People Operations & AI Transformation Architect

Avalara • UNAVAILABLE, UNAVAILABLE

11d • Remote

About The Position

Avalara is creating an AI Transformation & Operational Excellence team to redesign how its People & Culture (P&C) function delivers services to employees, managers, candidates, and the business. The People Operations & AI Transformation Architect owns end-to-end process architecture, operating models, and solution vision, deciding which process steps should be automated with AI, augmented by AI, or remain human-led. The role may build AI agents and automations directly or partner with Avalara’s People Technology engineering team to deliver them, depending on complexity and capacity. It operates with significant autonomy on ambiguous, cross-functional problems and partners with P&C and People Technology leadership.

The role investigates and documents current processes, establishes baseline performance data, and designs persona-based target experiences and technical solutions. It makes build-versus-buy decisions, defines implementation phases, identifies impacts across processes and systems, and maintains a roadmap and durable operating model. It also develops ROI models and success measures and partners with P&C leadership on agent accountability, governance, and performance oversight.

Avalara describes itself as an AI-first company and expects employees to use AI in daily work, continue learning about AI trends and best practices, and share knowledge. The role is remote, as indicated by the posting’s “#LI-Remote” designation. The listed annual base pay ranges are $153,300–$252,900 in Colorado, $153,300–$279,600 in Washington, $153,300–$306,300 in California, and $169,400–$306,300 in NYC. The position is eligible for an annual bonus based on individual and company performance, subject to applicable plan terms and the employee’s role.

Requirements

• Demonstrated experience designing end-to-end target-state processes and operating models, rather than only documenting current-state processes.
• Strong process aptitude, including the ability to investigate complex real-world processes and create 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 which work to automate, augment with AI, or keep human-led, and in designing accordingly.
• Ability to build AI agents or automations directly when appropriate and to provide clear, buildable specifications to an engineering team when implementation is handed off.
• 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 breaking large initiatives into phases that deliver value quickly and can be adjusted over time.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to communicate credibly with engineers and clearly with business and operations stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in HR, People Operations, recruiting, employee lifecycle, service delivery, or a comparable operations function.
• Hands-on Workday experience in configuration, reporting, or implementation.
• Background in solutions architecture, technical product management, or a similar hybrid business/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 processes currently work, using direct observation, data review, and conversations with process participants.
• Create step-by-step process maps and prioritize pain points and gaps.
• Gather baseline process data, including cycle time, volume, and error rates.
• Design a target experience for each affected persona, including employees, people managers, candidates, the business, and P&C.
• Define target-state processes and technology requirements, and determine which steps should be automated, AI-augmented, or human-led.
• Translate process decisions into technical requirements and specifications for engineering teams.
• Assess build-versus-buy options, including custom development, vendor solutions, and integration with existing platforms such as Workday; sequence work into value-delivering phases.
• Design target-state solution architectures and determine whether to build AI tools directly or partner with People Technology to do so.
• Build AI agents and automations directly when appropriate, or partner with engineers on requirements, testing, and QA.
• Identify upstream and downstream impacts on other 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.
• Establish durable operating models for redesigned processes.
• Develop ROI models and success measures, track tool performance, and recommend retiring solutions that are not delivering.
• Partner with P&C leadership to assign accountability and oversight for AI agents within the P&C organization.
• Help define performance assessment criteria and ownership for AI agents.
• Maintain a current inventory of production agents and automations, their owning teams, and performance status.

Benefits

• Paid time off
• Paid parental leave
• Annual bonus eligibility based on individual and company performance, subject to applicable plan terms and role
• Private medical insurance (benefits vary by location)
• Life insurance (benefits vary by location)
• Disability insurance (benefits vary by location)
• Employee resource groups

What This Job Offers

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