Sr. Director, Global Support Operations

Avalara is on a mission to revolutionize global support—and we’re looking for a transformational leader to take us there. Avalara is seeking a dynamic and visionary Senior Director, Global Support Operations (GSO) to lead, transform, and scale our worldwide customer support capabilities. This senior leadership role is critical to shaping the strategic direction of Avalara’s support organization accelerating innovation through data-driven decisions, digital-first experiences, and the thoughtful integration of AI. The ideal candidate is customer-obsessed, insights-led, and energized by transforming support into a competitive advantage. You will lead a team of support professionals and operations specialists, with accountability for delivering a seamless, proactive, and intelligent customer support experience. This role demands a seasoned leader with deep expertise in global support models, Technical Account Management, operational rigor, customer empathy, and emerging AI technologies such as chatbots, summarization, agent assist, and agentic AI platforms. Why This Role Is a Big Deal You’ll Build the Future: Lead the transformation from reactive, manual support to proactive, AI-enabled customer success. You’ll Drive Strategy: Act as the right hand to the Head of Global Support, influencing executive decisions and leading global programs. You’ll Champion Innovation: Spearhead automation, agent assist, and self-service initiatives that reshape how customers interact with Avalara. You’ll Be the Voice of the Customer: Connect insights from the support floor to product, engineering, and revenue decisions at the highest levels. What Your Responsibilities Will Be Strategic Vision & Execution Define and execute a multi-year vision for global customer support operations that aligns with Avalara’s strategic goals and customer success metrics. Champion a transformation agenda that leverages automation, AI, and data to improve resolution times, self-service adoption, and overall customer satisfaction. Foster a culture of innovation by embedding digital thinking, agility, and rapid experimentation into support operations. Translate strategy into action through clear, data-informed roadmaps and KPIs that drive both efficiency and exceptional customer experience. AI & Automation Leadership Lead the evaluation, deployment, and continuous improvement of advanced support technologies including chatbots, agent-assist tools, conversational AI, summarization, and intelligent triaging solutions. Champion the integration of AI/ML into support and CX processes (e.g., chatbots, intelligent routing, agent-assist tools) Partner with the internal Digital experience, AI, product, and engineering teams to integrate scalable and secure AI solutions across the support ecosystem. Act as an internal thought leader and advocate for AI-first, digital-first approaches, partnering with stakeholders to identify scalable solutions that reduce friction and increase self-service effectiveness Operational Excellence Oversee the day-to-day operations of global support, ensuring delivery against SLAs, CSAT, and other targets across regions and tiers. Build and drive a robust governance model for global processes, knowledge management, incident management, and quality assurance. Build a high-performance support operation that is efficient, scalable, and powered by data and automation. Apply continuous improvement methodologies to reduce complexity, eliminate waste, and drive consistent, high-quality customer experiences. Data-Driven Insights Establish and report on comprehensive performance dashboards, KPIs, and customer health metrics to executive leadership. Use predictive analytics and VOC data to identify trends, inform business decisions, and proactively enhance the customer experience. Champion a culture of measurement and accountability by using real-time insights, dashboards, and predictive analytics to guide decision-making at all levels. Cross-Functional Impact Collaborate closely with product, engineering, revenue operations, and marketing teams to close feedback loops, inform product roadmap, and ensure the support readiness of all releases. Serve as a senior voice in executive forums on customer advocacy, support innovation, and customer retention. Be a persuasive voice of the customer across the enterprise, influencing senior leaders to prioritize customer impact in decisions. Drive alignment on customer outcomes by connecting insights from support to the broader product, engineering, and revenue strategies. Leadership & Culture Build and nurture a high-performing, globally distributed team of leaders and frontline support professionals. Drive a culture of coaching, engagement, ownership, learning, empathy, and continuous improvement across all layers of the organization. What You'll Need to be Successful What You’ll Need to Be Succesfull Experience 18+ years of progressive experience in customer support or customer success, with at least 10 years in senior leadership roles managing multi-region, large-scale teams. Demonstrated success in leading global support transformations, including implementation of AI-based solutions and next-gen support tools. Strong executive presence, communication and influencing skills in a large matrix environment. Proven track record of driving digital transformation and innovation in large-scale support organizations. Technical & AI Acumen Hands-on experience and deep understanding of support platforms such as Salesforce Service Cloud, Zendesk, and experience with integrated AI technologies - e.g., virtual agents, case summarization, LLM-based triage, and agent-assist solutions. Strong familiarity and tactical fluency with AI trends, vendor ecosystems, and practical use cases in support operations in B2B, Tech and SaaS firms. Operational & Strategic Capabilities Expertise in scaling support organizations while balancing cost, quality, and innovation. Strong operational background with a track record of improving efficiency and customer outcomes through Lean, Six Sigma, or ITIL frameworks.