Security Engineer - Platform Security

What You’ll Do Role Summary Avalara is seeking a Senior Security Engineer to join our Platform Security team. As Avalara continues to expand its global SaaS platform, cloud footprint, and engineering velocity, we require scalable security capabilities that are embedded directly into how software and infrastructure are built and operated. This role exists to design, implement, and deploy platform-wide security tooling and controls that deliver secure-by-design principles across CI/CD workflows, cloud infrastructure, and runtime compute environments. The successful candidate will collaborate with Product Engineering, Core Services, and Security teams to automate security controls, reduce risk, and improve the security posture of Avalara’s SaaS platform at scale. This role is ideal for an engineer who combines deep technical expertise in cloud and infrastructure security with a strong track record of technical execution, automation, and cross-functional influence. This position reports to the Senior Manager of Platform Security. How This Role Elevates Avalara This role will: Improve the security posture of Avalara’s cloud platforms through scalable security controls and automation. Reduce infrastructure, CI/CD, and runtime risk by implementing secure-by-default guardrails and engineering best practices. Increase engineering velocity by embedding security into development workflows and enabling teams to build securely at scale. Strengthen platform observability, threat detection, and response capabilities across cloud environments. Advance Avalara’s AI-first strategy by identifying opportunities to responsibly leverage AI within platform security operations. Raise security awareness and capability across engineering teams through technical leadership, collaboration, and mentorship. What Your Responsibilities Will Be The successful candidate will: Engineer and deliver secure-by-default platform components and shared security services, including authentication, secrets management, encryption, and access control capabilities. Drive adoption of zero-trust principles, least-privilege access models, and scalable security guardrails across infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, and runtime environments. Improve platform-wide security posture through enhanced observability, threat detection, security automation, and engineering enablement. Provide technical guidance to engineering teams on threat modeling, secure design practices, and software development lifecycle security controls. Lead complex, cross-functional security initiatives with clear milestones, measurable outcomes, and risk reduction objectives. Develop and execute remediation strategies that address security findings and improve organizational security maturity. Collaborate with engineering teams to embed security into cloud-native architectures, deployment pipelines, and operational processes. Identify opportunities to leverage AI and automation to strengthen platform security capabilities and operational effectiveness. 12-Month Success Signals Within the first 12 months, this engineer will: Deliver platform-wide security capabilities that measurably reduce cloud, infrastructure, and CI/CD risk. Improve adoption of secure-by-default engineering practices across multiple development teams. Increase visibility into security posture through enhanced monitoring, detection, and reporting capabilities. Successfully lead complex remediation and security improvement initiatives involving multiple stakeholder groups. Establish scalable security controls that improve developer experience while maintaining strong security standards. Demonstrate measurable improvements in platform security effectiveness through automation, risk reduction, and operational efficiency. Contribute to the adoption of AI-enabled security capabilities that improve detection, analysis, or response effectiveness. AI Bar Raiser Expectations At Avalara, all engineers are expected to apply AI in ways that improve business outcomes. As an AI Bar Raiser, this role will help advance how security teams leverage AI and automation to improve risk reduction, operational scale, engineering effectiveness, and platform protection. The successful candidate will: Identify and implement AI-enabled approaches that improve security operations, detection, analysis, remediation, and engineering productivity. Evaluate emerging AI security risks and opportunities and provide guidance on responsible adoption. Use AI to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and scalability of platform security processes. Demonstrate measurable improvements in security outcomes through AI-enabled capabilities and automation. Promote responsible, secure, and governance-aware use of AI technologies. Share AI best practices and help elevate security and engineering teams’ understanding of AI-enabled security solutions. Bar Raiser Expectations At Avalara, we hire Bar Raisers - individuals who strengthen teams through technical excellence, sound judgment, and measurable business impact. As a Senior Security Engineer, you will elevate security standards, improve engineering practices, and help create a culture of ownership, accountability, and continuous improvement. The successful candidate will: Demonstrate strong ownership and accountability for security outcomes across the platform. Raise engineering and security standards through technical leadership, mentorship, and collaboration. Use sound judgment when balancing security, operational efficiency, developer experience, and business priorities. Influence teams to adopt scalable security practices that improve long-term platform health. Simplify complex security challenges and drive practical, measurable improvements. Leave systems, processes, documentation, and engineering practices stronger than they found them. What You'll Need to be Successful Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, or a related technical discipline. 8+ years of relevant professional experience, including at least 4 years focused on cloud, infrastructure, or platform security. Strong programming experience in one or more of Java, Go, Python, or .NET. Expertise in cloud platform security across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, or OCI environments. Experience securing containerized and cloud-native environments, including Kubernetes and related technologies. Experience with Infrastructure as Code, cloud security posture management, and security automation. Strong understanding of identity and access management, network security, vulnerability management, encryption, and runtime security principles. Experience working across engineering organizations to implement scalable security controls and best practices. Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to influence technical audiences. Preferred Qualifications Experience designing and implementing security controls in large-scale SaaS environments. Experience with security automation and security engineering at scale. Familiarity with AI-enabled security tooling and emerging AI security practices. Security certifications such as CISSP, CCSP, GCSA, or equivalent. Avalara is an AI-first Company AI is embedded in our workflows, decision-making, and products. Success here requires embracing AI as an essential capability. You’ll bring experience using AI and AI-related technologies, ready to thrive here. You’ll apply AI every day to business challenges - improving efficiency, contributing solutions, and driving results for your team, our company, and our customers. You’ll grow with AI by staying curious about new trends and best practices, and by sharing what you learn so others can benefit too. 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 diversity 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.