Chief People Officer

The CPO Opportunity

KIPP NYC is seeking an exceptional Chief People Officer (CPO) to serve as chief architect of the organizations talent strategy culture and employee experience and as a critical member of the Executive Leadership Team.

Reporting directly to the CEO the CPO will own all aspects of the People function including talent acquisition and workforce planning; talent development and performance management; organizational effectiveness and change leadership; total rewards; employee and labor relations; HR operations governance compliance and risk management; and equity and belonging across a complex multi-entity organization of 1200 employees serving thousands of students and families across three boroughs.

This is an enterprise-level mandate requiring both strategic leadership and operational excellence. The CPO will sit alongside the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Development Officer as one of the CEOs core strategic partners responsible for ensuring that the organizations people strategy scales at the same pace as its budget its footprint and its ambition. Early priorities include:

• Strengthening and building areas of an integrated data-driven People function capable of supporting a $300M multi-entity three-borough organization with the infrastructure to match near-term execution against long-term scale.
• Modernizing core HR systems (HRIS performance management applicant tracking) and exploring AI and modern people-analytics tools to move from reactive HR administration to proactive workforce strategy.
• Partnering closely with the CFO on the transition of payroll into Finance and establishing a durable well-defined operating partnership between People and Finance going forward.
• Building a school-leader and central-office leadership pipeline strong enough to support continued growth with clear succession planning at every critical seat.
• Strengthening recruitment onboarding and retention strategies for school-based educators historically the highest-turnover highest-stakes talent segment in the network.
• Embedding equity and belonging as operating disciplines not slogans across hiring compensation promotion and performance management.

 Key responsibilities of the CPO include among others:

Talent Strategist and Empowering Culture Leader

• Serve as a strategic thought partner to the CEO Board and Executive Leadership Team translating organizational vision into an actionable multi-year talent strategy.
• Own workforce planning across a complex multi-entity structure anticipating hiring needs succession risk and organizational design questions before they become urgent.
• Build and protect a culture of high performance accountability and belonging at every level of the organization from classrooms to the central office.
• Advise the CEO and executive team on the people implications of major strategic decisions including organizational design changes new school openings restructures and shifts in operating models and lead the people and change-management strategies required for successful implementation.
• Champion a leadership philosophy grounded in clear expectations coaching and empowerment modeling the culture the organization wants replicated at every school site.
• Serve as a senior advisor on organizational risk governance and compliance ensuring that people-related risks are proactively identified appropriately escalated and addressed through clear policies controls and decision-making processes.
• Lead a team of 18 (with three direct reports: Managing Director Talent; Managing Director People Operations; and Managing Director People Transformation) across functions of recruitment employee experience and talent development people operations and transformation.

Employee Experience Talent Development & Equity Leadership

• Design and lead an end-to-end talent lifecycle strategy recruitment onboarding development performance management advancement and retention tailored to the distinct needs of school-based and central-office talent.
• Build a rigorous equitable performance management approach that sets clear expectations supports continuous development differentiates performance addresses underperformance and strengthens teacher and leader effectiveness in service of student outcomes.
• Build a leadership development pipeline for school leaders and rising central-office executives with defined pathways competency frameworks and succession plans for the organizations most critical roles.
• Own total rewards strategy compensation philosophy benefits design and market benchmarking ensuring KIPP NYC remains competitive for top talent in both the education sector and the broader NYC labor market.
• Lead equity and belonging strategy across hiring practices compensation structures promotion pathways and performance management in direct service of the organizations broader commitment to racial equity and social justice.
• Build listening infrastructure (engagement surveys exit interviews stay interviews) and translate findings into concrete action.
• Ensure managers across the network are equipped through training tools and coaching to lead develop and retain their teams effectively.

Enterprise Builder and Systems Leader

• Modernize HR infrastructure and systems (HRIS ATS performance and compensation platforms) to move the People function from manual and reactive to integrated and data-driven.
• Establish and oversee strong governance compliance and organizational risk-management processes across the People function including consistent policies internal controls documentation standards escalation protocols and compliance with New York State and City employment law.
• Ensure consistent sound employee and labor relations practices across the organization including investigations performance and conduct matters partnership with legal counsel and effective engagement with unionized stakeholders.
• Partner with Finance to execute the transition of payroll into the finance function and establish clear durable ownership and handoff points between the two teams going forward.
• Build people-analytics capability turnover time-to-fill engagement pay equity that gives the CEO Board and executive team a real-time view of organizational health.
• Recruit develop and lead a high-performing People team with clear expectations professional growth pathways and a culture of ownership and continuous improvement.
• Establish a rigorous operating cadence for the People function annual workforce planning compensation review cycles performance calendars and executive reporting mirroring the operational discipline being built in Finance and Development.

*How to Apply: KIPP NYC has engaged the DSGKoya team to lead this search. To apply or express interest please submit your materials through this application link. 

Qualifications :

Candidate Profile

While it is understood that no candidate will offer every desired skill quality and characteristic the following competencies offer a detailed aspirational view of the ideal candidate profile.

A Strategic and Empowering Culture Leader

This leader will bring:

• A track record of serving as a trusted strategic advisor to CEOs executive teams and boards on talent and organizational strategy bringing executive presence sound judgment and the confidence to constructively challenge assumptions.
• A demonstrated ability to lead organizational design and enterprise-wide change including building stakeholder investment communicating through uncertainty and helping leaders and teams adopt new structures systems and ways of working.
• Significant experience building and scaling people functions within large complex multi-site organizations (ideally 1000 employees and $100M operating budgets).
• A demonstrated ability to build workforce plans that anticipate organizational needs rather than react to them.
• An empowering leadership style that develops high-performing teams through clear expectations coaching accountability and a genuine culture of ownership. 

Trusted Relationship Builder and Communicator

This leader will bring:

• Exceptional communication and relationship-building skills with the ability to build trust and influence across school leaders executive leadership and the Board.
• A high degree of emotional attunement the ability to read whats said and unsaid in a room or relationship and translate that insight into action.
• The ability to pair genuine empathy with high accountability: someone who can hold people closely and still hold the line.
• Executive presence and warmth in equal measure possessing gravitas that earns trust.
• A sense of humor and levity that builds connection even amid serious high-stakes work.

An Equity-Minded Enterprise Leader

This leader will bring:

• A collaborative enterprise-wide mindset with the ability to build strong partnerships across People Finance Development and school-based leadership.
• A demonstrated substantive commitment to equity in hiring compensation and advancement with the ability to translate values into concrete policy and practice not just language.
• Deep expertise in human resources (HR) compliance and engagement with complex legal employment matters.
• A demonstrated track record of building effective performance management talent development and succession-planning strategies within organizations with distinct frontline and central-office talent segments.
• A strong command of total rewards strategy including compensation philosophy benefits design and administration and competitive benchmarking.

An Innovative Systems-Thinker

This leader will bring:

• A demonstrated track record of modernizing HR systems processes and technology to build scalable data-driven People operations across multiple HRIS platforms.
• Experience leveraging HR technology and people analytics including emerging AI tools to improve organizational decision-making.
• Strong operational judgment including the ability to assess People operations establish meaningful performance metrics and drive continuous improvement.

A Deep Commitment to the Mission and Values of KIPP NYC

This leader will bring:

• A demonstrated commitment to KIPP NYCs mission of providing high-quality public education and advancing social justice and racial equity with a deep belief in the power of education to create opportunity.
• Authenticity humility and sound judgment with a people-centered approach to organizational stewardship and decision-making.
• Intellectual curiosity resilience and comfort navigating complexity within a fast-paced mission-driven organization.
• The highest standards of integrity professionalism and discretion in managing highly sensitive and confidential information.

Education or nonprofit sector experience is helpful but not required.  

Location

This full-time role is based in Midtown Manhattan and operates on a hybrid schedule (three days in-office two days remote). It requires occasional travel to KIPP NYCs schools.

If you relocate outside of a commutable distance or out of the state of NY your employment will be subject to review which may include separation from KIPP NYC. It is important that you notify HR if you move or have plans to relocate.

Additional Information :

Compensation and Benefits:

KIPP NYC offers a salary ranging from $275000 - 300000 per year. Salary ranges at KIPP NYC are standardized based on role level and role function. Individual salaries are determined through a lens of equity accounting for years of experience relevant to the role and scope of responsibilities and are benchmarked against others within the same salary band.

KIPP NYC offers a generous benefits package including but not limited to the following:

• Robust benefits that include medical dental and vision. 
• 403(b) retirement plan with a 50% match after 6 months. 
• Generous Time-Off aligned with the school calendar
• Up to 12 weeks of 100% parental leave. 
• Bright Horizon Back-up Child and Elder care.
• Employer-paid Life Insurance and Short-term/Long-term disability.
• Employee incentives include 8 Weeks paid Sabbatical after 10 years annual professional development funds and tuition reimbursement.

This description is intended to describe the type of work being performed by a person assigned to this position. It is not an exhaustive list of all duties and responsibilities required by the employee.

This is a full-time in-person role based in New York City and will require travel to our schools. If you are not in a school-based position the cadence and frequency of travel to schools is determined by your leadership team. If you relocate outside of a commutable distance or out of the state of NY your employment will be subject to review which may include separation from KIPP NYC. It is important that you notify HR if you move or have plans to relocate.

KIPP NYC LLC does not offer visa sponsorship or work authorization. 

KIPP NYC LLC is committed to creating a welcoming environment that includes employees with diverse backgrounds and experiences. We believe that enables us to better meet our mission and values while serving students and families throughout New York City. 

KIPP NYC LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. KIPP NYC LLC is committed to the principles of equal employment opportunity for all employees and applicants for employment.

*How to Apply: KIPP NYC has engaged the DSGKoya team to lead this search. To apply or express interest please submit your materials through this application link. 

Remote Work :

No

Employment Type :

Full-time