Chief People Officer

Company Description

About KIPP NYC:
Founded in 1995, KIPP NYC Public Schools is a non-profit network of 18 free, public charter schools located in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. We partner with families and communities to create joyful, academically excellent schools where every child grows up free to create the future they want for themselves and their communities.

From our first middle school, KIPP Academy in the Bronx, to today's network of eight elementary schools, nine middle schools, and one high school, KIPP NYC provides students with engaging academics, arts, athletics, and social-emotional learning that prepare them for college, career, and beyond.

Our commitment doesn't end at graduation. Through KIPP Forward, we continue to support our alumni as they navigate college, career, and life, helping them define success on their own terms and pursue the paths that align with their goals and sense of purpose.

Together, we serve more than 9,400 students, support 4,700 alumni, and employ over 1,100 dedicated team members who bring passion, expertise, and commitment to our mission every day.

The Next Chapter

KIPP NYC enters its next chapter from a position of considerable strength. Over the past several years, the organization has nearly doubled enrollment, expanded its presence across New York City, and celebrated its 30th anniversary. Today, KIPP NYC is one of the largest and most influential regions within the national KIPP network - a network of more than 1,200 educators and staff across three boroughs, in service of thousands of students and families.

As KIPP NYC has grown, so too has the opportunity to strengthen the systems and infrastructure that support its next phase of impact. Since CEO Leslie-Bernard Joseph joined KIPP NYC in August 2025, the executive team has embraced a highly collaborative, systems-oriented approach to preparing the organization for what's next. Significant progress has already been made to strengthen and modernize core organizational functions, including substantial investment in finance. Over the past year, KIPP NYC has also taken a deliberate approach to strengthening its People function, creating greater stability and clarity before bringing in its next Chief People Officer.

As KIPP NYC approaches a $300M annual operating budget and a workforce of 1,200+ across three boroughs, the opportunity is significant. The organization is ready to invest with intentionality in the systems, culture, and leadership pipeline required to attract, develop, and retain exceptional people at every level - from school-based educators to central office leaders.

For the next Chief People Officer, this is a rare opportunity: to build a talent function with strong organizational support and a mandate for innovation alongside an invested and aligned executive team.

Job Description

The CPO Opportunity

KIPP NYC is seeking an exceptional Chief People Officer (CPO) to serve as chief architect of the organization's 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 1,200+ 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 CEO's core strategic partners, responsible for ensuring that the organization's 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 organization's 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 organization's 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 DSG/Koya 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 1,000+ 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 what's 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 NYC's 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 NYC's 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 $275,000 - 300,000 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 DSG/Koya team to lead this search. To apply or express interest, please submit your materials through this application link .


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