usage, errors, and developer input Continuously improve experience based on real-world signals What Makes This a Bar-Raiser Role     AI Bar Raiser   At Avalara, this role is expected to be an AI Bar Raiser — a leader who elevates both the technical capability of the organization and the practical application of AI across engineering and operational workflows.   This individual is expected to apply advanced AI capabilities to materially improve how systems are designed, built, operated , and scaled, while driving measurable gains in engineering productivity, quality, automation, and business impact. The expectation is to create a culture of 10x productivity through the effective use of AI tools, modern engineering technologies, automation, and an agile execution mindset where speed is table stakes.   Bar Raiser   At Avalara, this role is expected to be a Bar Raiser  who  strengthens teams by improving technical judgment, accelerating organizational learning, mentoring engineers and leaders, and leaving platforms, processes, and operating models significantly better than they found them.   This role is expected to redefine how engineering, AI, and content operations work together at scale across Avalara.   Success requires building not only a technically strong platform, but also a durable operating model that improves execution speed, quality, scalability, and business impact.   The leader in this role must consistently raise the bar across architecture, engineering discipline, AI adoption, operational excellence, talent density, and cross-functional execution.   The ideal candidate combines deep technical judgment with strong organizational leadership and has a demonstrated  track record  of delivering complex platform transformations with measurable outcomes.   This is a highly visible leadership role with direct influence on Avalara’s AI strategy, content scalability, and long-term operational efficiency.   What You’ll Need To Be Successful Education B.S. in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field AND 12+ years of relevant experience in developer platforms, APIs, or DX leadership roles. Experience Experience leading developer platforms or DX initiatives at scale Experience building external platforms or partner ecosystems Proven ability to influence across teams Experience defining and driving platform standards Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Deep understanding of API design and developer workflows Demonstrated experience with AI/LLM or agent-based systems Strong data-driven mindset Strong product and platform thinking Proven ability to influence across teams without direct ownership . Curiosity that uncovers opportunities where none seemingly exist. Customer obsession that inspires product engineering teams to reduce debt and backlog and improve overall consistency. Hands-on leadership mindset Roll-up-your-sleeves mindset with willingness to leverage the latest tools, demonstrate how things should be done, and raise the bar for your team and peers. 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. 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 diversit y  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.  What You Need To Know About Avalara We’re defining the relationship between tax and tech. We’ve already built an industry-leading cloud compliance platform, processing over 54 billion customer API calls and over 6.6 million tax returns a year. Our growth is real - we're a billion dollar business - and we’re not slowing down 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. We’ve been different from day one. Join us, and your career will be too. 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.