Jen Paxton is SVP of People & Talent at Roofr, a high-growth SaaS company, where she reports directly to the CEO and owns both talent acquisition and HR — the full employee lifecycle. A three-time startup-to-acquisition People leader with more than a decade in startups, Jen has scaled companies to $50M ARR and built an HRBP coaching program at Roofr where every manager gets a dedicated HRBP as a personal coach. Her single biggest argument: HR should lead the AI transformation inside the company, not wait for it to land on their desk.

For People teams at 100–1,500 person scaleups, informal communication breaks down and no one has full visibility into what every department is building. Jen explains how HR's cross-cutting position — touching every department — makes it the right function to own AI change management, communication, and cross-team visibility.

• Siloed HR vs. cross-cutting HR: Jen Paxton argues traditional HR stays siloed while a strategic people partner understands how each department's work affects every other, making HR the only function that cross-cuts the entire business.
• Duplicative AI builds: At Roofr, where every employee has Claude access, Jen identifies the core risk of two departments independently building identical tools (her example: two pricing calculators) because there is no cross-departmental visibility.
• AI as change management, not just tech: Jen frames AI as a "hot potato" — it upends how people do their jobs, creating change management work and potential attrition that HR is positioned to own.

1. Assign every manager an HRBP coach: Jen Paxton's HRBP program pairs each manager with a dedicated coach who teaches effective one-on-ones and runs live role-play for delivering difficult feedback. Build the foundation before expecting managers to grow.
2. Replace flat "no" with options: When a manager brings a request, Jen recommends answering "this won't work, but what about X or Y." This frames HR and the manager as solving the problem together and builds trust.
3. Monitor AI usage to surface and share high-impact builds: Jen tracks company-wide Claude token usage to find valuable AI builds, then makes them publicly visible. This drives social learning and cuts duplicative work across teams.

• What's the difference between a strategic people partner and traditional HR? Jen Paxton explains that traditional HR is siloed and admin-focused, while a strategic people partner understands the inner workings of every department and how their work flows into each other. HR is the only function that genuinely cross-cuts the whole business.
• Should HR own AI enablement in my company? Jen argues yes. She compares "AI enablement" roles to the "head of remote" roles that proliferated during COVID and were later absorbed back into HR, predicting AI enablement will follow the same path under L&D, manager coaching, or HR ops. HR does not need to be technical — it needs the right partnerships and cross-departmental visibility.
• How do I build trust as an internal coach to managers? Jen builds trust through vulnerability, genuine follow-up questions, and framing herself as tackling problems alongside the manager rather than blocking them. She treats each coaching conversation as a two-way partnership, not a question-and-answer transaction.

Links & Resources Mentioned:

• Connect with Jen Paxton on LinkedIn