Senior Technical Program Manager, AI-Driven Leader (Remote)

Avalara, Inc.; United States; Remote; USD 136,000 - 272,000; Full time

Job summary

Avalara, Inc. is seeking a Senior Technical Program Manager to lead large-scale cross-functional R&D initiatives across global engineering teams. You will own three pillars: Architecture & Technical Governance, Product Quality & Customer Defect Reduction, and Incident Prevention & Continuous Improvement.

You will also drive data-driven storytelling, build real-time program dashboards using AI tools, and elevate SDLC maturity with rapid automation and executive-ready updates for leadership.

Qualifications

• 8–12+ years of Technical Program Management experience in fast-paced, product-based cloud/SaaS environments.
• Track record of managing multi-team initiatives across global time zones (strong US/India stakeholder alignment).
• Proven track record leading root cause analysis, defect reduction, or site reliability/quality governance programs.
• Deep fluency with Jira & Agile/Flow metrics (expert at designing JQL, roll-up views, CFD/Kanban workflows, and delivery KPIs).
• Hands-on prototyping / AI-assisted rapid development to quickly build dashboards and data scripts (Python, Streamlit, JS, or low-code frameworks alongside AI assistants).
• Exceptional executive storytelling with proven ability to influence VPs and directors through clear, structured communication.
• Strong technical acumen with the ability to evaluate architectural trade-offs, APIs, and scaling constraints.

Responsibilities

• End-to-End Program Orchestration: Drive planning, execution, dependency mapping, and delivery of mission-critical, multi-team initiatives spanning Product, Architecture, Platform Engineering, Security, and Cloud Operations.
• Risk & Dependency Mastery: Proactively expose hidden technical assumptions, manage complex inter-service dependencies, evaluate architectural trade-offs, and unblock teams to sustain delivery predictability.
• Operational & Jira Excellence: Structure, design, and optimize Jira ecosystems to enforce rigorous SDLC hygiene without acting as a mere administrator.
• SDLC / PDLC Standardization: Institutionalize scalable execution mechanisms, KPI governance, milestone adherence, and post-launch stability metrics.
• AI-assisted rapid development & Custom Dashboards: prototype and build dashboards, scripts, and tools to extract, visualize, and analyze engineering data from Jira, GitLab, and internal APIs.
• Data-Backed Insights: Turn telemetry into metrics to identify bottlenecks and predict delivery slip risks.

Skills

Technical leadership

Jira & Agile metrics

Executive storytelling

AI-assisted prototyping

Cross-functional leadership

Education

BS/MS in Computer Science/Engineering

Tools

Jira

Python

Streamlit

Retool

Low-code tools

Job description

Avalara, Inc. is seeking a Senior Technical Program Manager to lead large-scale cross-functional R&D initiatives across global engineering teams. You will own three pillars: Architecture & Technical Governance, Product Quality & Customer Defect Reduction, and Incident Prevention & Continuous Improvement.

You will also drive data-driven storytelling, build real-time program dashboards using AI tools, and elevate SDLC maturity with rapid automation and executive-ready updates for leadership.