Director, People Business Partner - GTM

The Team + The Role Pendo's People team connects business strategy to the people systems, decisions, and leadership practices that help the company scale. The team partners across the business to build an organization that attracts, develops, and retains builders while moving with speed, clarity, and sound judgment. The Director, People Partner GTM owns the people agenda for Pendo's Revenue and Marketing organization. This role leads a small global team of People Partners, carries a direct client portfolio, partners closely with GTM leadership, and drives workforce strategy, organizational design, talent development, performance management, employee relations, and people analytics for the business. This role is based in our Raleigh office. What this looks like day-to-day People strategy: Translate Pendo's People roadmap into a 3 to 6 month business unit plan for the GTM organization. Anticipate the people implications of business decisions, bring a clear point of view on priorities and sequencing, and turn strategy into visible action. Team leadership: Lead a small, globally distributed team of People Partners supporting Revenue and Marketing. Set priorities, coach team members, maintain consistency across markets, and own the senior relationships and overall performance of the GTM People Partner function. Workforce planning and hiring: Lead forward-looking workforce planning for the GTM organization by anticipating headcount needs, identifying leverage roles, and helping the business hire ahead of demand. Partner with Talent Acquisition on pipeline health, position management, and org design decisions that affect how and when roles are filled. Succession and organizational design: Build and maintain succession plans for critical GTM roles, ensuring gaps are documented, assigned, and actively addressed. Partner with GTM leaders on team structure, span of control, career frameworks, role design, promotions, and mobility decisions as the business scales. Talent development and retention: Partner with GTM leadership to identify, develop, and retain high-performing talent. Build development plans, create deliberate retention strategies, get ahead of attrition risk, and partner with L&D on targeted development resources where appropriate. Performance management and employee relations: Manage the performance management cycle and other People programs in partnership with Centers of Excellence. Coach managers through differentiated feedback, promotion recommendations, corrective action, investigations, performance improvement plans, separations, documentation standards, legal risk, and consistent ER practices across markets. Manager development and consultation: Serve as a trusted advisor to GTM leaders and managers through both strategic and difficult conversations. Identify manager capability gaps, build plans to close them, facilitate coaching conversations, connect managers to relevant resources, and follow through until improvement is visible. People analytics and insights: Use Workday, Pendo's analytics tooling, and AI-assisted workflows to surface attrition trends, engagement signals, and talent pipeline data. Translate data into decisions, challenge assumptions, make a compelling case for change, and partner with People Operations on reporting infrastructure where needed. Who You Are Beyond the qualifications, we hire through a specific lens. These aren't buzzwords; they're the things we'll actually look for in how you talk about your work. You're a builder, not a maintainer. You're most energized when there isn't a clear path yet, and you get to define it. You don't wait for direction; you identify gaps, shape solutions, and drive them forward. At Pendo, great People Partners don't just follow instructions; they operate as strategic advisors, influencing decisions, guiding stakeholders, and elevating how we work. You're AI-curious - genuinely. You're not using AI tools occasionally. You're rewiring how you work around them. You're faster, sharper, and more prolific because of it, and you bring that energy to everything — how you approach your work, how you prep, how you communicate, how you think. We want someone who sees AI as a multiplier, not a shortcut. Must-haves 10 or more years of progressive HR business partner experience, including at least 5 years embedded in a GTM organization within a fast-moving, high-growth tech environment. Demonstrated track record partnering with VP and C-level GTM leaders on talent strategy, workforce planning, and organizational design, with measurable business outcomes. Experience scaling enterprise sales organizations, including exposure to complex sales cycles, incentive programs, and the MEDDPIC process. 3-5 years of experience leading a team of People Partners or HR professionals, ideally across global regions Deep, hands-on experience independently managing complex employee relations matters, including investigations, corrective action, performance management, and separations. Strong written and verbal communication skills, business acumen, and change management experience. Active use of AI tools to accelerate HR workflows, with the ability to describe specific use cases, what they replaced, and the productivity impact. Nice-to-haves Experience supporting international GTM teams, particularly in EMEA or APAC. Strong ability to operate across a Center of Excellence model, knowing what to own, what to influence, and how to partner effectively with Total Rewards, Talent Acquisition, L&D, and DEI. Comfort operating in fast-moving environments where organization design, priorities, and stakeholders can change quickly, with a willingness to roll up your sleeves and solve ambiguous problems. Familiarity with Pendo, Salesforce, or similar GTM tooling that provides context for how Revenue and Marketing organizations operate. Prior experience building manager development programs or retention frameworks. Workday proficiency, including the ability to pull data, run reports, and navigate the system without support. About Pendo Pendo was founded in 2013 by former product managers, who combined their heads and hearts to build something they wanted but never had as product managers: a simple way to understand and attack what truly drives product success. Our mission is to improve society's experience with software. Come join one of the fastest-growing startups, supported by best-in-class institutions like Battery Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Spark Capital and Meritech. Pendo Core Values: Bias to Act, Hone Your Craft, The Team is Pendo, and Maniacal Focus. Location: Pendo is a hybrid culture. In-office 3 days per week unless designated remote. Compensation: The expected salary range for this role to be performed in Raleigh, NC is USD185,000 - USD220,000. Benefits: Pendo offers highly competitive, employer-heavy coverage in the United States, including $0 premium options, a strong 401(k) match, equity, and flexible time off. EEOC: We are an equal opportunity employer and believe having diverse teams where everyone brings their whole self to Pendo is key to our success. We welcome all people of different backgrounds, experiences, abilities and perspectives. Accessibility: Pendo is committed to working with, and providing access and reasonable accommodation to, applicants with mental and/or physical disabilities. If you think you may require an accommodation for any part of the recruitment process, please send a request to: [email protected]. All requests for accommodations are treated discreetly and confidentially, as practical and permitted by law.