People Partner Lead

Summary

Join Samsara as a Senior People Partner for R&D and become a strategic force in designing and scaling high-performing teams across Product, Platform, and AI engineering organizations. This senior individual contributor role, based remotely in the US, offers a clear path to leading the entire R&D People Partner function. You will partner with engineering and product leaders to design organizations prioritizing small, autonomous, high-impact teams, balancing agility with operational excellence. You'll leverage data-driven decision-making to inform org design and drive continuous improvement. This role is crucial in shaping the talent strategy for next-gen AI, platform, and product engineering teams, impacting industries that power our global economy.

Requirements

• Proven Experience Driving Fast-Paced Innovation: You’ve designed org structures that enable teams to ship quickly while maintaining execution discipline
• 8+ years of People Partner experience, with at least 5 years supporting R&D, product, AI, or engineering teams in high-growth, fast-paced environments
• Influence & Communication: You are a trusted advisor to executives and know how to navigate complex org dynamics while driving decisive action
• Data-Driven Decision Making: You can translate people metrics into strategic insights that directly impact speed, execution, and long-term team success
• Ownership Mentality: You operate with a founder mindset, embracing ambiguity and solving problems proactively

Responsibilities

• Architect small, high-performing teams that can move fast and iterate quickly while maintaining operational excellence
• Help leaders design orgs that scale without bureaucracy, ensuring the company remains as agile as a startup even as we grow
• Identify bottlenecks, silos, and inefficiencies, restructuring teams proactively to maximize velocity and impact
• Act as the most senior individual contributor in the North America R&D People Partner function, reporting directly to senior leadership with a path to owning the R&D People Partner org
• Work alongside senior engineering, AI, and platform leaders to anticipate talent needs and build an org structure that enables sustained innovation
• Be a key voice in shaping the talent strategy for next-gen AI, platform, and product engineering teams
• Ensure teams maintain an innovation mindset while reinforcing best practices for execution, delivery, and accountability
• Implement scalable leadership development programs, ensuring that Samsara continues to produce world-class product and engineering leaders from within
• Work with senior leaders to drive a culture of continuous feedback and radical candor, enabling top talent to reach their full potential
• Leverage people analytics to inform org design, team health, and leadership effectiveness
• Provide insights that help leaders make proactive decisions on hiring, retention, and performance before challenges emerge
• Drive continuous improvement by measuring how team structure impacts speed, execution, and innovation cycles
• Champion, role model, and embed Samsara’s cultural principles (Focus on Customer Success, Build for the Long Term, Adopt a Growth Mindset, Be Inclusive, Win as a Team) as we scale globally and across new offices

Benefits

• Competitive total compensation package
• Employee-led remote and flexible working
• Health benefits
• Samsara for Good charity fund