Avalara · 20 hours ago
Deputy CISO
United States
Full-time
Remote
Director/Executive
10+ years expAvalara is an AI-first company focused on redefining the relationship between tax and technology. The Deputy CISO will oversee operational and technical leadership in security, lead incident response efforts, and drive strategic security initiatives within a global SaaS environment.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)ComplianceFinancial ServicesSoftwareTax Preparation
Responsibilities
Oversee cloud, platform, and network security for a large-scale, distributed SaaS product
Evaluate and influence architectural decisions across microservices, APIs, and cloud infrastructure
Provide deep technical guidance in areas such as:
Network segmentation and secure VPC design
Firewall, boundary control, and traffic flow architecture
Protocol-level traffic analysis and defensive engineering
Secure design patterns and resilient architecture for cloud-native systems
Assess architectural diagrams and network topologies, challenging engineering decisions with confidence
Guide engineering teams on threat modeling, attack surface minimization, and resiliency
Lead enterprise-scale incident response, driving real-time decisions
Understand root cause, containment strategies, log sources, detection gaps, and kill-chain impacts
Direct cross-functional responders during high-severity events
Partner with engineering and product teams for fast remediation
Communicate clearly with senior executives during critical incidents
Oversee enterprise risk management, including GRC, vendor risk, and regulatory frameworks (SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, etc.)
Lead initiatives in AI/ML security, including adversarial testing and the build-out of an AI security testing function
Drive cross-functional resilience programs spanning business continuity, disaster recovery, and data lifecycle governance
Translate technical risks into operational and business implications for executive stakeholders
Influence product, engineering, legal, and risk partners to ensure aligned and scalable security practices
Qualification
Required
10–15+ years of progressive InfoSec leadership, including VP/Head-of-level responsibility and deep operational oversight
Demonstrated success leading cloud-first or cloud-scale security programs, ideally high-risk environments
Strong, current technical foundation with an emphasis on network security, including: TCP/IP, routing, firewalls, VPNs, proxies; Network and distributed system architecture review; Attack path analysis, lateral movement detection, and traffic-level defensive engineering; Secure design of large, distributed, cloud-native systems
Significant incident response leadership, including enterprise-scale, high-severity events and coordination of technical responders
Enterprise-level AI/ML security expertise, including hands-on implementation experience, adversarial testing, secure model design, or applied detection use cases — with the ability to lead AI security strategy across product and enterprise
Strong command of security frameworks and risk standards (NIST CSF, ISO 27001, SOC 2, PCI, GDPR)
Engineering mindset and technical pedigree, ideally supported by a STEM degree
High-credibility communicator able to influence senior technical leaders and translate complex risks into business-aligned decisions
Preferred
Experience using AI and AI-related technologies
Ability to apply AI to business challenges - improving efficiency, contributing solutions, and driving results for your team, our company, and our customers
Curiosity about new trends and best practices in AI and willingness to share knowledge with others
Benefits
Paid time off
Paid parental leave
Private medical
Life, and disability insurance
Company
Avalara
Avalara is a cloud-based platform that provides tax compliance software and automated solutions.
5001-10000 employees
H1B Sponsorship
Avalara has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (26)
2024 (34)
2023 (36)
2022 (37)
2021 (39)
2020 (26)
Funding
Current Stage
Public CompanyTotal Funding
$841.01MKey Investors
BlackRockSusquehanna Growth EquityWarburg Pincus
2025-11-11Private Equity· $500M
2023-01-01Private Equity
2022-10-19Post Ipo Debt· $0.04M
Leadership Team
Scott McFarlane
CEO
Megan Higgins Knislis
Senior Vice President, Global Partners
Recent News
2026-01-09
2025-12-09
Company data provided by crunchbase