Senior People Partner

Follett Software, LLC; Chicago (IL); Remote; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Fully remote

Healthcare plans

Disability & life insurance

Paid time off

Retirement match

FSA

Supplemental insurance

Recognition program

Job summary

Follett Software, LLC is seeking a Senior People Partner to support Product & Technology, Marketing, and Finance teams. The role blends strategic partnership with hands-on execution to design high-performing teams and align people strategy with business goals.

You are growth-oriented and use data to drive decisions while maintaining a high bar for performance and clarity. This remote role requires US residency and a private workspace.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• 5+ years in HR/People Partner roles.
• Experience supporting technical teams (Product/Engineering/IT) preferred; Marketing/Finance a plus.
• Experience in Tech or SaaS; EdTech a plus.
• Experience with remote or distributed teams and asynchronous collaboration.
• Ability to influence across functions without formal authority.
• Proven track record of moving cross‑functional work forward.
• Strong relationship-building and emotional intelligence.
• Operational mindset with attention to detail and timelines.
• Growth‑oriented, receptive to feedback and trying new approaches.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.
• Role remote; must be located in the United States and able to work without sponsorship.
• Must have a suitable private workspace.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a primary People Partner to leaders in Product & Technology, Marketing, and Finance.
• Advise on org design, headcount planning, team structure, and change management.
• Surface risks and opportunities early; propose options for thoughtful decisions.
• Build trusted relationships with managers and employees across levels.
• Influence decisions through questions, trade-offs, and clear recommendations.
• Coach managers and employees through complex situations.
• Navigate conflict while preserving trust and progress.
• Lead client groups through performance, calibration, and engagement cycles.
• Translate company programs into practical guidance for leaders.
• Spot process gaps and partner to improve, simplify, or automate.
• Help managers set expectations and provide timely feedback.
• Identify and develop top talent and successors for critical roles.
• Use people metrics to inform leadership decisions.
• Champion Follett Software’s values and a culture of clarity, inclusion, accountability, and recognition.
• Leverage AI tools to increase efficiency and access to information.
• Role evolving with business needs.

Skills

People partner

Relationship building

Cross-functional collaboration

Data-driven decisions

Communication skills

Remote work experience

Influence without authority

Process improvement

Education

Bachelor’s degree in a related field

Tools

Rippling

Lattice

Awardco

Job description

Everything we do is for educators. We’re partnering with them to advance a bold vision for education that boosts district performance and student success. At Follett Software, we empower educators across roles with technology that streamlines processes and manages information and resources to improve their schools, increase student success, and drive the future of education. We believe that by empowering educators to amplify their impact on students’ lives, we can change the world. Our goal and mission is to drive the future of education. We are inspired by educators to deliver transformative technology. Our innovative, connected solutions simplify challenges and offer a seamless and intuitive experience.

Position Summary:

We’re looking for a Senior People Partner to support our Product & Technology, Marketing, and Finance teams. This role blends trusted relationship-building, strategic thought partnership, and hands‑on execution. You’ll help leaders design healthy, high‑performing teams, align people strategy to business goals, and make thoughtful people decisions that serve both employees and the business.

You are growth‑oriented, seek feedback, and model the kind of curiosity, accountability, and resilience we expect from our leaders. You take care of people in a very real way—while also holding a high bar for performance, clarity, and business outcomes. You use technology and data as natural parts of your toolkit to support better decision‑making and simpler, more transparent processes.

Position Scope:

• Serve as a primary People Partner to leaders in Product & Technology, Marketing, and Finance, connecting org goals to clear people plans.
• Advise on org design, headcount planning, team structure, and change management.
• Anticipate and surface themes, risks, and opportunities early proposing options and helping leaders make thoughtful people‑centered decisions.
• Build trusted relationships with managers and employees across levels; be a go‑to partner for candid, solutions‑focused conversations.
• Influence decisions through asking questions, identifying trade‑offs, and offering clear recommendations—not just citing policy.
• Coach managers and employees through complex situations (role changes, behavior issues, team dynamics).
• Navigate conflict and tension in a way that preserves trust and keeps work moving forward.
• Bring the perspective of your client groups into People team decisions and company‑wide initiatives.
• Lead your client groups through core People cycles (performance, calibration, compensation, engagement, recognition) with clear timelines and expectations.
• Translate company‑wide programs into simple, practical guidance for your leaders and teams.
• Spot process gaps or friction and partner with cross‑functional teams to improve, simplify, or automate.
• Support managers in setting clear expectations, giving effective feedback, and addressing performance issues in a timely, fair way.
• Help identify and develop top talent and successors for critical roles.
• Use people metrics to highlight trends and inform leader decisions.
• Champion Follett Software’s values and drive a culture of clarity, inclusion, accountability, and recognition within your client groups.
• Use technology and AI tools to increase your own efficiency and improve communication and access to information.
• This role evolves as the business does; responsibilities may shift as team and company needs change.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field.
• 5+ years of progressive experience in HR/People Partner or HR Business Partner roles.
• Experience supporting technical teams (e.g., Product, Engineering, or IT) strongly preferred; exposure to Marketing and/or Finance teams is a plus.
• Experience working in Tech or SaaS preferred; experience in EdTech is a plus.
• Experience working on a fully remote or highly distributed team, with comfort operating independently and collaborating asynchronously required.
• Demonstrated ability to influence across functions and levels without relying on formal authority.
• Proven track record of moving cross‑functional work forward where ownership is shared or ambiguous.
• Strong relationship‑building skills, high emotional intelligence and sound judgment in sensitive situations.
• Operational mindset with comfort managing details, timelines, and follow‑through.
• Growth‑oriented and feedback‑seeking; open to trying new approaches and iterating on how you work.
• Strong attention to detail and comfort managing multiple systems and processes at once.
• A proactive, ownership‑oriented mindset — you notice gaps, ask questions, and take initiative without waiting for explicit direction.
• Comfortable with HR systems (ideally including Rippling, Lattice, Awardco or similar platforms), AI tools and leveraging data to inform decisions.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• This role is remote and only open to candidates currently located in the United States and able to work without sponsorship.
• The role requires a suitable space that provides a private and quiet workplace.
• Work hours and schedules are set to accommodate the requirements of the position and the needs of the organization and may be adjusted as needed.

Physical Environment:

• Perform tasks in a home office environment with frequent virtual meetings, communications, and interruptions, requiring effective time management and prioritization.
• Prolonged sitting with sustained visual focus on digital screens, requiring the ability to interact at a typical working distance.
• Frequent use of keyboard and mouse, involving repetitive hand movements and fine motor skills for typing, navigating, and handling materials.
• Occasionally adjust position or move within the workspace to reach, retrieve, or access items, involving bending, twisting, or reaching, and occasionally lifting or carrying items weighing up to 10 pounds.
• Travel requirements: Less than 5%

At Follett Software, our people come first.

We’re deeply committed to supporting the well‑being, growth, and success of every Team Member. That commitment shows up in a thoughtfully designed, comprehensive benefits package that helps you thrive—at work and in life. Here’s what you can expect:

• Fully remote work,giving you the flexibility to do your best work from anywhere in the continental U.S. (unless otherwise noted)
• Subsidized healthcare plans,including orthodontic coverage, with HSA option that includes employer matching
• Company‑paid disability and life insurance, with the option to enhance coverage through voluntary plans
• Robust Paid Time Off,including Flex PTO for salaried roles, paid parental leave, company holidays, and paid volunteer service time
• Retirement savings with employer match,vesting every pay period
• Flexible Spending Accountsfor healthcare and dependent care
• Optional supplemental coverages,such as accident, hospital, and critical illness insurance, identity theft and credit monitoring, and legal protection services
• Meaningful recognition and tangible rewardsthat celebrate achievements, fuel motivation, and recognize both individual and team success

EEO

Follett Software provides equal employment opportunities to applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, or disability. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to , among others, individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans. If you are interested in applying for employment and need assistance or an accommodation in the application process due to a disability, please contact us by email and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information.

Voluntary Self‑Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self‑identification survey.Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiringprocess or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in aconfidential file.

As set forth in Follett Software, LLC’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection.As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measurethe effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categoriesis as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service‑connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three‑year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.