Commercial Counsel

Avalara•Seattle, WA

8h•Hybrid

About The Position

As our Commercial Counsel, you will be an important legal partner to Avalara's North America enterprise sales and business development teams, supporting many of our largest commercial transactions. You'll work with colleagues across the Commercial Legal team to share expertise, develop contracting positions, and help promote Avalara's global commercial goals. Avalara is an industry-leading provider of cloud-based tax compliance automation, and as part of our team, you'll be important to driving our strategic growth and shaping how we support the business. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys navigating complexity, building relationships, and keeping our goals in focus while providing clear, practical legal advice to propel our mission forward. You will report to the Managing Counsel, Commercial. This is a hybrid position based in Seattle, WA.

Requirements

J.D. from an accredited law school and active license to practice in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.
6+ years of experience, including substantial time supporting complex commercial transactions at a SaaS or technology company.
Experience independently managing negotiations with enterprise customers, strategic partners, and other counterparties.
You have experience providing practical, legal advice.
You have experience tailoring legal guidance to a variety of audiences.
You have a collaborative approach
You can use AI-enabled tools and new ways of working to improve efficiency, strengthen decision-making, and enhance team effectiveness.
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.

Responsibilities

Lead complex commercial transactions: Draft, negotiate, and close enterprise SaaS subscription agreements, partner and reseller deals, and other strategic commercial arrangements.
Partner: Work with Sales, Product, Finance, and other team members to structure transactions, resolve legal issues, and support our goals with practical, business-focused solutions.
Deliver practical guidance: Balance legal risk, operational realities, and priorities to provide clear, relevant advice that helps move deals forward.
Help shape Avalara's contracting framework: Contribute to the development of standard customer and partner agreements, product terms, playbooks, and other resources that support scalable commercial contracting.
Contribute to improvements in legal operations: Help refine processes and resources that increase efficiency, consistency, and scalability in commercial contracting.
Support strategic growth: Participate in cross-border transactions and complex negotiations involving data protection, information security, and AI-related issues.
Build trusted relationships: Collaborate across the organization and with legal colleagues supporting other regions and departments to promote execution of Avalara's commercial contracting approach.