Chief People Officer (Volunteer)

About This Role

This volunteer role is critical for a startup nonprofit focused on humanitarian aid collaboration, leading the recruitment, onboarding, and support of its volunteer workforce. The Chief People Officer will build and guide a team of HR professionals, shape people operations, and prepare the organization for a future transition to a paid staff model as funding becomes available. It suits an HR leader who is ready to be hands-on and strategic in a dynamic, mission-driven environment.

Responsibilities

• Lead, direct, and develop a team of HR professionals, including the Deputy People Officer, generalists, and recruiters by setting priorities, providing guidance, and holding the team accountable for results
• Serve as hiring manager for all People team positions and mentor team members in both their HR specialties and Conversa Corps' mission and operations
• Roll up your sleeves when needed, stepping in directly on recruiting, interviewing, onboarding, and employee relations work to keep momentum during surges
• Develop the Deputy People Officer to ensure continuity and distributed leadership capacity
• Lead the organization-wide volunteer recruiting push, partnering with team leads across Conversa Corps to prioritize open roles and fill them with mission-aligned talent
• Oversee job description development, posting, candidate screening, and interviews
• Ensure a consistent, welcoming onboarding experience that gets new volunteers connected and productive quickly
• Track recruiting, onboarding, and retention through our Airtable-based people systems
• Develop and maintain HR policies and procedures aligned with our values and suited to a distributed, volunteer-driven organization
• Foster an inclusive, engaged team culture; address conflicts and employee relations issues fairly and promptly
• Maintain accurate personnel records and ensure compliance with data protection and applicable employment requirements
• Partner with the training team on development initiatives that grow team members' skills and knowledge
• Plan and lead the conversion of positions from volunteer to payroll as funding arrives, including role prioritization, compensation approach, payroll setup, and compliance obligations
• Advise the Executive Director and leadership on workforce planning and organizational design as Conversa Corps scales

Requirements

• 7+ years of progressive HR or People experience, including 3+ years leading or managing HR professionals
• Demonstrated success recruiting and onboarding at volume
• Working knowledge of employment law and HR compliance
• Experience supporting remote or distributed teams
• Comfort working in Slack, Airtable (or similar databases), Google Workspace, and Microsoft 365