Top 10: HR Leaders in Technology

HR plays a significant role in the growth and development of companies in the tech sector, particularly as AI scales operations rapidly. 

Chief People Officers and Chief HR Officers often have to reshape their organisation’s workforce, culture and capabilities at speed to facilitate growth and ensure their business has the skills in place to compete effectively. 

Here, we take a closer look at 10 HR leaders building effective people strategies and growth-focused cultures in a time of significant change for the technology sector. 

10. HubSpot

HR Leader: Helen Russell, Chief People Officer

Revenue: US$3.4bn

Location: Massachusetts, US

Helen Russell leads HR at HubSpot, a major provider of CRM and marketing software that has been widely recognised for its people-centric culture. 

Her recent focus has been on ensuring the company’s HR strategy supports rapid global growth, distributed work models and employee engagement amid a competitive tech labour market. 

The success of these strategies is reflected in the company’s continuous recognition in numerous 'Best Places to Work' lists globally.

Helen’s leadership ensures that the HR function is not merely supportive but acts as a strategic partner driving the company's aggressive growth targets by securing and developing top-tier talent.

9. Snowflake

HR Leader: Arnnon Geshuri, Chief People Officer

Revenue: US$3.43bn

Location: Montana, US

Arnnon Geshuri, leads the people strategy as Chief People Officer at Snowflake, a prominent global cloud data platform provider.

His current focus is crucial for the company's continued trajectory, centering on the challenge of scaling global teams efficiently. 

This includes strategic talent acquisition, specifically targeting specialised roles in advanced analytics and cloud engineering – areas critical for Snowflake’s continued development. 

He is also developing cohesive people programmes designed to actively support the company’s people during rapid expansion plans, as the company focuses on becoming the premier AI Data Cloud.  

8. Workday

HR Leader: Ashley Goldsmith, Chief People Officer

Revenue: US$8.45bn

Location: California, US

At Workday, Ashley Goldsmith has led the HR function during a period of rapid change as the company develops its AI-infused platforms. 

The company has implemented programmes such as “Everyday AI” to encourage employee adoption of AI for productivity and learning, promoting peer sharing and experimentation. 

This programme has reportedly seen “huge adoption and real enthusiasm” within the company, according to Ashley. 

HR is playing a key role in enabling this workforce in adapting to new tools and shifting expectations around skills and collaboration.

7. Adobe

HR Leader: Gloria Chen, Chief People Officer & EVP, Employee Experience

Revenue: US$23.77bn

Location: California, US

As Chief People Officer and Executive Vice President of Employee Experience, Gloria Chen is instrumental in shaping the employee journey and overall people strategy for Adobe.

Adobe’s HR agenda prioritises leadership development and employee experience as core drivers of innovation and business success. 

The company has a quarterly training programme for managers that provides quick sessions designed to build skills and encourages employees to think of themselves as their own career manager. 

Gloria has successfully steered programmes aimed at building inclusive cultures and fostering long-term talent pipelines across various functions and global regions, supporting Adobe's commitment to creativity and internal growth.

6. PayPal

HR Leader: Isabel Cruz, EVP & Chief People Officer

Revenue: US$33.2bn

Location: California, US

Isabel Cruz leads HR and global talent strategy at PayPal as EVP and Chief People Officer. 

The company’s people strategy focuses on fostering belonging and inclusive talent management, by emphasising holistic talent development, diverse representation and employee resource groups that support inclusion and engagement. 

The company regularly demonstrates progress in improving diversity and representation by achieving 100% gender pay equity globally, while increasing the percentage of women in VP roles to 37% – creating a culture that drives long-term success and innovation through its people.

5. Cisco Systems 

HR Leader: Kelly Jones, Chief People Officer

Revenue: US$61.7bn

Location: California, US

As Cisco’s Chief People Officer, Kelly is leading people strategy for one of the world’s largest network and enterprise tech firms. 

She has previously shared in an interview with Business Insider that the demand for talent in the AI era “is so high”, while “the qualified pool is so small”.

To compete for scarce tech skills, Kelly has developed HR approaches that directly involve senior product and business leaders in recruitment, effectively bridging HR and technical leadership within the talent marketplace. 

This ensures the people strategy is tightly aligned with the company's long-term technological and business needs.

4. Meta Platforms

HR Leader: Janelle Gale, Chief People Officer

Revenue: US$200.97bn

Location: California, US

Meta’s HR leadership team has had to rethink workforce strategy through rapid business pivots – scaling AI teams, reorganising teams in the wake of strategic resets and realigning talent priorities. 

Janelle’s strategic focus includes leading recruiting, learning & development, performance calibration and organisational design across one of the largest global tech workforces. 

This requires proactively adapting to new business demands, managing large-scale organisational change and ensuring the development of skills necessary for future technologies, particularly as the company invests heavily in AI.

3. Microsoft

HR Leader: Amy Coleman, Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer

Revenue: US$281.7bn

Location: Washington, US

Amy Coleman leads the HR function for one of the largest global tech employers, overseeing people strategy for over 220,000 employees after succeeding Kathleen Hogan in 2025. 

Her focus includes driving organisational culture, talent development and performance management with a focus on adapting HR practices to support hybrid work and data-driven decision-making across talent, engagement and inclusion. 

Microsoft has been integrating AI solutions such as Copilot into HR operations to streamline hiring, onboarding, employee experience and decision support – reflecting a broader push toward tech-enabled people management.

2. Google

HR Leader: Fiona Cicconi, Chief People Officer

Revenue: US$402.8bn

Location: California, US

As Chief People Officer at Google, Fiona Cicconi has steered HR through complicated legal and cultural shifts – including revising diversity goals in response to external regulatory and compliance contexts while maintaining commitment to inclusion. 

The company has said it views HR as a science, using data-driven hiring practices and behavioural science to manage its talent. It uses algorithms and predictive modelling to forecast hiring needs, and analyses the traits of high-performing managers to train up future leaders. 

The company also prioritises employee autonomy as part of its people strategy, with an internal research initiative revealing that employees who felt trusted in their teams were more likely to perform well. 

1. Amazon

HR Leader: Beth Galetti, SVP of People, Experience and Technology

Revenue: US$716.9bn

Location: Washington, US

Beth Galetti leads global HR for Amazon, overseeing people strategy across one of the world’s largest and most complex workforces. 

She has driven initiatives to modernise frontline employee experience, expand career mobility through upskilling programmes such as Career Choice, and strengthened safety and engagement across operations. 

Beth has also focused on leadership development and succession planning at scale, aligning talent strategy with Amazon’s long-term innovation agenda in cloud computing, AI and logistics. 

Her approach blends operational rigour with data-driven people analytics, positioning HR as a strategic partner to business growth and workforce transformation.