AI & Automation Lead, People Technology

Avalara is a technology company that builds cloud-based software to automate tax compliance for businesses of all sizes. Its platform is designed to remove manual, error-prone work associated with indirect taxes (such as sales and use tax, VAT/GST, excise, and other transaction taxes) and to streamline ongoing reporting, filing, and recordkeeping obligations across multiple tax jurisdictions. Avalara combines tax-rate and rules content, a tax calculation engine, returns-filing and remittance capabilities, exemption-certificate management, and integration frameworks so that businesses can calculate tax at the point of sale or in backend financial systems and meet regulatory obligations without bespoke tax code development. Core business activities Avalara’s primary activities center on developing, maintaining, and delivering tax compliance software and services via a cloud-first, software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. The company maintains a continuously updated content repository of tax rates, taxability rules, jurisdiction boundaries, and product/service tax classifications for many countries and tens of thousands of taxing jurisdictions. It operates a tax determination engine that applies that content in real time to transactions, producing calculated tax amounts and audit-ready transaction records. In addition to automated calculation, Avalara offers capabilities for exemption certificate collection and validation, returns and filing automation (including preparation, filing and remittance in supported jurisdictions), and managed services where customers outsource certain compliance tasks to Avalara specialists. Main products and services - AvaTax: A core product that performs real-time tax determination and calculation. AvaTax integrates with point-of-sale systems, e-commerce platforms, ERP systems, billing platforms and custom applications through APIs and prebuilt connectors to apply jurisdictional taxability rules and rates to each transaction. - Returns and Filing Services: Software and managed services to prepare, file, and remit tax returns in jurisdictions where Avalara offers filing support. This reduces manual preparation and helps customers meet filing deadlines and remittance requirements. - Exemption Certificate Management (CertCapture): Tools to capture, store, manage and validate exemption certificates and other supporting documentation required to support tax-exempt sales. This capability helps customers reduce audit exposure and maintain traceability for exemption claims. - Compliance Content and Data Services: Avalara maintains taxability rules, product taxability determinations, and jurisdictional boundary data that feed into its calculation engine. These content services are updated frequently to reflect legislative, administrative and rate changes across jurisdictions. - Integration & Partner Ecosystem: Avalara provides prebuilt connectors for major e-commerce platforms, marketplaces, ERP and accounting systems, and point-of-sale solutions. The company also exposes APIs and developer tools for custom integrations so that software vendors and customers can embed tax automation into their own applications. - Professional and Managed Services: For customers with complex tax obligations—such as multi-state or multi-country operations, marketplace sellers, or firms with specialized tax types—Avalara offers consulting, onboarding, and managed filing services. Technology and deployment Avalara’s products are delivered as cloud services with an emphasis on APIs and prebuilt integrations. The tax engine is designed to be performant and scalable so it can return tax calculations in real time at checkout or during batch processing. The company emphasizes auditability and recordkeeping: each calculated transaction can be retained with the inputs and decision logic required to support tax audits or compliance reviews. Avalara’s platform supports both synchronous (real-time) and asynchronous (batch) workflows to suit different commerce, ERP and financial processes. Customers and markets served Avalara serves a wide range of customers, from small merchants and online retailers to large enterprises and multinational corporations. The platform is used across industries where transaction tax complexity is significant, including retail and e-commerce, manufacturing and distribution, software and digital services, telecommunications, hospitality, and professional services. Avalara’s solutions are particularly relevant for businesses that sell across multiple tax jurisdictions, operate via marketplaces, or handle a mix of taxable and tax-exempt transactions. Compliance scope and geography Avalara’s offerings are designed for multi-jurisdictional compliance: the company maintains tax content and offers filing support for many countries and for large numbers of sub-national jurisdictions where indirect taxes are administered. This makes the platform useful for companies operating domestically across many states or provinces and for companies selling internationally where VAT/GST, e-invoicing, or localized filing requirements apply. Business model and go-to-market Avalara primarily sells subscriptions to its SaaS products and charges fees for managed filing services and professional services. The company reaches customers directly and through an extensive partner ecosystem that includes software vendors, systems integrators, accounting firms, e-commerce platforms and marketplace operators. Prebuilt connectors and certified integrations reduce time-to-value for customers deploying tax automation within existing commerce and financial systems. Risk mitigation and audit readiness A key value proposition is reducing audit risk and administrative burden. By centralizing tax logic and supporting documentation, Avalara helps customers produce consistent, document-backed tax decisions and reduces the need for manual reconciliations. The platform’s record retention and reporting capabilities are intended to support tax audits and compliance reviews. Overall positioning Avalara positions itself as a specialist in transactional tax compliance automation: a technology provider focused on simplifying the operational complexity of indirect taxes across diverse sales channels and jurisdictions. Its combination of calculation technology, continuously updated compliance content, integrations, and filing services is intended to let businesses automate tax decisions, minimize compliance costs, and scale selling operations without requiring in-house tax-engineering teams.