A shell of its former self. Gutted by Private Equity. Stay away. - Anonymous employee Avalara Employee Review

1.0
Aug 20, 2025
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

There are still good people that work here that are trying their best. For tax, you wouldn't think it's interesting, but the work is challenging in a good way. Those are about the only pros.

Cons

Where to start? Offshoring more and more work. Non-India based employees have been working under a storm cloud hanging over their heads for 2+ years. At any time, you could be the next person laid off. Every time you turn around to message someone you've worked with before, they're gone. Morale is in the toilet, people are in survival mode. How can anyone give their all, embody the "OPAH FOCUS" success traits (Barf. By the way, the workplace culture is not unique - It's just toxic positivity in an orange wrapper.) and succeed, in an environment where your colleagues are getting let go left and right, and you don't know if you'll even have a job tomorrow? Answer: They can't. The folks in India do try their best and there are some great people over there, but there is an unspoken divide between Non-India employees and India employees. Additionally, you get what you pay for and certainly the salary disparity between these two groups (and hence the offshoring so the PE firm can make their blood money) is obvious. The new thing is AI, of course. Instead of having training for employees and guiding them how to use these powerful tools, it's the wild west. Everyone gets a chatGPT license, good luck if your coworkers haven't been coached in the fact that AI hallucinates. Oh and guess what, now they want us all to be "citizen developers"? There's no way that can go wrong. And sure, let me just put aside all the urgent work I have to learn how to successfully use these AI tools. With what spare time? If you won't make space for your employees, how can they succeed at these initiatives - oh, and why would an employee want to innovate when they might get canned tomorrow? Senior leadership is a bunch of talking heads and have no clue what they are doing. Constantly touting how "well" the company is doing, and how "good" the Gallup survey results are. Completely out of touch with what the average experience is like for an employee. Because of the morale, the constant need to work urgently, and the fact that the only people who get ahead are the people who jump up and down the loudest about what they are doing - nobody has the bandwidth to help people understand organizational structure across the tech stack, and because of the constant heads rolling, this is constantly changing. Nobody has the patience or wants to give the time to people who need additional context or awareness to do their job. The tech stack for their product is a mess and it's unclear who or what team owes what. Constantly "that's not within my scope". Here's laugh for you to end on: company wide all hands, corporate sends out a note that they are monitoring attendance and if you don't attend you'll be penalized. Morning of the all hands, people can't join because of issues with the company's zoom licensing - since everyone panicked and tried to attend. At a massive corporation this is laughable. This place has unfortunately become a joke. It used to be a great place to work but it's become completely soulless and all the contributors left are holding on for dear life.

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Avalara Response
10mo
Thank you for taking the time to share such detailed feedback. We understand how strongly you feel about the direction and experience at Avalara, and we’re sorry to hear that your time has been marked by such significant frustration and concern. Your perspective is important, and feedback like this helps us reflect on where we can do better. If you’re open to continuing the conversation, please reach out to us at avalisten@avalara.com.

Explore other reviews about Avalara

5.0
Jul 13, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Cutting edge technologies Very Smart colleagues Great business model

Cons

High hiring and performance bar

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Avalara Response
5d
Thank you for sharing your experience at Avalara. We’re glad to hear the technology and your teammates have made a positive impact. We appreciate your feedback and your contributions.
4.0
Jul 17, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Is Avalara a great place to work? It depends on the team you are on. Pros: - I love my team. I have great co-workers. I feel like leadership to the VP level understands the value we bring and advocates for our work throughout the company - I like being able to go into the office and see people and bounce ideas around - My manager is always pushing me to learn new things and get out of my comfort zone - We just got a new CEO and I am super excited about him and his vision. Everyone who has actually been in meetings with him is excited too.

Cons

It depends on the team you are on. Cons: - Some teams are not as curious/helpful as others. I often have to check and recheck the work they do, after I have chased them multiple times to even complete the work - The layoff fear is real, the idea that at any point your position could be eliminated because they want to keep that revenue per headcount KPI down is everywhere

1
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Avalara Response
1d
Thank you for taking the time to share such thoughtful insight. We're glad to hear your team and manager have had a positive impact on your experience, and we're encouraged by your optimism about Avalara's future. We also recognize how important it is for that experience to feel consistent across the company, and we appreciate you sharing your perspective.
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