Chief People Officer

About This Role

This Chief People Officer role is a rare opportunity to join the senior leadership team of a premier professional services firm, reporting to the CEO and partnering closely with the COO and CFO. The successful candidate will design and build a scalable People & Culture organization, shaping shared services and Centers of Excellence across Talent Acquisition, Learning & Development, and Policy & Compliance. This position plays a central role in the firm’s growth strategy, leading the people side of acquisitions and guiding the organization through meaningful change, including how AI reshapes work.

Responsibilities

• Design and lead the People & Culture function, building a high-performing team and a shared services and Centers of Excellence model with clear ownership, goals, and a metrics-driven operating rhythm
• Serve as the people lead on all acquisitions, assessing workforce, compensation, compliance, and cultural alignment ahead of close, and building a repeatable integration playbook that drives retention and time-to-productivity
• Stand up an in-house Talent Acquisition function, moving from third-party recruiting to proactive pipelines and a data-driven campus strategy for a hiring mix that is heavily early-career
• Establish the Learning & Development Center of Excellence and evolve the existing leadership and career curriculum so employees in every office have consistent opportunities to grow
• Build management capability across the firm, partnering with regional operations leaders on talent assessment, succession planning, coaching, and disciplined hiring practices
• Modernize performance management and rewards, completing career pathing and leveling, streamlining the review cycle, and partnering with the CFO on compensation and incentives tied to performance
• Scale a growing international team, navigating global compliance, time zones, and culture to support expansion of both engineering and shared services talent
• Partner with technology leadership on AI upskilling and automation, defining how work is shared between people and technology and leading the related change across the firm
• Establish people data governance, dashboards, and Board-ready reporting on recruiting, engagement, and retention, using pulse surveys, eNPS, and exit analysis to address retention risk
• Partner with Marketing to define and activate the Employee Value Proposition and lead change communication so key initiatives are clearly understood and adopted

Requirements

• Proven track record of building and scaling people functions that measurably improved hiring, development, and retention in a growing organization
• 12 to 15+ years of progressive People or HR leadership experience
• Current or recent Chief People Officer, or a senior HR leader ready for the top seat, such as a number two or head of HR for a major business unit