Chief Human Resources Officer Job Description and Role Profile

The Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) leads the people function and shapes workforce strategy, culture and leadership capability. Senior HR leaders with substantial executive experience in strategy, change and governance should apply.

Chief Human Resources Officer Job Profile

The CHRO provides strategic oversight of all human resources activities and ensures alignment between talent, organisational design and business objectives. This senior executive role combines board level advising, policy stewardship and operational accountability to build capability and sustain performance across the organisation.

As an executive team member the CHRO anticipates workforce needs, leads succession planning and partners with senior leaders to manage people risk, drive culture and enable strategic transformation.

Chief Human Resources Officer Job Description

The CHRO defines and implements the organisation's people strategy across talent acquisition, leadership development, reward, employee relations and inclusion. The role requires translating strategic priorities into practical HR programmes while maintaining governance, legal compliance and a consistent employee experience.

You will advise the chief executive and board on workforce planning, succession and leadership capability, lead major change programmes and provide counsel on complex employee matters. The role includes establishing people metrics and reporting to assess impact and inform executive decision making.

Successful delivery depends on building and leading a high performing HR function, promoting cross functional collaboration and embedding data driven decision making to improve organisational effectiveness and resilience.

Chief Human Resources Officer: Duties and Responsibilities

• Develop and implement a long term people strategy aligned to organisational objectives and growth plans.
• Advise the chief executive and board on succession planning, leadership capability and workforce risks.
• Lead senior talent acquisition, retention and succession planning for critical and executive roles.
• Design and oversee leadership development, performance management and career progression frameworks.
• Define total reward strategy and pay governance to support attraction and retention within budget.
• Drive employee engagement, culture and wellbeing initiatives that support organisational values and productivity.
• Provide executive guidance on complex employee relations, disciplinary and grievance matters.
• Ensure compliance with employment law, regulatory obligations and internal governance standards.
• Lead organisational design, restructuring and integration activities during transformation programmes.
• Establish HR metrics and reporting to measure turnover, engagement, diversity and performance outcomes.
• Optimise HR operating models, policies and processes to improve service quality and efficiency.
• Manage HR budgets and oversee relationships with external advisers and suppliers.
• Champion diversity, equity and inclusion in recruitment, development and reward practices.
• Recruit, mentor and develop a senior HR team and promote effective cross functional partnering.

Chief Human Resources Officer: Requirements and Qualifications

• Degree in human resources, business, social sciences or a related discipline or equivalent experience.
• Extensive senior HR leadership experience, typically ten or more years with executive exposure.
• Proven record of developing and delivering people strategy in complex or multi site organisations.
• Deep knowledge of employment law, regulatory compliance and sound governance practice.
• Demonstrable experience in organisational design, change management and large scale transformation programmes.
• Experience designing reward frameworks and managing pay governance processes.
• Commercial acumen with experience managing budgets and supplier relationships.
• Data literate with the ability to use people analytics and HR metrics to inform decisions and measure outcomes.
• Excellent stakeholder management, influencing and communication skills at executive and board level.
• Track record of building leadership capability, succession pipelines and high performing teams.
• High standards of integrity, confidentiality and professional judgement in handling sensitive matters.
• Experience in multi site or international organisations is desirable.