Senior Project Manager - Professional Services

Avalara•UNAVAILABLE, UNAVAILABLE

1d•Remote

About The Position

As a Senior Project Manager in Avalara's Professional Services organization, you will lead the planning, governance, and end-to-end execution of large, complex, and high-visibility enterprise implementations for Avalara’s Excise platforms (AvaTax for Energy, Returns for Energy, AvaTax for Tobacco and Returns for Tobacco). At this advanced level, you will manage multi-faceted customer programs involving challenging technical requirements, tight regulatory deadlines, cross-border logistics (US/Canada), and multi-tier third-party delivery ecosystems (including system integrators and delivery partners). You will serve as a trusted advisor to customer executives, foresee and resolve critical escalations with limited management support, drive rigorous scope and risk management, and help mentor project managers across the practice.

Requirements

5+ years of progressive project/program management experience in enterprise SaaS implementations, professional services, or management consulting.
Bachelor’s degree in Business, Information Technology, Operations, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
Proven track record of independently leading large, enterprise-grade software implementations from initiation to successful go-live.
Deep expertise in managing project scope, schedules, multi-stream budgets, risk registers (RAID), and formal change management procedures.
Advanced proficiency in Professional Services Automation (PSA) and collaboration platforms (e.g., Salesforce PSA, FinancialForce, Jira, Confluence).
Exceptional written, verbal, and presentation skills with demonstrated experience presenting to VP- and C-level customer leadership.
Experience using AI and AI-related technologies.
Ability to apply AI every day to business challenges - improving efficiency, contributing solutions, and driving results for your team, our company, and our customers.
Willingness to grow with AI by staying curious about new trends and best practices, and by sharing what you learn so others can benefit too.

Nice To Haves

Domain knowledge in fuel/tobacco/excise tax compliance, energy supply chains, or enterprise ERP ecosystems (SAP, Oracle Cloud, PDI Enterprise).
Experience managing hybrid delivery models involving external delivery subcontractors and partner ecosystems.

Responsibilities

Plan and execute large, strategic, and high-risk customer implementation programs from initial handoff through post-go-live hypercare and final project sign-off.
Establish comprehensive program governance, including multi-phase project charters, integrated delivery schedules, resource capacity plans, and stakeholder communication matrices.
Provide strong leadership and direction to multi-disciplinary project teams (Senior Implementation Consultants, Technical Architects, Data Specialists, and Partner Consultants).
Proactively manage critical path activities, complex ERP dependencies (e.g., SAP S/4HANA, Oracle, PDI Enterprise), and customer cutover plans to ensure on-time delivery.
Identify, quantify, and mitigate complex program risks, technical constraints, and organizational bottlenecks before they impact project velocity.
Take proactive vs. reactive steps to guide and manage enterprise customer expectations, maintaining alignment across executive sponsors, Tax Directors, and IT leadership.
Serve as the primary escalation point on project health; resolve difficult customer disputes, timeline pushbacks, and priority conflicts with minimal managerial intervention.
Maintain rigorous scope control and lead commercial change order negotiations when requirements expand beyond the initial SOW.
Eligible to earn and serve with the distinction of Team Lead, mentoring, coaching, and onboarding Associate PMs and Project Managers.
Champion operational best practices, contribute to the evolution of PSA workflows (Salesforce PSA / CPQ), and optimize revenue recognition and resource utilization reporting.
Lead post-project retrospectives, translating lessons learned into reusable delivery frameworks, playbooks, and standardized templates.
Leverage AI tools and technologies in your daily workflow to materially increase speed, delivery quality, and problem-solving scale.
Proactively identify opportunities to automate routine tasks, streamline implementation workflows, and reduce project backlog.
Use AI-enabled tools (e.g., Gong AI) to analyze customer interactions, improve call and delivery quality, and prevent recurring issues.
Stay curious about emerging AI trends, adopting new capabilities and sharing best practices across the team.
Ensure all AI usage strictly adheres to security, privacy, and data governance standards.