Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Chief People Officer (CPO)

🎯 Role Definition

The Chief People Officer (CPO) is a C‑suite leader who partners with the CEO and executive leadership to design and execute a comprehensive people strategy that drives business performance, scales organizational capability, and fosters a high‑trust, inclusive culture. The CPO leads talent acquisition, total rewards, learning & development, employee relations, HR operations and systems, diversity, equity & inclusion (DE&I) initiatives, succession planning, and people analytics. This role is accountable for aligning workforce planning and organizational design to strategic priorities while ensuring compliance across all jurisdictions and optimizing the employee experience from attraction to alumni.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

VP of People / VP of Human Resources
Head of Talent / Head of People Operations
HR Director / Senior Director of Talent Acquisition

Advancement To:

Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) in larger enterprises
Chief Operating Officer (COO) or other C‑suite operational roles
Board director or people-focused advisory roles

Lateral Moves:

Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer
Head of Global Talent & Organizational Development
Chief Transformation Officer (with focus on people programs)

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Develop and execute a multi‑year people strategy that aligns to the company’s vision, financial goals, and growth plans, translating business objectives into workforce priorities, capability building, and culture initiatives.
Lead talent acquisition strategy for senior leadership and high‑impact roles, building scalable recruiting frameworks, employer branding, candidate experience programs, and metrics to reduce time‑to‑hire and improve quality of hire.
Design and oversee total rewards strategy, including compensation philosophy, salary structures, incentive programs, equity plans, benefits design, and benchmarking to attract and retain top talent while managing compensation costs.
Own organizational design and workforce planning processes—partnering with business leaders to design scalable org structures, role profiles, span of control, and headcount plans that support growth, efficiency, and agility.
Build and implement a high‑impact leadership development and succession planning program to identify, develop, and retain critical talent for key roles and reduce leadership risk.
Drive performance management design and execution—operationalizing annual review cycles, continuous feedback systems, goal setting (OKRs/KRAs), performance calibration, and career progression frameworks.
Lead DE&I strategy and programming to embed inclusive behaviors, diverse hiring practices, pay equity reviews, employee resource groups, and measurable outcomes tied to recruiting, retention, and culture.
Oversee people analytics and HR metrics—establishing a dashboard for turnover, engagement, hiring velocity, diversity, compensation spend, and predictive models to inform executive decision‑making.
Ensure global employment law compliance and HR policy governance across jurisdictions—managing employee relations, investigations, disciplinary actions, and regulatory reporting in partnership with legal.
Manage HR operations and HRIS strategy, including selection, implementation, integration and optimization of HR technology (HRIS, ATS, LMS, performance platforms) to automate processes and improve data integrity.
Serve as a strategic advisor and coach to the CEO and executive team on people priorities, organization health, executive hiring, succession, compensation decisions, and culture interventions.
Lead change management for organizational transformations—designing communications, stakeholder engagement, training programs, and resilience planning to sustain change and minimize disruption.
Define and scale onboarding, assimilation and offboarding programs to ensure consistent employee experience, knowledge transfer, and retention of institutional knowledge.
Own employee engagement strategy and measurement—designing pulse surveys, action planning with managers, recognition programs, and initiatives to improve morale and productivity.
Oversee labor relations strategy and, when applicable, collective bargaining negotiations, grievance management, and compliance with union agreements.
Lead M&A people integration—conducting due diligence, harmonizing policies and compensation, managing cultural integration, retention of critical talent and post‑close organizational alignment.
Manage HR budget and vendor relationships—evaluating third‑party providers for benefits, payroll, recruiting, learning, and consulting to optimize cost and service levels.
Drive remote and hybrid work policies, flexible work arrangements, global mobility and expatriate programs that balance business needs with employee wellbeing and legal compliance.
Lead wellbeing, safety, and employee assistance initiatives to support mental, physical, and financial health, including crisis response readiness and workplace safety programs.
Champion employer brand, EVP and external talent marketing—partnering with marketing and communications to attract diverse talent through storytelling, awards, and community engagement.
Implement succession and talent review cadence for the leadership team, creating development plans, stretch assignments, mentoring and coaching programs to build internal pipelines.
Design learning and development strategy—curating leadership programs, technical upskilling, onboarding curricula, and career pathing to accelerate capability building at scale.
Ensure payroll, benefits administration, and HR service delivery meet SLA and compliance requirements with continuous improvement of HR processes for efficiency and employee satisfaction.
Monitor and report on key people risks to the board and executive team, including attrition hotspots, leadership gaps, legal exposure, and culture erosion, and propose mitigation strategies.

Secondary Functions

Provide ad‑hoc people analytics and strategic workforce insights to support business planning, product launches, market expansion and budget cycles.
Partner with Finance on workforce cost modeling, headcount forecasting, and scenario planning tied to revenue and hiring plans.
Collaborate with Legal on policy updates, investigations, and cross‑border employment issues to mitigate compliance and reputational risk.
Work with IT and Security to ensure HR systems, identity management, and employee data privacy meet enterprise standards and GDPR/CCPA requirements.
Serve as a spokesperson for internal town halls, CEO communications, and executive listening sessions to communicate people initiatives and gather employee feedback.
Facilitate cross‑functional initiatives that improve collaboration between product, engineering, sales and people teams for go‑to‑market execution.
Lead pilot programs to test new ways of working (e.g., flexible schedules, 4‑day workweek, competency frameworks) and scale successful pilots enterprise‑wide.
Oversee vendor selection and contracts for staffing, background checks, benefits carriers, LMS providers, and executive search partners.
Support corporate social responsibility and community relations programs that reinforce employer brand and employee volunteerism.
Coordinate with Facilities on office strategy, workplace experience, and return‑to‑office playbooks to align physical environment with culture and productivity goals.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Strategic HR Planning: Proven ability to design and implement long‑term people strategies tied to business outcomes.
Talent Acquisition & Executive Search: Deep experience running recruiting operations and partnering with external search firms for senior hires.
Compensation & Benefits Design: Expertise in building competitive pay structures, equity plans, incentive schemes, and benefits negotiation.
HRIS / HR Technology: Hands‑on knowledge of cloud HR systems (Workday, BambooHR, UKG, SAP SuccessFactors), ATS (Greenhouse, Lever), LMS and integration strategies.
People Analytics & Reporting: Strong quantitative skills to build dashboards, interpret turnover drivers, perform pay equity analysis and predictive modeling.
Employment Law & Compliance: Understanding of global employment regulations, immigration, payroll compliance and employment contracts.
Organizational Design & Workforce Planning: Experience redesigning org structures, role leveling, span of control optimization, and headcount modeling.
DE&I Program Design: Track record implementing measurable diversity, equity and inclusion programs and metrics.
Performance Management Systems: Ability to design continuous feedback, goal setting (OKRs) and calibration processes.
M&A HR Integration: Experience leading due diligence, harmonization of policies and retention strategies in acquisitions.
Labor Relations: Experience managing union relationships, collective bargaining and grievance handling (where applicable).
Change Management: Knowledge of change frameworks (ADKAR, Kotter) to drive organizational transformation.
Learning & Development Platforms: Familiarity with L&D ecosystem, competency models, leadership curricula and coaching programs.
Payroll & Benefits Administration: Operational knowledge to ensure payroll accuracy, compliance and benefits vendor management.
Budgeting & Vendor Management: Proven ability to manage P&L for HR and negotiate contracts with vendors.

Soft Skills

Strategic thinker with strong business acumen and the ability to translate business strategy into people priorities.
Executive presence and gravitas; comfortable advising the board and C‑suite and representing people issues at an executive level.
Strong communicator and storyteller—able to craft compelling EVP, internal communications and influence change across the organization.
High emotional intelligence, empathy and coachability when working with leaders and employees at all levels.
Collaborative leader who builds trust quickly across functions and creates alignment on people initiatives.
Decisive and outcomes‑oriented, with a bias for action and ability to prioritize in a fast‑moving environment.
Change agent who can mobilize teams, remove barriers and sustain transformation initiatives.
Talent developer and mentor with demonstrated ability to grow leaders and build bench strength.
Data‑driven and curious, comfortable interpreting metrics and using them to drive decisions.
Ethical, discreet and committed to maintaining confidentiality and integrity in sensitive matters.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Organizational Psychology, or related field.

Preferred Education:

Master’s degree (MBA, MPS in HR, MA in Organizational Development) or advanced certification (SPHR, SHRM‑SCP, CIPD).

Relevant Fields of Study:

Human Resources Management
Organizational Psychology
Business Administration / Management
Industrial/Organizational Psychology
Labor Relations

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 12–20+ years in progressive HR leadership roles with at least 5–8 years in senior executive HR positions (VP/SVP/Head of People), and demonstrated experience partnering with executive teams.

Preferred:

Experience leading HR for high‑growth technology, scaling startups, or multinational corporations.
Track record of building HR functions from the ground up or transforming HR operating models at scale.
Experience with international HR, multi‑jurisdiction compliance, or supporting a distributed/remote workforce.
Demonstrated success in M&A integrations, union negotiations (if relevant), and measurable improvements in retention, engagement and leadership bench strength.