People Partner Lead

Samsara; Los Angeles (CA); Remote; USD 112,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a Senior People Partner for R&D to drive innovation and organizational design. This strategic role involves architecting small, agile teams that can operate with speed and efficiency while maintaining high performance. You will work closely with engineering and product leaders to shape the future of R&D, ensuring that teams are equipped to tackle complex challenges and deliver impactful results. If you are passionate about fostering a high-performance culture and have a strong background in people partnerships, this is an exciting opportunity to make a significant impact in a dynamic environment.

Benefits

Health Benefits

Flexible Working

Employee-led Remote Work

Samsara for Good Charity Fund

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in People Partner roles, especially in R&D and engineering.
• Proven ability to drive innovation and design effective organizational structures.

Responsibilities

• Design high-performing teams and ensure operational excellence.
• Act as a strategic advisor to senior leadership in R&D.

Skills

People Partner Experience

Org Design

Data-Driven Decision Making

Influence & Communication

Ownership Mentality

Tools

People Analytics

Job description

Samsara (NYSE: IOT) is the pioneer of the Connected Operations Cloud, which is a platform that enables organizations that depend on physical operations to harness Internet of Things (IoT) data to develop actionable insights and improve their operations. At Samsara, we are helping improve the safety, efficiency and sustainability of the physical operations that power our global economy. Representing more than 40% of global GDP, these industries are the infrastructure of our planet, including agriculture, construction, field services, transportation, and manufacturing — and we are excited to help digitally transform their operations at scale.

Working at Samsara means you’ll help define the future of physical operations and be on a team that’s shaping an exciting array of product solutions, including Video-Based Safety, Vehicle Telematics, Apps and Driver Workflows, Equipment Monitoring, and Site Visibility. As part of a recently public company, you’ll have the autonomy and support to make an impact as we build for the long term.

About the role:

As the Senior People Partner for R&D, you’ll be more than a traditional HR Business Partner—you’ll be a strategic force behind how we design and scale high-performing, fast-moving teams across our Product, Platform, and AI engineering organizations. This role is about driving innovation through org design, fostering an elite engineering and product culture, and enabling teams to move fast without breaking execution discipline.

This is the most senior individual contributor People Partner role supporting North America R&D, with a clear path to leading the entire R&D People Partner function. You will be the successor to the R&D People Partner leadership role, making this a rare opportunity to shape not just the teams, but also the future of the function itself.

You’ll partner closely with engineering and product leaders to design organizations that prioritize small, autonomous, high-impact teams, balancing agility with operational excellence. Whether it’s helping AI and platform teams iterate at startup speed or ensuring that our most mature products continue to scale, you will be the architect behind how we structure, grow, and enable world-class talent to push boundaries.

This is a remote position open to candidates residing in the US.

You should apply if:

• You want to impact the industries that run our world: Your efforts will result in real-world impact—helping to keep the lights on, get food into grocery stores, reduce emissions, and most importantly, ensure workers return home safely.
• You are the architect of your own career: If you put in the work, this role won’t be your last at Samsara. We set up our employees for success and have built a culture that encourages rapid career development, countless opportunities to experiment and master your craft in a hyper growth environment.
• You’re energized by our opportunity: The vision we have to digitize large sectors of the global economy requires your full focus and best efforts to bring forth creative, ambitious ideas for our customers.
• You want to be with the best: At Samsara, we win together, celebrate together and support each other. You will be surrounded by a high-calibre team that will encourage you to do your best.

In this role, you will:

• Org Design for Speed & Impact
  • 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.
• Strategic Advisory at the Highest Level
  • 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.
• High-Performance Culture & Leadership Development
  • 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.
• Data-Driven Decision Making
  • Leveragepeople analytics to inform org design, team health, and leadership effectiveness.
  • Provide insights that help leaders makeproactive 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.

Minimum requirements for the role:

• 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.

Salary Range:

$112,158 — $169,650 USD

At Samsara, we welcome everyone regardless of their background. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, and other characteristics protected by law. We depend on the unique approaches of our team members to help us solve complex problems and want to ensure that Samsara is a place where people from all backgrounds can make an impact.

Full time employees receive a competitive total compensation package along with employee-led remote and flexible working, health benefits, Samsara for Good charity fund, and much, much more.

Accommodations

Samsara is an inclusive work environment, and we are committed to ensuring equal opportunity in employment for qualified persons with disabilities. Please email [e-mail] or click here if you require any reasonable accommodations throughout the recruiting process.

Flexible Working

At Samsara, we embrace a flexible working model that caters to the diverse needs of our teams. Our offices are open for those who prefer to work in-person and we also support remote work where it aligns with our operational requirements. In these cases, the job description will clearly indicate any working location requirements.

Samsara's Mission

Improve the safety, efficiency, and sustainability of the operations that power the global economy.