Principal Platform Architect, Cloud-Native & AI-Driven

Avalara Technologies; United States; Remote; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Avalara Technologies seeks a Principal Engineer to lead the architecture of cloud-native, compliance-focused platforms that power automation, decisioning, and reusable services. You will partner across product, engineering, operations, and design, reporting to the VP of Engineering.

The role emphasizes scalable data models, governance, and secure, observable systems while driving modernization and AI-enabled engineering practices to deliver measurable customer impact.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science Engineering or related field.
• 15+ years of software engineering experience, including enterprise-scale platform architecture.
• Hands-on experience with AWS, CI/CD, infrastructure automation, and modern DevOps practices.
• Experience modernizing legacy platforms into scalable shared-service architectures.
• Experience building rules-based, policy-driven systems with auditability and privacy considerations.
• Applied AI experience, including responsible use of LLMs, agents, or workflow automation.

Responsibilities

• Shape architecture for a cloud-native platform supporting global registration, licensing, and compliance services.
• Lead modernization to consolidate capabilities and improve scalability.
• Architect rules engines and workflow orchestration for long-running operations.
• Design systems with responsible AI usage, explainability, auditability, and privacy.
• Establish scalable data models, governance, and integration patterns for regulatory data.
• Partner with product, engineering, operations, and design to deliver platform capabilities.
• Set standards for performance, reliability, security, observability, and resilience.
• Lead architectural reviews and design decisions across teams.
• Address scalability risks, technical debt, and performance bottlenecks before impacting customers.
• Mentor engineers and promote ownership and long-term platform sustainability.

Skills

Cloud architecture

Distributed systems

Leadership

AI in engineering

Mentoring

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related

Tools

AWS

CI/CD

Infrastructure automation

Job description

Avalara Technologies seeks a Principal Engineer to lead the architecture of cloud-native, compliance-focused platforms that power automation, decisioning, and reusable services. You will partner across product, engineering, operations, and design, reporting to the VP of Engineering.

The role emphasizes scalable data models, governance, and secure, observable systems while driving modernization and AI-enabled engineering practices to deliver measurable customer impact.