Scaling Through Change: SolarWinds’ People Leader on Functional HRBPs, Sales Talent, and AI-Driven Performance

Summary

What does it take to steer a 25-year-old tech company through going private while raising the performance bar?

David Hanrahan, SVP of People Success at SolarWinds, shares how his team is navigating culture integration with a data-driven parent company, reorganizing HR for impact, and using AI to modernize performance.

With 2,100+ employees and deep tenure across the business, SolarWinds is balancing “what’s worked” with a sharper go-to-market focus. David explains why he shifted HRBPs from site-based support to functional teams (GTM, R&D, G&A), how he built trust quickly across global sites, and why HR must solve revenue problems—starting with hiring and retaining top “native sales” talent.

He also opens up about building an attrition prediction model (and what they learned when v1 missed), plus how AI writing assistants can free managers to be coaches, not scribes.

He closes with a research-backed principle: managers who truly understand their team’s work dramatically boost performance, engagement, and retention.

Timestamps

[00:45] – SolarWinds overview: going private, observability software, and the change agenda

[02:17] – Balancing long company history with Turn/River’s speed and data-orientation

[04:42] – Rewiring HRBPs: from site-based coverage to functional alignment (GTM, R&D, G&A)

[07:19] – Earning trust fast: global site visits, human updates, and building rapport remotely

[11:44] – HR as business problem-solver: zeroing in on “native sales” talent to drive bookings

[14:06] – Attrition prediction model: partnering with IT and learning from first-pass misses

[15:06] – AI in performance: writing assistants, meeting people where they are, manager as coach

[22:13] – The performance multiplier: managers who truly understand the work

Takeaways

- Align HRBPs by function, not just site, to strengthen partnership with global business priorities.

- Build trust quickly through intentional face time and human touches—even in remote-first contexts.

- Aim HR at revenue levers: hire and retain top “native sales” talent to fuel bookings growth.

- Treat analytics as experiments: iterate on models that miss and learn from actual attrition drivers.

- Use AI to handle synthesis and writing so managers can coach, set trade-offs, and elevate performance.

- Make “manager understanding of work” a habit—it doubles high performance and slashes attrition.

Sponsor

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