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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Head of HR

💰 $130,000 - $220,000

Human ResourcesLeadershipPeople & CultureExecutive

🎯 Role Definition

The Head of HR is a strategic Human Resources leader accountable for building and executing a comprehensive people strategy that aligns with the company's mission, financial goals, and growth plans. This role leads talent acquisition, performance management, compensation & benefits, workforce planning, organizational design, employee relations, HR operations and HRIS optimization across local and global footprints. The Head of HR acts as a trusted advisor to the CEO and executive team, drives an inclusive culture, ensures legal and regulatory compliance, and delivers measurable improvements in retention, engagement and productivity.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • HR Director (corporate or business unit)
  • Senior HR Business Partner / Global HRBP
  • VP of People Operations or Talent Acquisition

Advancement To:

  • Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) / Chief People Officer
  • Chief Operating Officer (COO)
  • Executive leadership roles overseeing broader operations or transformation

Lateral Moves:

  • Head of Talent or Talent Strategy
  • Head of People Operations / HRIS
  • Director of Organizational Effectiveness / OD & Learning

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Develop and implement a multi-year HR strategy that aligns with the company’s business objectives, supports revenue and headcount plans, and builds organizational capability for scale.
  • Lead end-to-end talent acquisition strategy for leadership and critical roles, including employer branding, sourcing, interview design, candidate experience, and hiring metrics to reduce time-to-fill and increase quality-of-hire.
  • Design and operationalize competitive compensation and benefits programs, benchmarking against market data, to attract and retain top talent while managing total rewards budget and equity plans.
  • Build and oversee a performance management framework that includes goal setting, continuous feedback, performance calibration, development plans, and promotion criteria to drive high performance and accountability.
  • Create and execute workforce planning and succession planning processes that identify critical roles, pipeline readiness, and targeted development programs for leadership continuity.
  • Lead organizational design and change initiatives including role definition, span of control optimization, job leveling, and reorganization plans to improve agility and business outcomes.
  • Serve as principal advisor to senior leaders on people-related matters including executive coaching, conflict resolution, sensitive escalations, and strategic workforce decisions.
  • Own employee relations strategy and case management, ensuring consistent policies, fair investigations, remediation plans, and legally compliant outcomes.
  • Oversee HR operations and HRIS systems (e.g., Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, Oracle HCM): maintain data integrity, streamline workflows, automate processes and provide analytics to support decision-making.
  • Build and deploy HR analytics and people metrics dashboards (turnover, retention, engagement, hiring velocity, cost-per-hire, diversity metrics) to provide actionable insights to the executive team.
  • Lead Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) strategy and programs—policy, training, metrics and inclusive recruitment practices—to create an equitable workplace and measurable outcomes.
  • Partner with Finance and the executive team to develop and manage the HR budget, headcount forecasting, compensation planning, and workforce cost optimization strategies.
  • Architect and scale learning & development and leadership development programs to accelerate competency growth, improve manager effectiveness and support career mobility initiatives.
  • Drive employee engagement and culture initiatives, including all-employee communications, recognition programs, pulse surveys, action plans and culture integration for acquisitions.
  • Manage global HR policies, local compliance and employment law across jurisdictions; partner with legal counsel to reduce risk and ensure regulatory adherence.
  • Oversee onboarding and offboarding processes to ensure consistent experience, knowledge transfer, security compliance and employer brand protection.
  • Lead M&A HR integration and separation efforts: due diligence on people risks, harmonization of policies, retention programs, and rapid assimilation of acquired teams.
  • Negotiate and manage external vendor relationships for payroll, benefits brokers, outplacement, recruiting agencies, HR consultants and learning providers to ensure service quality and cost-effectiveness.
  • Champion change management for large-scale initiatives (system implementations, restructures, new performance frameworks) including stakeholder communications, adoption metrics and training programs.
  • Establish and maintain compensation governance, job architecture and leveling frameworks to ensure internal equity, market competitiveness and transparent promotion pathways.
  • Ensure HR compliance for data privacy (e.g., GDPR), HR-related regulatory filings, employment contracts, immigration support and mandatory training completion rates.
  • Design and measure talent mobility programs, internal talent marketplaces and stretch assignments to increase internal hire rates and reduce external hiring costs.
  • Lead crisis response and business continuity planning related to workforce disruptions, including pandemic response, remote work policies and safety protocols.

Secondary Functions

  • Partner with IT and Finance to implement and optimize HR technology roadmaps and integration with payroll, time & attendance and finance systems.
  • Support cross-functional initiatives (product, operations, sales) with people insights and change support to maximize program adoption and ROI.
  • Establish learning partnerships with external providers, universities and professional bodies to expand leadership pipelines and technical skill development.
  • Support compensation budgeting cycles, annual merit processes and executive compensation planning with scenario modeling and communications.
  • Develop HR process documentation, SOPs and playbooks for consistent global HR service delivery and scalable people operations.
  • Facilitate employee focus groups, stay interviews and exit interview programs to surface root causes and drive continuous improvement.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Strategic HR leadership and enterprise people strategy design
  • Talent acquisition strategy and employer branding execution
  • Compensation & benefits design, salary benchmarking and equity plan management
  • HRIS implementation and administration (Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, Oracle HCM, BambooHR)
  • Workforce planning, headcount forecasting and succession planning
  • Performance management frameworks and calibration processes
  • Labor law, compliance, global employment regulations and immigration processes
  • HR analytics, data visualization and KPI/dashboard creation (Tableau, Power BI, Excel modeling)
  • Change management methodologies and program management for large-scale transformations
  • Mergers & acquisitions HR due diligence and integration planning
  • Learning & leadership development program design and evaluation
  • Vendor selection, contract negotiation, and vendor relationship management
  • Budgeting and P&L oversight for people-related spend

Soft Skills

  • Strategic thinker with strong business acumen and the ability to translate business goals into people strategies
  • Executive presence and ability to influence C-suite and board-level stakeholders
  • High emotional intelligence, empathy and confidential handling of sensitive matters
  • Strong communicator: clear, persuasive written and verbal communication across all levels
  • Coaching and mentoring mindset to develop managers and emerging leaders
  • Conflict resolution and mediation skills to manage complex employee relations issues
  • Collaborative leader who builds trust and cross-functional partnerships
  • Results-oriented with a data-driven approach to measure and drive impact
  • Resilience, adaptability and comfort with ambiguity in fast-changing environments
  • Ethical judgment and commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion

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, MA/MSc in Human Resources, Organizational Development) or equivalent executive education.

Relevant Fields of Study:

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

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 10–15+ years of progressive HR experience, with at least 5 years in a senior leadership role (Head of HR, HR Director, VP People) in mid-market to large enterprises or high-growth startups.

Preferred:

  • 12+ years with demonstrated experience scaling HR functions in growth or multi-geography environments, proven track record in M&A integrations, HRIS implementations, and measurable impact on retention, engagement and productivity.
  • Professional certifications such as SHRM-SCP, SPHR, CIPD Level 7 or equivalent are highly desirable.
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