HR Experience & AI Transformation Architect

Avalara • UNAVAILABLE, UNAVAILABLE

1d • Remote

About The Position

Avalara is hiring an HR Experience & AI Transformation Architect for its People & Culture (P&C) function. The role is part of the AI Transformation & Operational Excellence team, which redesigns P&C services and processes using AI and automation. The architect owns process architecture, the operating model, and the vision for each solution, determining what should be automated, AI-augmented, or human-led. The role encompasses understanding and documenting current processes, defining target-state experiences for employees, managers, candidates, the business, and P&C, and designing or overseeing solutions in partnership with Avalara's People Technology engineering team. Depending on the complexity and available capacity, the architect may build AI agents and automations directly or collaborate with engineers through implementation, testing, and quality assurance.

The role operates with significant autonomy on ambiguous, cross-functional problems and serves as a trusted partner to P&C and People Technology leadership. It also owns the roadmap and operating model for assigned processes, measures solution performance and return on investment, and helps establish accountability and governance for AI agents and automations in production.

Requirements

• Demonstrated experience designing target-state processes and operating models end to end, rather than only documenting current processes.
• Strong process aptitude, including the ability to investigate complex real-world processes and produce clear, step-by-step documentation.
• Deep, hands-on experience building or deploying AI agents and automations in a live operational environment.
• Hands-on agentic AI experience, including building multi-step, tool-using agents, prompt design, and LLM orchestration for real business processes.
• Demonstrated judgment in deciding what to automate, augment with AI, or keep human-led, and designing accordingly.
• Ability to build AI agents or automations directly when appropriate and to provide clear, buildable specifications to an engineering team when handing off work.
• Direct experience making build-versus-buy decisions for software or AI tools, including evaluating vendor solutions against custom builds.
• Experience partnering with software engineers through implementation, testing, deployment, and iteration.
• Experience sequencing large initiatives into phases that deliver value quickly and can be adjusted along the way.
• Strong communication skills, including credibility with engineers and the ability to communicate clearly with business and operations stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in HR, People Operations, or a comparable operations function, such as recruiting, employee lifecycle, or service delivery.
• Hands-on Workday experience in configuration, reporting, or implementation.
• Background in solutions architecture, technical product management, or a similar hybrid business and technical role.
• Familiarity with workflow automation platforms or RPA tools beyond agentic AI.
• Experience defining organizational structures or governance models for AI agents or automated systems.

Responsibilities

• Observe, investigate, and document how current processes actually work using direct observation, data review, and conversations with the people doing the work.
• Create step-by-step process maps and prioritize process pain points and gaps.
• Gather baseline process data, including cycle time, volume, and error rates, to inform redesign decisions.
• Define future-state experiences for employees, people managers, candidates, the business, and P&C, and specify the process and technology needed to deliver them.
• Decide for each process step whether it should be fully automated with AI, augmented by AI, or kept human-led, and explain the rationale.
• Translate process decisions into technical requirements and specifications for engineering teams.
• Assess whether to build, buy, or integrate a solution with an existing platform, and sequence work into value-delivering phases.
• Design target-state solution architectures and determine whether to build AI tools directly or hand development to People Technology.
• Build AI agents and automations directly when appropriate, or partner with People Technology engineers on requirements, testing, and quality assurance.
• Identify upstream and downstream impacts on processes, systems, and teams before committing to a build.
• Own and maintain the AI and automation roadmap for assigned processes, aligning priorities with P&C leadership and People Technology.
• Create durable operating models for redesigned processes.
• Develop ROI models and success measures, track solution performance, and recommend retiring tools that are not delivering value.
• Partner with P&C leadership to determine which teams are accountable for AI agents and their use, oversight, and outcomes.
• Help define performance assessment, ownership, accountability, and criteria for AI agents.
• Maintain a current map of production agents and automations, their owning teams, and their performance status.

Benefits

• Paid time off.
• Paid parental leave.
• Bonuses may be available to many employees; this role is eligible for an annual bonus based on individual and company performance, subject to the applicable plan and employee role.
• Private medical insurance, varying by location.
• Life insurance, varying by location.
• Disability insurance, varying by location.
• Employee-run resource groups with senior leadership and executive sponsorship.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed