David Hanrahan, SVP People Success at Solarwinds

Episode notes

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.