Alexis McEvoy

Chief People Officer

Chapter

Turning Chaos Into Clarity: Introducing Structure at Palantir

How Alexis McEvoy, Former Head of People Partners/People Programs at Palantir, helped the unstructure-able get more comfortable with structure.

If you think introducing a leveling framework to Palantir—a company as allergic to structure as cats are to cucumbers—sounds impossible, you’re not wrong. But sometimes, the impossible just takes a little longer (in this case, years).  

With a strategic, iterative approach Alexis McEvoy, former Head of People Partners/People Programs at Palantir, was able to build a program that served everyone and proved the value of clarity when it comes to career development and compensation planning.

Now, she shares with us how it went down.

The Problem: No Map, Just Guesswork

For 15 years, Palantir thrived on tackling the hardest problems in the world—but internally? With 3,000+ employees and no formal leveling or growth framework, Palantir’s impressive teams were building some of the industry’s top tech solutions but people were left guessing what “growth” meant, how to achieve it, or even how they were assessed.

The result? Confusion around what growth should look like and inconsistencies in talent assessment Employees wanted clarity but felt constrained by the cultural focus on a lack of structure.

The Solution: Baby Steps Over Bulldozers

A “fix it now” approach? Not an option. Palantir’s culture demanded trust, not top-down mandates. So, Alexis and her team got creative:

  1. Start Small: Pilot experiments in individual teams, tailoring them to fit each team’s unique needs and culture.

  2. Iterate and Adapt: Use insights from each test to refine the framework.

  3. Build Buy-In: Slowly scale the system, letting its value speak for itself.

The result? A series of leveling framework that created the right amount of structure to provide clarity without getting in the way of Palantir’s “impact first” focus.

The Results: Structure Without the Pain

Introducing leveling Palantir:

  • Clarity: Clear expectations and a roadmap for growth for every person.

  • Consistency: Equitable pay bands tied to defined levels.

  • Cultural Alignment: A shared language around growth and impact.

Gone was the guessing game of “what should we expect of our people” and “what does growth look like” — replaced by a lightweight structure created from the ground-up.

The Takeaway: Patience and Partnership

So, what’s the secret to pulling off cultural change in a structure-averse organization?

“Don’t force it,” Alexis says. “Start small, build trust, and let the value become obvious over time. People work is about partnering, not pushing.”

Change takes time, but with the right approach, even the most chaos-loving culture can learn to embrace a little clarity.

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Linda Ho