Director, Engineering - Avalara Developer Experience Platform
US-Remote
NA Careers
Req #: 16348
Type: Regular
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Overview: We are seeking a Director/Sr. Director to lead Avalara's Agentic Developer Experience (DX) Platform - focused on enabling developers and AI agents to seamlessly discover, understand, and integrate with Avalara's products. This role owns the external developer experience layer, including exposing documentation for agent-facing interfaces (e.g., MCP), documentation and knowledge systems, interactive tooling, and AI-powered integration accelerators. You will partner closely with domain-focused product engineering who own APIs, MCP tools, backend systems and the partner engineering team, and ensure these capabilities are exposed in a consistent, intuitive, and agent-friendly manner for developer and partners. #LI-Remote Responsibilities: Agent Experience Layer Build and evolve the external MCP-based interface and tool catalog for building integrations Standardize how APIs and capabilities are exposed to AI agents Define best practices for agent-tool interactions (schemas, patterns, guardrails) Developer Portal & Knowledge Experience Own the developer documentation platform, IA, and UX Ensure documentation freshness and accuracy via automation (spec docs sync, drift detection) Deliver task-oriented, cross-product integration guides Interactive Sandbox & Exploration Provide API exploration, testing, and simulation environments Enable safe experimentation for developers and agents (mock + sandbox) Sample Apps & AI Integration Kits Build and maintain reference implementations and starter kits Deliver agent-ready examples, prompts, and integration patterns Define and promote "golden paths" for common integrations Integration Acceleration (AI-first) Develop AI-powered tools and workflows that reduce time-to-integration Create reusable "skills" for common use cases (e.g., tax calculation flows) Enable partners to build faster using AI-assisted approaches DX Standards & Cross-Team Alignment Define and drive adoption of API, MCP, and documentation standards Partner with product teams to ensure consistent external experience Establish versioning, deprecation, and usability guidelines Partner Enablement & Ecosystem Growth Lead developer onboarding and partner integration journeys Support strategic partners with co-build and acceleration frameworks Improve integration success rates across the ecosystem Observability & Continuous Improvement Define and track DX metrics (time-to-first-success, integration success rate, agent task completion) Build feedback loops from usage, errors, and developer input Continuously improve experience based on real-world signals Qualifications: Education B.S. in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field AND 12+ years of relevant experience in developer platforms, APIs, or DX leadership roles. Experience * Experience leading developer platforms or DX initiatives at scale * Experience building external platforms or partner ecosystems * Proven ability to influence across teams * Experience defining and driving platform standards Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities * Deep understanding of API design and developer workflows * Demonstrated experience with AI/LLM or agent-based systems * Strong data-driven mindset * Strong product and platform thinking * Proven ability to influence across teams without direct ownership. * Curiosity that uncovers opportunities where none seemingly exist. * Customer obsession that inspires product engineering teams to reduce debt and backlog and improve overall consistency. * Hands-on leadership mindset * Roll-up-your-sleeves mindset with willingness to leverage the latest tools, demonstrate how things should be done, and raise the bar for your team and peers.
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