Founded in 2014 in Montreal, Canada, Paper is an educational support system (ESS) for K-12 schools across North America. The company’s fundamental mission is to bridge the gap between what schools provide and what students need to succeed. As a personalized learning platform that empowers all students and maximizes their lifetime potential, Paper’s team of vetted and trained educators offer 1:1 online tutoring for any subject, at any time. Students communicate with these educators about their challenges with classwork and solve their problems collaboratively via a rich, text-based environment.
Paper closed its first public school deal in 2018 and has subsequently signed numerous districts onto its platform. In 2019, Paper generated $1 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) and exited 2022 with $68 million ARR. Paper has grown from 174 employees in 2019 to over 1800 employees currently (split between FTEs and Part-time Tutors).
Today, Paper serves more than 3 million students from over 400+ school districts across 40 US States and Canada with headquarters in both Montreal and Las Vegas. Paper integrates directly into a school district’s existing IT infrastructure and leverages technology to equip all students with personalized learning to maximize outcomes.
The Paper ESS is comprised of three key solutions allowing each student to build a learning profile that is informed by data collected throughout their academic journey and augmented by the data of Paper’s growing network of learners across North America. Since its founding, the company has been optimizing its product and has evolved into a per-student annual subscription license that targets public school districts as the primary customer.
1. Personalized Tutoring: Paper provides students with 24/7 access to tutoring in any subject, anytime from anywhere. Various communication features (including text, voice notes, and a virtual whiteboard) ensure students have an experience that best suits their preferred learning style. Support is available in English, Spanish, French, & Mandarin.
2. Practice Center: Paper provides practice tools that support in-class and at-home academic practice in engaging formats that focus on their zone of proximal development, including Math, English, Language, Arts, and Reading fluency.
3. College and Career Readiness: Paper provides students with resources that prepare them for life after high school, including academic planning, college and career readiness tools, work-based learning, and micro-credentials. Paper helps ensure every student’s education leads to a successful career outcome, whether through a degree or going into the workforce.
Additionally, the company’s platform delivers a portal for teachers and administrators to gain data and analysis of a student’s competencies and progress.
Since its founding, Paper has raised over $390 million in financing. In 2016, the company received $1.6 million in seed funding, led by Birchmere Ventures, followed by $7.5 million in a Series A round led by Reach Capital and Bullpen Capital, with participation from Google. In 2020, Paper raised an additional $11 million in funding led by Framework Venture Partners and Salesforce. In June of 2021, the company closed a $100 million Series C led by IVP, and the following year in 2022, Paper closed a Series D financing of $270 million led by Softbank and Sapphire Ventures.
Paper grew at an incredibly rapid pace over the COVID-19 pandemic when the world experienced a sudden shift away from the classroom and forced rapid adoption of online learning, education, and virtual tutoring. Post-pandemic, with the democratization of Generative AI and the shift in federal funding, Paper is refocusing its efforts towards a path to profitability.
Job Summary
Job Description
Job Summary:
As the Senior Manager/Director, People, you will play a critical role in driving key people initiatives, fostering a positive work culture, and managing day-to-day HR operations. You will be a key partner to business leaders and managers, ensuring the alignment of people strategy with the company’s objectives. This role combines both strategic and operational responsibilities, including employee relations, performance management, talent development, and HR policy
execution. Depending on experience, the title and scope may be adjusted.
Key Responsibilities:
● Strategic HR Leadership: Partner with senior leadership to align HR initiatives with business objectives and contribute to long-term organizational planning and strategy.
● People Operations: Oversee and/or assist with the execution of day-to-day HR
operations, including employee relations, recruitment, onboarding, HRIS administration, benefits administration, and HR compliance.
● Performance Management: Lead and manage the performance review process, including goal-setting, continuous feedback, and career development plans.
● Talent Development: Collaborate with business leaders to identify talent needs, implement employee development programs, and support succession planning efforts.
● Employee Engagement: Drive employee engagement initiatives, develop programs that enhance workplace culture, and gather feedback to foster an inclusive and supportive environment.
● Policy Implementation: Implement and monitor HR policies, ensuring alignment with local labor laws and company values.
● Change Management: Support organizational change efforts by designing and delivering communication plans, managing employee transitions, and ensuring alignment across teams.
● Act as a People Business Partner to strategize working through and problem solving day to day human resources questions, including performance management, coaching, and training People managers.
● HR Metrics: Use data to assess HR performance and make recommendations for improvement, ensuring continuous alignment with organizational goals.
● Coaching and Mentoring: Serve as a trusted advisor to managers and leaders, providing coaching on employee management, conflict resolution, and performance improvement.
● Compliance & Risk Management: Ensure compliance with relevant laws and regulations and mitigate HR-related risks through proactive planning and execution.
● Lead, coach and motivate a team of high performing HR professionals.
Union Collaboration: Work closely with union representatives to ensure open communication, resolve grievances, and support labor relations strategies that foster a positive working relationship between the company and unionized employees. Collective Bargaining & Labor Agreements: Participate in collective bargaining negotiations and ensure the company adheres to the terms of labor agreements. Provide guidance to managers on contract interpretation and compliance.
Qualifications:
● Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field; a Master’s degree or relevant certification (e.g., SHRM, CHRL) is a plus.
● 10+ years of experience in HR roles with a blend of operational and strategic
responsibilities.
● Demonstrated experience partnering with senior leaders and managing key HR functions, such as performance management, employee relations, total rewards/compensation, and talent development.
● Strong knowledge of employment laws and HR best practices.
● Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence and build strong relationships across all levels of the organization.
● Proven ability to lead HR projects and initiatives that impact culture, employee
engagement, and performance.
● Analytical mindset with the ability to use data to drive decisions and optimize HR processes.
● Strong organizational skills and the ability to prioritize and manage multiple tasks in a dynamic environment.
● Cross-border (Canada and US) HR experience is an asset.
About Paper
Paper offers an exciting, dynamic, inclusive work environment putting excellence at the center of everything we do. Our mission is woven into the fabric of our culture, challenging our team to build meaningful and creative solutions.
We thrive when we collaborate with each other, and use integrity and selflessness to align our business decisions with our mission. We approach every challenge with positivity, achieving the outcome we want regardless of what gets in the way. Our tenacity propels our hyper-growth, where trust is key and we all strive to make an impact every day.
We believe that diverse teams build better products. Paper does not and will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, gender orientation, gender expression, age, national origin, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status in any of its activities or operations.
Nobody checks every box, but the Paper team is built by passionate and innovative people who share our mission for democratizing education. If you don’t think you meet all of the requirements above but are still interested in the job, please apply.
PS. Equity is our mission! We make sure to treat all candidates equally: If you are interested please apply through our job board - our amazing talent team will reach out! Our team isn't able to pass on any calls/ emails our way - and this makes sure that the candidate experience is smooth and fair to everyone.
Requisition ID
R-100211
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