Senior Security Engineer - Platform Security

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 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 l