Senior Project Manager - Professional Services

What You'll Do

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.

What Your Responsibilities Will Be

Enterprise Program & Project Execution

• 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.

Proactive Risk Management & Executive Escalation

• 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.

Practice Leadership & Operational Excellence

• 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.

What You’ll Need To Be Successful

Required

• Experience: 5+ years of progressive project/program management experience in enterprise SaaS implementations, professional services, or management consulting.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Business, Information Technology, Operations, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
• Enterprise Delivery Mastery:
• 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).
• Executive Communication: Exceptional written, verbal, and presentation skills with demonstrated experience presenting to VP- and C-level customer leadership.

AI Expectations

AI is deeply embedded in how we work, solve problems, and deliver for our customers. In this role, you will:

• Apply AI Daily: Leverage AI tools and technologies in your daily workflow to materially increase speed, delivery quality, and problem-solving scale.
• Drive Efficiency & Automation: Proactively identify opportunities to automate routine tasks, streamline implementation workflows, and reduce project backlog.
• Leverage Intelligent Insights: Use AI-enabled tools (e.g., Gong AI) to analyze customer interactions, improve call and delivery quality, and prevent recurring issues.
• Learn & Share: Stay curious about emerging AI trends, adopting new capabilities and sharing best practices across the team.
• Operate Responsibly: Ensure all AI usage strictly adheres to security, privacy, and data governance standards.

Preferred

• 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.

Pay Range Details

The base pay range(s) below are provided in compliance with state specific laws. Pay ranges may different in other locations.

Colorado $100,300-$160,500 [annually]

Washington $100,300-$177,200 [annually]

California $100,300-$194,300 [annually]

NYC $110,800-$194,300,300 [annually]

The pay range above is the general base pay range for a successful candidate in the state listed. The successful candidate’s actual salary/wage may be based on various factors, such as geographic location, candidate experience and qualifications, as well as market and business consideration

This role is eligible for an annual bonus based on individual and company performance, depending onthe terms of the applicable plan and the employee’s role.

Avalara is an AI-first Company

AI is embedded in our workflows, decision-making, and products. Success here requires embracing AI as an essential capability.

• 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.

How We’ll Take Care Of You

Total Rewards

In addition to a great compensation package, paid time off, and paid parental leave, many Avalara employees are eligible for bonuses.

Health & Wellness

Benefits vary by location but generally include private medical, life, and disability insurance.

Inclusive culture and diversity

Avalara strongly supports diversity, equity, and inclusion, and is committed to integrating them into our business practices and our organizational culture. We also have a total of 8 employee-run resource groups, each with senior leadership and exec sponsorship.

What You Need To Know About Avalara

We’re defining the relationship between tax and tech.

We’ve already built an industry-leading cloud compliance platform, processing over 54 billion customer API calls and over 6.6 million tax returns a year. Our growth is real - we're a billion dollar business - and we’re not slowing down until we’ve achieved our mission - to be part of every transaction in the world.

We’re bright, innovative, and disruptive, like the orange we love to wear. It captures our quirky spirit and optimistic mindset. It shows off the culture we’ve designed, that empowers our people to win. We’ve been different from day one. Join us, and your career will be too.

We’re An Equal Opportunity Employer

Supporting diversity and inclusion is a cornerstone of our company — we don’t want people to fit into our culture, but to enrich it. All qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, age, gender, national orientation, disability, sexual orientation, US Veteran status, or any other factor protected by law. If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know.