senior software engineer

account representative

software engineer

senior tax analyst

account manager

Avalara

Avalara is a great idea. Overall, the company has done an exceptional job recruiting talented individual contributors and generally management up to director level is good. The same cannot be said for upper-middle management (VPs) and C-level. Avalara's leadership tier demonstrates none of the commitment, grind, or ability to prioritize inherent to basic project management. It's not clear that any of Avalara's leadership have done (or understand) the basics of project execution which leads to structural resistance in every initiative. Moreover, there is a persistent failure by Avalara's leaders to appreciate the complexity of the tax domain. To the CEO and others, that complexity is a buzzword but its recognition hasn't resulted in changed behavior. Avalara's leadership has repeatedly failed to grasp the risks of sudden change (to the system / product), nor has it fully appreciated the size and complexity of the company it oversees. In many respects the CEO continues to operate as though Avalara is a 50 person startup. More critically, it's not obvious that there's a plan behind the mission. To that point, being part of every transaction in the world is a quality objective, but beyond this goal, how it is implemented, and what exactly it means does not seem to be clearly understood by leadership. This gap was abundantly clear in the CTO who failed to communicate or indicate the existence of an engineering vision based on where Avalara could go in 5 or 10 years. This is partly due to failures in the role, but also in the culture which has focused on developing around specific sales, not building a platform around a vision. In short, Avalara is defined by a short attention span, both in execution and with employees. The company is in a constant transition to the next best sale and the next best person. Avalara has succeeded because of some really great individuals and wholly in spite of its leadership. 

Avalara was built on a strong corporate culture. It was one of the things I enjoyed most about being an Avalarian. 

When I started working there, I had a supportive team of really smart, engaged people. I was fortunate that as my team grew, the dynamic improved. I chalk it up to the fact that team leadership was aces. 

The first few years were great. Then the company went private. I absolutely understand the decision to get out of the stock market when they did. However, there was much insistence that the VC company bought us as a growth vehicle and understood that company culture was a huge part of Avalara's success. I have no idea if folks were lying or legitimately thought that was true.

To no one's great surprise, a VC company with a 5-8 year sell plan is making or influencing decisions that will peak profitability in 5-8 years. It very much feels like long term investments are being exchanged for higher margins. Moving the company HQ from Seattle to Durham can be explained as a multi-faceted decision; cutting long-term, highly qualified U.S. employees to move those roles to Brazil or India reeks of pure profit.

I get it; it's a company. Owned by and investment firm. That's capitalism, baby.
What really gave me the ick was when the CEO refused to admit that. 

So yeah, when employees raise concerns about company culture shifting and in some cases suffering, don't try to gaslight them. Just own up to the fact that yeah, the people at the top are profit motivated and for the foreseeable future, therefore, so is the C-Suite. 

Pretending otherwise then laying off a bunch of people to outsource their roles is rather telling.

My experience of the corporation itself is that it's a good company. My experience working in the department called Business Licenses by Avalara was very bad because there was no manager or supervisor. Only a "Mentor" who in my work experience is considered unprofessional based on the customer service training videos we were required to watch. Based on the customer service videos we were required to watch, those videos would classify the work environment as hostile  based on the Mentor's continuously shaming any co-workers in the department slack group who would not automatically agree with her or if you request that she speak to you personally about an issue and not post it for the entire department to read.... Especially after higher Management has had several meetings with said Mentor. 

I found the repeated insistence of using the Mentor's suggestion of only using long hand and no abbreviations or shortcuts for customer service notes in up to 4 different forms a waste of time and impractical in addition to causing unnecessary physical pain in the hands from so much unnecessary typing. 

I often found that information changed on any given day and was not always updated or informed by the mentor on what changed and when it changed.  For all these reasons above, I found the work environment extremely stressful. 



What is the best part of working at the company?
The best part was the relationships I made while working there.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Everything. This is by far the worst company I have ever worked at. The processes are disorganized, middle management is helpless to do anything, upper management makes continual changes without understanding the impact to employees and customers, making an already difficult job 10X harder.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Terrible. It's a culture of a lack of responsibility and passing the back. People are regularly way overworked while being underpaid. Then get negative feedback from management when goals aren't hit, without management understanding the reason goals can't get hit is because of the choices they've made to flood everyone with unnecessary work.

I would NOT recommend working here. It's by far the most dysfunctional organization I've ever been apart of.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
5-6 customer calls, 1-2 internal meetings. 100 emails, and about 80 of them would be from upset customers.

Common complaints from past and current employees is no career path (especially in IT/Technical skills). While there are a few excellent managers, most managers tend to be under skilled or over political. 

A lot of prima donnas from other startups that joined for the "pending stock options" with massive promises and late incomplete delivery. (If IPO happened as soon as they were lead to believe, they would have sold and moved on quickly).

The old timers are solid fun people to work with -- they have business knowledge, sharing and caring. Unfortunately, they are slowly being "knocked off" by the new managers who want employees in their own image (especially ones more ignorant then they are). The founders appear to be disengaging from the business, leaving the venture capitalists changing corporate culture to a harsher returns-centric style.

From venture funds, they over-hired and under-delivered, so expect overwork and sudden downsizing without warning. If you are the boss's favorite, you are safe.

Hardest part of my job was keeping jumping from state to state when prepping returns to be filed. Every state is different and CA is the worst! Also my particular dept had to work at least 2 weekends a month, because I was a temp I didn't get a flex day during the following week to take off. So we're working straight 7 days sometimes.

Co-workers were awesome and supportive but management needs serious work with communication. Instructions for new projects/visions were not always shared with the entire group and valuable information needed to help shave time off your work load wasn't always given in a timely manner. 

Most enjoyable part about my job was the location, sociable gatherings (indoor picnics, work anniversaries etc), amenities and our desks which lower or raise so you can sit or stand while you work.

Experiencing intimidation, manipulation and professional bullying at Avalara and to realize it was and is the norm is like cyber bullying that pushes people overboard.  Unfortunately it is allowed and leadership gets away with it.  It is distasteful.  Encountering the shallowness of management and their followers as they publicly humiliate others at the expense of glorifying themselves is shameful.  Just because a person or persons are great at their job(s) & very intelligent, it does not give them the liberty to conduct themselves as protected employees without any accountability as they hurl slim and filth at the coworkers they feel don't measure up.  Eventually, such leadership will ruin the great qualities Avalara stands for.

A typical work day is 15-20 technical support calls.  These can range from tax return set up, to errors in QuickBooks. The reason is always changing when that phone rings. I learned TONS of technical skills.  Workplace culture is as impressive as they come.  The hardest part of the job was remembering what system is needed for what issue.  The most enjoyable part of the job is knowing that you aren't alone! Even when you get those calls that you don't have the answers for, someone else does.  Avalara provides loads of Subject Matter experts and mentors that are there for you whenever you need them. 

Lots of fakeness here. If you play the game you'll  be promoted. If you're an individual in anyway they'll get rid of you. So many managers here. More managers than employees and they are not good managers.  Ive never seen such a top heavy org. They spend an ungodly amount of money on travel and parties. They are sales driven at all costs. There is no work life balance.  CEO is way out of touch with younger workforce.  Laying off in the US so he can hire cheaper in India. This is yet another technology company trying to pass as a start up to avoid real compliance & processes.  It's a chaotic orange mess. 

No accountability for management actions. It used to be a great place to work but management has changed it's focus and doesn't listen to it's employees. If you point out something wrong you will be ostracized for it and pushed out the door. Make no mistake about it, this is a good ole boys club / fraternity. 

Not delivering on promises made to employees. Allowing managers to go unchecked for too long. Nepotism is a huge factor here. If you can get in with the right people you are set. That is at least until you are no longer of use to them. Then you are tossed like yesterday's trash. 

The CEO seems to be completely oblivious to what is actually going on in his company, or simply doesn't care. 

If you value your sanity look somewhere else.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
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