Chief People & Transformation Officer - Interim Financial Services Organisation in San Francisco

Chief People & Transformation Officer – Interim

Financial Services Organisation | Major Growth & Cultural Transformation | Board-Level Exposure

A growing financial services organisation is seeking an experienced senior People leader to play a pivotal role in a major transformation journey.

This is a newly created, high-impact role working closely with the CEO, Board and Executive Leadership Team to build a modern, high-performing, people-focused organisation. You will lead the development and execution of a new People Strategy, professionalise the HR function, embed a scalable operating model, and drive cultural and organisational change across the business.

This is a strategic transformation role for someone who can build foundations, raise standards, improve capability and help the organisation deliver better outcomes for its customers, staff and wider community.

This is a standout opportunity for a strategic People leader who enjoys building from the ground up, driving transformation and creating sustainable change.

Job Scope

You will take ownership of the organisation’s People Strategy, covering hiring, performance management, incentives, job benchmarking, leadership development, learning and development, succession planning, cultural change, employee relations, reward, wellbeing, compliance and workforce capability.

You will work directly with the CEO and Executive Team to align people initiatives with the organisation’s wider growth strategy, while supporting Board-level activity.

A major focus will be building a high-performing HR and Learning & Development function, including the creation of competency frameworks, career pathways, training catalogues, leadership programmes and coach the coach initiatives for managers and senior leaders.

You will also ensure that all people policies, procedures and processes remain compliant with relevant State and Federal laws.

Day to day, you will

• Lead, define and deliver the organisation’s People Strategy in partnership with the CEO and Executive Team.
• Build and professionalise the HR function so it can support an ambitious transformation agenda.
• Design and embed modern performance management and behavioural frameworks to support a high-performance culture.
• Develop career pathways, competency frameworks, training programmes and leadership development initiatives.
• Oversee talent acquisition, onboarding, retention, succession planning, employee relations, reward, benefits, wellbeing, equality and diversity.
• Ensure salaries, incentives and reward structures are aligned with business goals, performance outcomes and organisational growth.
• Drive cultural change across the organisation, helping leaders and managers build stronger coaching, communication and performance management capability.
• Lead HR-related committees, including remuneration and consultation forums.
• Support continuous improvement across the organisation, including the embedding of change management capability and operational excellence tools.
• Provide trusted advice to the CEO, executives and senior leaders on organisational climate, employee wellbeing, workforce planning and people-related risks.
• Ensure all people policies, procedures and processes meet all relevant legal and regulatory requirements.
• Manage departmental budgets and ensure value for money across HR and L&D activity.

To be successful in this role, you will

be a senior HR, People or Organisational Development leader with strong transformation experience and the confidence to operate at Executive and Board level.

You will bring

• Minimum 5 years experience operating at Director or Executive Director level.
• A strong track record of leading senior HR teams and delivering strategic people initiatives.
• Experience in learning and development at both strategic and operational level.
• Demonstrable experience of cultural transformation and organisational change.
• Experience building and embedding performance management frameworks.
• Strong understanding of reward, incentives, benchmarking and modern HR practice.
• Experience working in a regulated financial services organisation with ambitious transformation plans.
• Experience engaging with Boards, CEOs and senior executives.
• Knowledge of State and Federal employment legislation and regulatory compliance.
• Strong commercial discipline, budget ownership and value-for-money focus.
• Excellent communication, influencing and conflict resolution skills.
• Emotional resilience, sound judgement and the ability to operate calmly under pressure.
• A high degree of integrity, self-awareness and analytical thinking.
• A degree, MBA and/or recognised HR qualification such as SHRM or HRCI certification would be highly desirable.

Why Apply

This is a rare opportunity to shape the people agenda of a growing financial services organisation at a pivotal moment in its development.

You will have the mandate to build, improve and modernise the HR function, influence strategy at the highest level, and lead people-focused change that directly impacts employees, customers and the wider community.