Senior Director, Global Support Operations Remote Compliance and Customer Oper

Position: Senior Director, Global Support Operations Remote, United States - Compliance and Customer Oper[...]
Location: California

Overview

Avalara is looking for a dynamic and visionary Senior Director, Global Support Operations (GSO) to transform 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. You are customer-obsessed, insights-led, and energized by transforming support into a competitive advantage.

You will lead a global team of support professionals and operations specialists, with accountability for delivering a seamless, proactive, and thoughtful customer support experience. This role demands a leader with expertise in global support models, operational rigor, customer empathy, and new AI technologies such as chatbots, summarization, agent assist, and agentic AI platforms.

#LI-remote

What Your Responsibilities Will Be

• Responsibilities
• Strategic Leadership & Vision:
  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 uses automation, AI, and data to improve resolution times, self-service adoption, and overall customer satisfaction.
• Foster a culture of innovation by digital thinking 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 & Technology Enablement

• Lead the evaluation, deployment, and continuous improvement of advanced support technologies including chatbots, agent-assist tools, conversational AI, summarization, and thoughtful 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.
• Be 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 daily operations of global support, ensuring delivery against SLAs, CSAT, and other targets across regions and tiers.
• Build a robust governance model for global processes, knowledge management, incident management, and quality assurance.
• Build a support operation that is efficient, scalable, and powered by data and automation.
• Apply continuous improvement methodologies to reduce complexity, eliminate waste, and lead high-quality customer experiences.

Data-Driven Decision Making

• Report on comprehensive performance dashboards, KPIs, and customer health metrics to executive leadership.
• Use predictive analytics and VOC data to identify trends, inform decisions, and 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 Influence

• Collaborate with product, engineering, revenue operations, and marketing teams to close feedback loops, inform product roadmap, and ensure the support readiness of all releases.
• Be a senior voice in executive forums on customer advocacy, support improvement, and customer retention.
• Be a 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.

Talent Development & Culture

• Build and nurture a globally distributed team of leaders and support professionals.
• Drive a culture of coaching, engagement, ownership, learning, and continuous improvement across all layers of the organization.

What You’ll Need To Be Successful 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.
• Expertise in leading global support transformations, including implementation of AI-based solutions and next-gen support tools.
• Executive presence, communication and influencing skills in a large matrix environment.
• Experience driving digital transformation in large-scale support organizations.
• Experience scaling support operations in AI-forward SaaS or tech environments.

Technical & AI Experience

• Hands-on experience and 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.
• 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,…