Lead Business Systems Analyst

Avalara, Inc.; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 170,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonuses

Health benefits

Remote work

Job summary

Avalara, Inc. is seeking a senior technical leader to design scalable Workday solutions focused on Core HCM and Talent & Performance. You will translate complex needs into efficient, user-centric systems and lead end-to-end solution design and strategy.

You will partner with HR, Total Rewards, Payroll, and IT to deliver programs leveraging Workday capabilities to support evolving people strategies. This is a full-time remote role open to US-based candidates, reporting to the Director, Enterprise

Qualifications

• B.S. in Computer Science, Information Systems, or Engineering.
• 10+ years in HRIS, People Technology, or enterprise systems roles.
• 5+ years of hands-on Workday configuration experience.
• Demonstrated expertise in Workday Compensation, Talent, Performance, and Core HCM.
• Experience analyzing complex business problems and delivering scalable system solutions.
• Projects and influence on team members.
• Experience with end-to-end HR processes, data structures, and system integrations.

Responsibilities

• Build Workday solution design for Total Rewards and HCM.
• Translate complex business problems into system solutions.
• Lead projects across HR, Payroll, Finance, and IT.
• Ensure system quality and reliability; manage testing and releases.
• Improve and simplify configurations to boost efficiency.
• Be a technical and functional leader guiding partners to best practices.
• Influence People Technology roadmap and adoption of new Workday capabilities.

Skills

HRIS

Workday configuration

Solution design

Leadership

Data analysis

Automation

Education

B.S. in CS/IS/Engineering

Tools

Workday

Job description

What You'll Do

You will be a senior technical leader responsible for designing scalable Workday solutions, with a primary focus on Core HCM and Talent & Performance. You will translate complex needs into efficient, user-centric system solutions and lead end-to-end solution design and strategy.

You will partner with HR, Total Rewards, Payroll, and IT to deliver programs that use Workday capabilities to support evolving business and people strategies.

Reporting to the Director, Enterprise Systems, you will be an individual contributor, combining technical leadership, collaboration, hands‑on solution design, and techno-functional expertise.

This is a full‑time, remote position with Avalara, open to candidates based in the United States.

How You will Improve Avalara

• Team Impact: Raises the capability of the People Technology function by introducing scalable system design, improving configuration quality, and mentoring others to operate at a higher technical standard.
• Growth: Ensure faster, more accurate compensation, performance, and talent decisions by reducing manual processes, improving data integrity, and promoting automation into core workflows.
• Customer (Employee) Impact: Improves employee and manager experience by simplifying processes, increasing transparency in rewards and performance, and delivering reliable, intuitive Workday solutions.

By strengthening the foundation of People Technology, this role directly improves execution thoughtfulness and operational scale across the organization.

Required Qualifications

• B.S. in Computer Science, Information Systems, or Engineering.
• 10+ years of experience in HRIS, People Technology, or enterprise systems roles
• 5+ years of hands‑on Workday configuration experience
• Demonstrated expertise in Workday Compensation, Talent, Performance, and Core HCM
• Experience analyzing complex business problems and delivering scalable system solutions
• Projects and influence team members
• Experience with end-to-end HR processes, data structures, and system integrations

Bar Raiser Expectations

• Raise the standard of system design and: Deliver scalable, high-quality Workday solutions and improve how decisions are made through data, and clear tradeoff analysis.
• Create accountability and measurable outcomes: Hold self and partners to required standards ensuring delivery of outcomes that improve efficiency, data accuracy, and user experience.
• Simplifies and scales operations: Reduces complexity in processes, standardizing and automating to improve maintainability and scalability.
• Improve team capability and long-term impact: Mentors others, challenge assumptions, and leave systems, and team performance stronger than they were before.

AI Bar Raiser Expectations

• Apply AI to accelerate system delivery: Use AI to improve requirements gathering, solution design, testing, and documentation, reducing delivery timelines while maintaining high quality.
• Create data-driven insights: Uses AI to analyze Workday and HR data to identify trends, risks, and opportunities that improve outcomes.
• Automate and scale operations: Implement AI-driven automation across testing, data validation, reporting, and workflows to increase efficiency, reduce errors, and improve scalability.
• Create measurable and responsible AI impact: Identifies high-value AI use cases, measure outcomes, ensure secure and compliant usage, and elevates team adoption of AI best practices.

What Your Responsibilities Will Be

Responsibilities

• Build Workday solution design for Total Rewards and HCM: Deliver scalable, maintainable system configurations across Performance, Talent, Compensation, and Core HCM that reduce complexity and ensure global consistency.
• Translate complex business problems into system solutions: Identify gaps, inefficiencies, and risks in current processes and implement automated solutions that improve speed, accuracy, and scalability.
• Lead projects: Guide large-scale enhancements and programs across HR, Payroll, Finance, and IT, ensuring agreement, execution quality, and measurable outcomes.
• Ensure system quality and reliability: Manage system testing strategy and release readiness, delivering defect‑free deployments that meet our requirements.
• Improve and simplification: Reduce manual work, eliminate redundant processes, and standardize configurations to improve operational efficiency and maintainability.
• Be a technical and functional leader: Act as the primary escalation point for complex system issues and guide partners toward solutions based on best practices and system capabilities.
• Influence People Technology roadmap: Identify enhancements that guide measurable value, including adoption of new Workday capabilities.

What You'll Need to be Successful

12 Month Success Signals

• We optimize Performance & Talent processes in Workday, with measurable reductions in manual effort and cycle time.
• At least 2–3 major system improvements or automations delivered that reduce operational overhead or improve
• Team members (HR, Total Rewards, Finance) report increased confidence in data accuracy and system reliability
• Workday configurations are simplified and standardized, reducing technical debt and improving maintainability
• Employees build release cycles (including Workday updates) with minimal defects and adoption.
• Clear roadmap established linking People Technology investments to outcomes and efficiency gains

#LI-Remote

Avalara is an AI-first Company

AI Expectations

This role is expected to demonstrate applied AI capability that materially improves People Technology outcomes:

• Use AI tools to accelerate requirements analysis, configuration design, and documentation, reducing delivery timelines
• Apply AI to analyze Workday data and identify trends, anomalies, and optimization opportunities in compensation, performance, and talent processes
• Leverage AI to automate repetitive tasks (e.g., testing scenarios, data validation, reporting generation) and improve quality at scale
• Identify and implement AI-driven opportunities that improve decision‑making, efficiency, or employee experience
• Share AI best practices and elevate the team’s ability to use AI effectively in system design and operations

Success in this role requires demonstrated, measurable impact from AI usage, not just familiarity with tools.

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 diversit y

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.