Leadership role

Chief Human Resources

The senior people executive, responsible for workforce strategy, compensation, benefits and employee relations.

Reporting and scope

Reports to the Executive Director / CEO or COO, and often supports the board's compensation committee. Authority covers HR policy and practice across the organization.

Core responsibilities

  • Leads recruiting, retention and workforce planning
  • Designs pay structures and benefits, and prepares executive pay data for the compensation committee
  • Oversees employee relations, investigations and, where present, union relations
  • Maintains policies and compliance with employment law
  • Leads employee development and culture programs
  • Manages HR systems and payroll coordination

How it differs

The VP of Human Resources and Director of HR run the function at a lower level. The Chief Learning Officer focuses on training and development only.

By organization size

Chief-level HR is common above a few hundred employees. In smaller organizations an HR director or the finance lead covers the work.

Filings from the last five years mapped to this role commonly report titles such as: Chief People Officer; Chief Human Resources Officer; Chief HR Officer; CHRO; Chief Human Resource Officer; Chief Human Resources Offi

Related roles

Roles this description compares with Chief Human Resources, or that compare themselves with it.

VP of Human Resources
Leads a nonprofit's people function, from hiring and pay to benefits, policy and employee relations.
Director of HR
Directs an organization's human resources function, including hiring, pay and benefits, employee relations and HR compliance.
Chief Learning Officer
Directs an organization's learning programs, whether employee training and development or academic learning.

See what this role pays

Median reported total compensation, nationally: $229,000. Based on 4,919 IRS Form 990 filings, fiscal years 2021–2025.

This median spans organizations of every budget size and sector, so it will not match a benchmark for one organization.

State pay pages for this role: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Texas.

Benchmark pay for this role

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