VP, Talent & Culture

Avalara•UNAVAILABLE, UNAVAILABLE

2d•Remote

About The Position

Avalara is seeking a Vice President of Talent & Culture to lead the systems responsible for hiring, employee development, and upholding company standards. The role focuses on increasing talent density, improving manager effectiveness, redesigning work for better collaboration between people and agents, ensuring certifications reflect actual capabilities, and defining AI-native organizational structures. The VP will also be responsible for ensuring culture and engagement are measurable and proactively addressed, and for identifying and closing leadership gaps before they become crises. This is an enterprise-wide position requiring a blend of strategic thinking, building capabilities, and coaching. The VP will report to the VP People and collaborate with People Partners, Talent Acquisition, and People Analytics, playing a key role in Avalara's next phase of growth.

Requirements

Operated at the VP level or equivalent, with end-to-end ownership of enterprise-wide talent systems.
15+ years in talent management, organizational effectiveness, or workforce strategy, including at least 3 years leading enterprise-level functions.
Track record of measurably increasing talent density and leadership effectiveness.
Experience building systems, functions, and standards from scratch with demonstrable business impact.
Deep expertise in performance management, succession, organizational effectiveness, and workforce planning, suitable for high-growth environments.
Strong instincts in org design and talent risk, with the ability to anticipate future workforce needs.
Experience influencing senior leaders and shaping company-wide talent decisions, including making unpopular calls.
Direct experience assessing, developing, and replacing inherited talent when necessary.
Fluent in AI and its impact on workforce development and management, with hands-on experience applying it.
Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
Ability to consolidate leadership expectations, success traits, and performance signals into a cohesive view for hiring, development, and assessment.
Systems thinking approach, focusing on root causes rather than immediate fixes, with judgment on when redesign is appropriate.

Nice To Haves

Experience in a SaaS, technology, or high-growth global company.
Background building or scaling talent functions in a public market or public market-ready environment.
Experience designing and deploying AI-enabled workforce systems.

Responsibilities

Own the early warning system for workforce readiness, organizational health, and talent risk, partnering with People Analytics to identify gaps and provide strategic insights to leadership.
Set performance standards, drive calibration, and oversee talent review outcomes.
Develop a cohesive system for Avalara's hiring, development, and evaluation standards.
Manage leadership and engagement as a discipline, tracking manager effectiveness and engagement across all workforce segments with business-level rigor, and addressing instances where standards are not met.
Direct the capability engine, including AI reskilling, manager capability development, onboarding, and leadership development, focusing on outcomes and ensuring certifications demonstrate applied skills.
Define the AI-native organization, including the agent-human manager role, new peer and agent expectations, and their implications for hiring, compensation, and internal assessment.
Utilize AI to build better standards faster and ensure the team meets the set bar.
Enable People Partners by building standardized resources, allowing them to focus on client teams.
Own Early Careers as a strategic talent initiative focused on building the future workforce.
Build and develop a high-performing team, assessing potential and raising performance standards across all direct reports.