Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO)

About Knightscope

Knightscope is a security technology company building the Nation's First Autonomous Security Force. The Company combines autonomous machines, advanced software, and human expertise to help protect people, property, and critical infrastructure. Knightscope’s long-term mission is to make the United States of America the safest country in the world.

About the Role

Knightscope is seeking a Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) to design, build, and lead a modern, technology-enabled people function that supports the Company's growth from hundreds of teammates today toward thousands in the years ahead.

The Company is building the nation's first Autonomous Security Force, integrating autonomous security robots, AI software, and licensed armed and unarmed Augmented Security Agents into a single managed service. The CHRO will architect a unified people organization that serves the entire workforce, corporate, technical, and field, as one team, one culture, and one operating standard. This is not a role to administer an existing HR department. It is a role to architect and build the people function the Company requires to scale, to build the best combined team of hardware + software + humans in the industry: an elite force.

The CHRO will operate as a strategic business leader with full ownership of human resources strategy, talent, operations, compensation, development, and culture. The role will deploy artificial intelligence, automation, and modern systems as core architectural choices, not optional enhancements.

This role reports directly to the Founder, Chairman & CEO and is based at Knightscope Headquarters (KHQ) in Silicon Valley (Sunnyvale, CA).

Responsibilities

Strategy & Organization Design

• Architect and operate a unified people function that serves corporate and field workforces under one structure, one set of standards, and one accountable and inspiring leader.
• Build the operating model, organizational design, and team required to deliver at scale.
• Partner with the executive team on workforce planning, organizational decisions, and growth strategy.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to the CEO and Board on people, organizational, and cultural matters, and build the people function into a distinct competitive advantage for the Company.

Talent Acquisition

• Lead recruiting strategy across all levels and functions, including high-volume field hiring and targeted technical, design, and executive recruiting.
• Build the systems, processes, and team capable of scaling hiring volume by an order of magnitude while protecting quality.
• Own employer brand strategy and candidate experience end-to-end.

People Operations, Compensation & Compliance

• Lead payroll, benefits, HRIS, and people operations infrastructure, consolidating and modernizing existing systems into a scalable system of record.
• Own total rewards strategy, including compensation philosophy, pay equity, equity grant administration, and the executive compensation cycle.
• Ensure compliance with all applicable employment law, including multi-state requirements, industry-specific licensing, and public company obligations.
• Partner with the Compensation Committee on compensation policy, equity plan governance, and proxy disclosure.

People Development

• Build the training, certification, and career development infrastructure required to deliver Knightscope's brand and service standards consistently at scale.
• Establish leadership development, succession planning, and manager effectiveness programs.
• Treat training and capability development as a strategic competitive advantage, not a compliance function.

Performance, Engagement & Employee Relations

• Own performance management, calibration, and the review cycle.
• Lead engagement strategy, listening, and culture programs.
• Establish and operate Employee Relations as a formal, named function with clear ownership of investigations, conflict resolution, and escalation management.
• Lead internal communications and thought leadership programs that reinforce culture, recognize teammates, and connect the entire workforce to the Company's mission.

Technology & Innovation

• Working closely with the CIO, deploy artificial intelligence, automation, and agentic systems inside the people function as the operating standard.
• Partner with engineering and IT to commission custom tooling where commercial systems fall short.
• Build a people function that is instrumented, data-driven, and reflective of the Company's identity as a technology leader.

Team Leadership

• Build and lead a high-performance people team, recruiting directors and managers across all functional areas.
• Establish standards of accountability, ownership, and execution discipline.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of progressive human resources leadership experience, including senior leadership of the people function at a company that scaled from hundreds of employees to thousands.
• Public company experience, including SOX controls, Compensation Committee interface, equity plan governance, and proxy disclosure.
• Demonstrated experience leading the people function in a distributed, multi-site workforce that includes both hourly and salaried populations.
• Operating experience in industries with high employee turnover (industry typical 100 to 400% annually), with a track record of dramatically improving retention.
• Demonstrated experience deploying AI, automation, or modern people technology as a strategic architectural choice, not as a pilot or experiment.
• Advanced degree strongly preferred.

Leadership Traits

• Operates as an owner and business leader, not as a staff administrator.
• Builds rather than maintains.
• Comfortable making hard tradeoffs and difficult personnel decisions.
• High accountability with zero tolerance for missed commitments.
• Thrives in fast-paced, ambiguous environments.
• Direct, honest, and resilient under pressure.
• Knows how to build a high-performance team with an exceptional culture.

Success Criteria

• A unified, modern people function is architected, staffed, and operating.
• Systems infrastructure is consolidated, scalable, and supports the workforce at multiples of current size.
• Hiring capacity is demonstrably scaled to support revenue growth without quality degradation.
• Retention is improved against industry benchmarks.
• Performance management, employee relations, and compensation cycles operate on cadence and to standard.
• AI and automation are deployed inside the function as the operating standard.
• The people function is recognized internally and externally as a competitive advantage of the Company.

Preferred

• Experience standing up or scaling shared services people models.
• Mergers & acquisitions experience, including post-acquisition people integration.
• Familiarity with federal, government, law enforcement, or security industry workforce dynamics.
• SHRM-SCP, SPHR, or equivalent senior certification.

Compensation & Benefits

• Base Salary: $300,000 - $375,000
• Equity: Stock options
• Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, 401(k), paid time off
• Location Requirement: Full-time, on-site at Sunnyvale HQ