What You'll Do
At Avalara, we are revolutionizing the field of automatic tax compliance products with cutting-edge machine learning techniques. Our mission is to simplify tax compliance, and we are looking for talented engineers to help us build performant systems.
We are actively seeking talented AI & Machine Learning engineers who are driven by a passion for applying their expertise to tackle challenging problems. As part of our AI/ML team, you will play a crucial role in developing chatbot platforms and conversational systems that serve various teams and partners, both internally and externally. You will collaborate with different departments to democratise the creation of conversational systems across the organisation. We are looking for engineers who can think quick and have a background in implementation.
Experience with one or more of these will be a bonus,
- LLMs - like Claude, GPT, Falcon, BARD.
- RAG, Langchain, LlamaIndex, Vector Databases
- Classification systems, Sentiment analysis, NLP and Entity extraction.
- Computer Vision, OCR, content extraction from images, PDF, HTML
- Custom models & ensembles
- Pytorch or TensorFlow
Job Duties
- Democratise building conversational systems that improve user experience and lead onboarding efforts to support conversational systems for internal and external customers.
- Design and evaluate Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems to enhance the quality and relevance of conversational responses.
- Develop and refine prompts for large language models (LLMs) to ensure accurate and contextually relevant responses.
- Make informed data-driven decisions by interpreting test results and performance metrics to help steer experimental efforts.
- Apply deep learning , machine learning and statistical modelling techniques where required to develop and evaluate algorithms that improve product/system performance, quality, data management, and accuracy.
- Use current programming languages (e.g., Python)) and technologies to translate algorithms and technical specifications into code.
- Write, review, and maintain high-quality code that meets industry standards, contributing to the project's technical excellence. Lead code review sessions, ensuring good code quality and documentation.
- Leverage best practices in software development, including Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) along with appropriate functional and unit testing in place.
- Work with large scale computing frameworks, data analysis systems, and cloud-based modelling environments.
- Mentor junior engineers, fostering a culture of collaboration and technical excellence.
What You'll Need to be Successful
- Bachelors Degree in Computer Science or Machine Learning. A Master's degree in these areas is a plus.
- 10+ years of experience in building Machine Learning models and deploying them in production environments as part of creating solutions to complex customer problems.
- Proficiency in developing and debugging software with a preference for Python, though familiarity with additional programming languages is highly valued and encouraged.
- Proficiency working in cloud computing environments (AWS, Azure, GCP), Machine Learning frameworks, and software development best practices.
- Demonstrated ability to keep up with technological innovations in AI & ML and apply them in a fast-paced work environment.
- Deep understanding of AI (incl. GenAI), LLMs, RAG, ML, algorithms, design patterns, and data structures.
- Strong knowledge of software fundamentals, data structures and algorithms
- Strong understanding of object-oriented design & development and common design pattern
Technologies You Will Be Primarily Working With
Python, PyTorch, TensorFlow, Deep Learning models, LLMs, MLFlow, Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, AWS, GitLab, Postgres, Prometheus, Grafana
About The Team
We are the AI & ML enablement group in Avalara. We empower Avalara's Product and Engineering teams with cutting-edge AI & ML capabilities, driving easy-to-use, automated compliance solutions that position Avalara as the industry AI technology leader and the go-to choice for all compliance needs.
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.
Flexible hybrid working
We support hybrid work and flexible schedules for our employees.
Learn more about our benefits by region here: https://careers.avalara.com/
About Avalara
We’re Avalara. We’re defining the relationship between tax and tech.
We’ve already built an industry-leading cloud compliance platform, processing nearly 40 billion customer API calls and over 5 million tax returns a year.
Last year, we became a billion-dollar business
, and our tribe expanded by a cool thousand people - there’s nearly 5,000 of us now. Our growth is real, and we’re not slowing down - not 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. Ownership and achievement go hand in hand here. We instill passion in our people through the trust we place in them.
We’ve been different from day one. Join us, and your career will be too.
EEO Statement
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.
