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, per…