Chief People Officer

Founded in 2001, LEARN is a nationally recognized non-profit network of PreK-8th grade elementary charter schools that is creating measurable, transformational change in the lives of its students. We currently educate 4,100 students, a majority low-income, minority student population (88% and 98%, respectively) across 12 campuses, the majority of which are in Chicago, IL. LEARN also serves families in Waukegan and North Chicago IL including the families of service members located at the Great Lakes Naval Academy and Joint Base Anacostia–Bolling (JBAB) in Washington D.C.

LEARN's mission is to provide children with the academic foundation and ambition to earn a college degree. Our schools provide a rigorous educational program that is built upon an intimate understanding of each student’s individual learning style and academic needs. We are guided by five core values which include: expectations of high achievement; respect; providing a safe and nurturing environment; active family involvement; and the positive development of the Whole Child. The first time a family walks into one of our schools, they feel the warmth and welcome that defines a LEARN school, and they discover that LEARN is unmistakably a child-centered place. 

LEARN alumni graduate college at 2x the rate of their peers, exceeding city, state and national averages. Our college graduation rate is 10 points above the national average for all students regardless of socio-economic status or ethnicity. 

LEARN believes that the commitment and passion of the adults in our buildings is our greatest asset and the single most important determinant in student performance. It is our goal to build a culture of excellence across our network and maintain an environment in which staff feel supported, respected, and appreciated. We seek an exceptional leader to support our 600 employees while helping to attract and high performing professionals who align with our culture and share a commitment to excellence.

Job Responsibilities

The Chief People Officer (CPO) will lead the design and implementation of talent management strategies across the network and support the human resources functions. Reporting directly to the CEO, the CPO will manage the human resources and recruitment teams and will serve as a member of LEARN’s senior leadership team playing a key role in leading the strategic direction of the organization. The CPO will serve as a thought leader, coach and mentor on all issues related to talent and human capital for the management team, school leaders and all other staff members. 

The successful candidate will have broad responsibilities, including:

LEARN Human Capital Strategy

• Collaborate with senior leadership to align the human capital strategy with growth targets, including staff retention, recruitment, and succession planning.
• Design and promote internal growth opportunities and professional development programs.
• Lead organizational culture initiatives that ensure a high-performing organization, including putting systems in place that value and leverage skill and expertise across the organization.

Talent Recruitment 

• Create a best-in-class talent recruitment program, retention systems and hiring processes.
• Implement innovative, competitive and cost-effective strategies for recruiting and selecting diverse, high-quality talent.
• Use data to inform best practices for application and selection processes while ensuring that candidates have a consistent, positive experience with LEARN

Leadership & Management Coaching 

• Work with the senior leadership team on key organizational, management, and staff development strategies and issues.
• Evaluate and improve LEARN’s performance management systems.
• Mentor and coach managers across the organization – including School Principals and leadership team members – to develop their skills as effective leaders and people managers
• Set high expectations for accountability and delivering targeted, candid feedback to direct reports in order to drive top performance across the network and schools.

Employee Relations & Benefits 

• Manage the human resources team; collaborate with the finance department to ensure effective administration of all employee benefits and recommend improvements to benefits packages. 
• Play a proactive role in resolving employee concerns, investigating employee issues and developing positive employee relations.
• Research and evaluate compensation levels across the sector and benchmark against similar organizations, 
• Develop and manage systems to gather feedback on employee satisfaction; based on the results, share feedback with senior leaders, develop and monitor the network response.

The ideal candidate will possess the following qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree required
• A minimum of 10 years of professional leadership experience with a majority of time spent in Human Resource and Talent roles, coupled with a strong track record of data driven results.
• Ability to serve as an effective thought partner to the CEO and other C-Suite leaders.
• Demonstrated results building and or improving an organization's culture.
• Deep understanding of people management, with the ability to coach and mentor direct reports, peers, and executives on sound talent and HR management practices. 
• Experience with being responsible for the general human resources function, including: compensation, benefits, labor relations, legal etc.
• Proven leadership success, including the ability to motivate, address conflict, team build, mentor, coach, set goals, prioritize and plan.
• Previous experience in a fast-paced, rapidly growing entrepreneurial organization.
• Proven ability to hire, develop, and retain high-performing teams.

Key Relationships 

This position reports directly to the CEO. The Chief People Officer also serves as a member of the executive team. They directly manage the Senior Director of Talent, Director of Talent Acquisition, & Human Resources Manager, as well as indirect oversight of four department staff.

Benefits Summary 

We offer a comprehensive and competitive benefits package for all full time employees, including:

• Medical, Dental and Vision Insurance
• Paid vacation, personal time, & paid holidays
• Short and long term disability
• Paid life insurance
• Pet Insurance 
• 403(b) Contribution of 4.5% 4.5% matching with a 2-year vesting period 

This job description is not intended to be a complete list of all responsibilities, duties or skills required for the job and is subject to review and change at any time, with or without notice, in accordance with the needs of LEARN Charter School Network.  Since no job description can detail all the duties and responsibilities that may be required from time to time in the performance of a job, duties and responsibilities that may be inherent in a job, reasonably required for its performance, or required due to the changing nature of the job shall also be considered part of the jobholder’s responsibility.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, family medical history, disability or veteran status.

Salary : $210,000 - $225,000