Paradigm Becomes Surface, Building the Platform for the Next Era of People Leadership

Surface brings together AI-powered workforce intelligence and more than a decade of People expertise, with Paradigm continuing as its advisory practice

PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 14, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Paradigm today announced that it is changing its company name to Surface, adopting the name of the AI-native people intelligence platform it launched earlier this year and reflecting a broader vision for the role HR teams can play as AI transforms work.

Surface brings together workforce data, company context, and external market intelligence to help organizations understand what’s happening across their workforce, identify what matters most, and take meaningful action. The platform builds on Paradigm’s 12 years of experience helping thousands of organizations solve complex people challenges, combining deep expertise with cutting-edge AI. Paradigm will continue as Surface’s consulting and advisory practice, ensuring that the expertise and hands-on partnership that have defined the company remains central to its next chapter.

“We’re at a moment where we can fundamentally reimagine what the People function is capable of,” said Joelle Emerson, co-founder and CEO of Surface. “AI has the potential to transform how work gets done, but getting there is going to require much more than the technology. Companies have to rethink how teams operate, what skills they need, how leaders lead, and how culture evolves alongside AI. People teams should be at the helm of this next phase of organizational evolution. We built Surface to give them the platform they need to lead that transformation.”

Building for the next era of People leadership

As AI makes it faster and cheaper to build, create, and execute, talent will become an even more important source of competitive advantage. The organizations that thrive will be those that attract exceptional people, organize them effectively, help them continually adapt, and create the conditions for them to do their best work.

But the technology available to People teams was not built for this responsibility. Workforce data is fragmented across HRIS, recruiting, performance, engagement, learning, benefits, and other systems. Critical organizational context is scattered across policies, documents, processes, and institutional knowledge. And traditional analytics largely operates reactively, answering questions only after someone knows what to ask.

Surface was built to change that.

By bringing together workforce data, organizational context, external market intelligence, and deep people expertise, Surface develops a nuanced understanding of how an organization operates, from its teams and leaders to its processes, norms, and relationships. Rather than simply responding to questions, the platform proactively identifies emerging challenges and opportunities, helps leaders understand what is driving them, recommends what to do next, and helps turn those recommendations into action.

Since launching earlier this year, Surface has seen growing adoption and rapidly expanded its capabilities:

• Growing customer adoption: Nearly 60 organizations across industries are using Surface to build AI-native People teams, strengthen organizational performance, and transform how work gets done.
• Expanding capabilities: Surface Listening reimagines the traditional employee survey model, combining workforce signals, organizational context, and targeted feedback to help organizations listen when it matters most. Integrated learning capabilities connect workforce insights directly to employee development and action.
• Richer benchmarks and market intelligence: Surface continues to expand its proprietary benchmarking data and external market intelligence, helping People teams understand how their organizations compare with peers, anticipate emerging trends, and make more informed decisions.
• Investment in leadership: Surface has strengthened its leadership team with executives bringing deep expertise in engineering and people analytics to accelerate the platform’s development and growth.
  
  

Paradigm Continues as Surface’s Consulting Arm

Paradigm will remain an important part of Surface as the company’s consulting and advisory practice.

The team will continue the work clients have relied on for more than a decade, while increasingly helping organizations navigate the changes AI is creating. Paradigm’s expertise will also continue to shape Surface itself, grounding the platform in real-world judgment, proven practices, and more than a decade of experience helping organizations solve complex people, talent, and culture challenges.

“Surface represents an evolution of the same belief that led us to start Paradigm 12 years ago: the team you build is the company you build,” Emerson said. “I'm incredibly proud of everything we've accomplished as Paradigm, and excited about our next chapter as Surface and our opportunity to expand what's possible for People teams as they lead transformation.”

About Surface

Surface is the platform for the next era of People leadership. By connecting workforce data, organizational context, proprietary benchmarks, and more than a decade of People expertise, Surface helps organizations understand what’s happening across their workforce, identify what matters, and take action.

Surface is built on Paradigm’s foundation of more than a decade of work alongside thousands of organizations across industries. Paradigm continues its consulting, live training, and advisory work as part of Surface, combining AI-native technology, deep expertise, and hands-on partnership to help organizations build high-performance cultures and navigate the changing world of work.

Learn more at surface.ai.

A video accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ff370eb8-2e1b-4926-9779-4d0fed91d250

Media Contact

Nicole Colwell
nicole@surface.ai