Chief People Officer

Location and Travel:

Remote: Must reside in the United States

Travel: 10-20%

Compensation Range: $225,000 - $275,000

Commensurate with experience.

Position Overview

The Chief People Officer (CPO) is the senior executive responsible for shaping and executing the organization's people strategy in support of The Emily Program’s mission, growth objectives, and long-term business performance. Reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer and serving as a key member of the Executive Leadership Team, the CPO provides enterprise leadership across all aspects of human resources, talent, culture, organizational effectiveness, total rewards, employee relations, leadership development, and workforce planning.

The CPO serves as a strategic advisor to the CEO, Executive Leadership Team, and Board on workforce trends, organizational design, succession planning, leadership effectiveness, and culture. This role ensures the organization attracts, develops, engages, and retains the talent necessary to deliver exceptional client outcomes while supporting a high-performance, values driven culture.

The ideal candidate is an experienced healthcare people executive who combines strategic vision with operational excellence, demonstrates strong business acumen, and has a proven track record of leading transformational initiatives in complex, multisite organizations. This leader must be capable of translating organizational strategy into actionable people initiatives that improve engagement, strengthen leadership capabilities, enhance organizational effectiveness, and drive sustainable business results.

Key Responsibilities
Enterprise People Strategy & Organizational Effectiveness

• Develop and execute a comprehensive people strategy aligned with organizational objectives, growth plans, and long-term workforce needs.
• Partner with the CEO and Executive Leadership Team to ensure human capital strategies support enterprise performance, operational excellence, and strategic priorities.
• Lead workforce planning, organizational design, talent forecasting, and succession planning efforts across the organization.
• Assess organizational effectiveness and implement strategies that improve leadership capability, accountability, collaboration, and employee engagement.
• Provide strategic guidance during organizational change initiatives, restructurings, acquisitions, integrations, and periods of significant growth or transformation.

Talent Acquisition, Development & Succession

• Oversee enterprise talent acquisition strategies to attract, recruit, and retain high performing employees and leaders.
• Ensure recruitment processes, workforce planning efforts, and staffing models support current and future organizational needs.
• Lead leadership development, succession planning, and talent management programs designed to strengthen bench strength and organizational capability.
• Establish development pathways and career growth opportunities that support employee engagement, retention, and internal mobility.
• Foster a culture of continuous learning and professional development at all levels of the organization.

Culture, Engagement & Employee Experience

• Champion a culture that reflects organizational values, promotes belonging, and supports exceptional employee and client experiences.
• Lead enterprise employee engagement initiatives, including survey administration, analysis, communication, and action planning processes.
• Partner with leaders to develop and implement strategies that improve retention, engagement, communication, and organizational effectiveness.
• Promote leadership practices that foster accountability, trust, collaboration, psychological safety, and high performance.
• Monitor organizational culture metrics and implement targeted interventions to strengthen employee experience and workplace effectiveness.

Total Rewards & Workforce Performance

• Provide executive oversight for compensation, benefits, recognition, and performance management programs.
• Ensure compensation and total rewards strategies remain competitive, equitable, fiscally responsible, and aligned with organizational objectives.
• Lead the design, implementation, and communication of compensation frameworks that support attraction, retention, performance, and internal equity.
• Oversee benefit programs and vendor partnerships to ensure value, compliance, employee satisfaction, and market competitiveness.
• Drive performance management practices that strengthen accountability, leadership effectiveness, and organizational results.

Employee Relations, Compliance & Risk Management

• Ensure compliance with all federal, state, and local employment laws and regulations across jurisdictions.
• Provide strategic oversight and guidance for employee relations matters, investigations, workplace concerns, and conflict resolution.
• Minimize organizational risk through proactive policy development, education, training, and employment practices.
• Partner with legal, compliance, and operational leaders on workforce-related risk management initiatives.
• Maintain oversight of HR policies, practices, and procedures to ensure consistency, fairness, and regulatory compliance.

HR Operations & Leadership

• Lead, develop, and inspire a high performing HR organization focused on service excellence, continuous improvement, and measurable business results.
• Establish and monitor key people metrics, dashboards, and performance indicators to support data driven decision-making.
• Ensure HR systems, processes, and technologies are scalable, efficient, and aligned with organizational needs.
• Build strong partnerships with leaders throughout the organization to deliver strategic and operational HR support.
• Serve as a trusted advisor and thought partner to executive leaders on workforce, leadership, culture, and organizational matters.

Confidentiality & Organizational Responsibilities

• Maintain the highest level of confidentiality regarding organizational, employee, business, financial, and proprietary information.
• Maintain confidentiality of employee information and protected health information in accordance with organizational policy and applicable federal and state laws.
• Complete all required trainings and compliance obligations.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Organizational Development, or related field required.
• Master's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Organizational Psychology, or related field preferred.
• SPHR, SHRMSCP, or equivalent senior HR certification preferred.

Experience

• Minimum of 15 years of progressive human resources leadership experience, including executive level leadership responsibility.
• Experience leading HR strategy in a multisite healthcare, behavioral health, or similarly complex service organization strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated success partnering with CEOs and executive leadership teams to drive organizational performance, talent strategy, and cultural transformation.
• Proven experience leading organizational change, workforce planning, leadership development, and largescale people initiatives.
• Strong working knowledge of employment law, employee relations, compensation, benefits, talent management, and organizational development.

Personal Attributes

• Strategic and business minded leader with strong operational execution capabilities.
• Trusted advisor capable of influencing executives, boards, and leaders at all levels.
• High degree of emotional intelligence, judgment, and integrity.
• Data driven decisionmaker with a focus on measurable outcomes.
• Collaborative, relationship-oriented leader who builds credibility and trust across the organization.
• Resilient and adaptable executive able to navigate complexity and change.
• Passionate about developing people, strengthening culture, and advancing organizational performance.