Field CISO

Avalara; United States; On-site; USD 170,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonuses

Health & wellness benefits

Inclusive culture

Job summary

Avalara seeks a Principal Security Sales Engineer to accelerate trust with enterprise customers by aligning security, privacy, and AI governance across the sales cycle. You will bridge Security, Product, Engineering, Legal, and Sales to ensure security requirements are addressed and strategies align with market needs.

You will lead security reviews, craft compelling narratives, and influence product roadmaps while advancing AI governance and responsible innovation within a global SaaS platform.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a technical field is common for the role (not specified in the ad).
• 10+ years of relevant professional experience in security engineering, security consulting, or security architecture.
• Experience supporting complex enterprise software sales cycles involving multiple stakeholders.
• Deep understanding of cybersecurity controls, cloud security, identity and access management, data protection, encryption, and security architecture.
• Working knowledge of governance frameworks including NIST CSF, ISO 27001, GDPR, and related standards.
• Experience engaging customers, auditors, and executives on cybersecurity, privacy, and risk topics.
• Strong understanding of public cloud environments including AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and OCI.
• Experience applying AI technologies to improve business outcomes and operational effectiveness.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary security and privacy subject matter expert supporting enterprise sales opportunities and strategic customer engagements.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to address customer security, privacy, and compliance requirements.
• Lead customer trust discussions, security reviews, and third-party risk engagements to accelerate deals.
• Develop and deliver compelling security narratives that communicate Avalara’s posture and differentiators.
• Influence product roadmaps by identifying recurring security requirements and market opportunities.
• Provide guidance on cloud security, data protection, privacy, and AI governance.

Skills

Security architecture

Cloud security

Enterprise security

Public cloud

Job description

What You'll Do

Avalara continues to expand its global SaaS platform, customer base, and AI-enabled capabilities whileoperatingin an increasingly complex security, privacy, and regulatory landscape. As enterprise customers place greater scrutiny on cybersecurity, privacy controls, and responsible AI practices, security assurance has become a critical factor in customer acquisition, retention, and market expansion.

The Principal Security Sales Engineer exists to accelerate customer trust, support strategic revenue growth, and strengthen Avalara’s competitive position by serving as the technical security authority throughout the customer lifecycle. This role bridges Security, Product, Engineering, Legal, and Sales to ensure customer security requirements are addressed, security capabilities are clearly articulated, and emerging market requirements influence product and platform strategy.

How This Role Elevates Avalara

This role will:

• Accelerate revenue growth by helping customers understand and trust Avalara’s security, privacy, and AI governance capabilities.
• Improve win rates and reduce sales cycle friction through scalable security assurance processes and customer trust programs.
• Influence product and engineering investments that expand Avalara’s ability to serve security-conscious and regulated industries.
• Strengthen Avalara’s external security reputation through customer engagement, thought leadership, and industryexpertise.
• Advance responsible AI adoption by helping customers understand Avalara’s AI security controls, governance practices, and regulatory alignment.
• Raise security awareness and technical rigor across Sales, Product, Engineering, and Customer-facing teams.

What Your Responsibilities Will Be

The successful candidate will:

• Serve as the primary security and privacy subject matter expert supporting enterprise sales opportunities and strategic customer engagements.
• Partner with Account Executives, Sales Engineering, Legal, Product Management, and Engineering teams to address customer security, privacy, and compliance requirements.
• Lead customer trust discussions, technical security reviews, and third-party risk management engagements that accelerate deal progression.
• Develop and deliver compelling presentations, demonstrations, and security narratives that clearly communicate Avalara’s security posture and differentiators.
• Influence product and engineering roadmaps by identifying recurring customer security requirements, emerging risks, and market opportunities.
• Support responses to security questionnaires, RFPs, RFIs, audits, and due diligence requests while improving scalability and consistency of the response process.
• Provide guidance on cloud security, data protection, privacy, AI governance, and compliance frameworks relevant to Avalara’s solutions.
• Support contract negotiations involving information security, privacy, and AI-related provisions.
• Act as a trusted advisor to internal and external stakeholders regarding cybersecurity, privacy, and AI risk management practices.

12-Month Success Signals

Within the first 12 months, this leader will:

• Establish scalable security review, RFP, and third-party risk management processes that improve response quality and reduce turnaround times.
• Become a trusted security advisor for strategic customer opportunities and enterprise sales pursuits.
• Improve customer confidence in Avalara’s security, privacy, and AI governance capabilities through high-impact customer engagements.
• Influence product and platform enhancements that address recurring customer security and compliance requirements.
• Increase sales effectiveness through repeatable security assurance content, automation, and enablement.
• Serve as an internal and external advocate for application security, cloud security, privacy, and AI security best practices.

AI Bar Raiser Expectations

At Avalara, leaders are expected to apply AI in ways that materially improve business outcomes. As an AI Bar Raiser, this role will help advance how Security, Sales, and Customer-facing teams leverage AI to improve scalability, customer trust, operational efficiency, and responsible innovation.

The successful candidate will:

• Develop and implement AI-enabled approaches that improve security questionnaire responses, third-party risk assessments, and customer trust workflows.
• Clearly articulate Avalara’s AI governance, AI security controls, and responsible AI strategy to customers, auditors, and stakeholders.
• Demonstrate measurable improvements in efficiency, quality, consistency, or customer outcomes through AI-enabled processes.
• Promote responsible, secure, and governance-aware adoption of AI technologies.
• Identify emerging AI security risks and opportunities that influence Avalara’s product, security, and compliance strategies.
• Share AI best practices and help elevate organizational capability in AI security and governance.

Bar Raiser Expectations

At Avalara, we hire Bar Raisers - leaders who strengthen organizations through higher standards, sound judgment, and measurable business impact. As a Principal Security Sales Engineer, you will elevate how Avalara engages customers on security, privacy, compliance, and AI governance while strengthening trust across the business.

The successful candidate will:

• Demonstrate exceptional ownership, accountability, and follow-through in complex customer and business situations.
• Raise standards for customer trust engagement, security assurance, and technical communication.
• Influence decisions through expertise, credibility, and strong business judgment.
• Strengthen cross-functional collaboration between Security, Sales, Product, Engineering, and Legal teams.
• Mentor others and share expertise that increases organizational capability.
• Leave processes, programs, relationships, and technical assets stronger than they found them.

What You’ll Need To Be Successful

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Security, or a related technical discipline
• 10+ years of relevant professional experience in security engineering, security consulting, technical sales, or security architecture.
• Experience supporting complex enterprise software sales cycles involving multiple stakeholder groups.
• Deep understanding of cybersecurity controls, cloud security, identity and access management, data protection, encryption, and security architecture.
• Working knowledge of security, privacy, and AI governance frameworks including NIST CSF, ISO 27001, ISO 27701, GDPR, and ISO 42001.
• Experience engaging customers, auditors, and executives on cybersecurity, privacy, compliance, and risk management topics.
• Strong understanding of public cloud environments including AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and OCI.
• Demonstrated experience applying AI technologies to improve business outcomes and operational effectiveness.
• Exceptional communication, presentation, and stakeholder management skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• CISSP, CCSP, CISM, Google Cloud Architect, AWS Security Specialty, or similar certifications.
• Experience supporting SaaS, enterprise software, or cloud platform organizations.
• Experience with AI governance, AI security, and emerging regulatory frameworks.
• Experience influencing product roadmaps based on customer security requirements.
• Public speaking, conference presentation, or industry thought leadership experience.

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.