Chief Talent & Human Resources Officer (NY)

Excellence Community Schools (ECS) is a K-8 Charter Management Organization (CMO) serving communities in the Bronx, NY, and Stamford, CT. Our approach is built on a nationally recognized model that began with our flagship school, the Bronx Charter School for Excellence, a proud recipient of the National Blue Ribbon Schools Award.

Our schools prepare young scholars to compete for admission to and succeed in top public, private, and parochial high schools by cultivating their intellectual, artistic, social, emotional, and ethical development. We accomplish this by offering a challenging and rigorous academic curriculum, which at the earliest grades have an eye towards college preparation. To achieve this, our schools create a supportive and caring environment that at all times has high expectations of all students.

Our commitment extends beyond academics, ensuring each scholar has the guidance and support to thrive in whatever they aspire to achieve in the world. We offer a supportive learning environment that seeks to develop high-level analytical and critical thinking skills in all of our students. Our engaging and rigorous approach is implemented by a collaborative team of teachers.

Position Overview

The Chief Talent & Human Resources Officer (CTHRO) is a senior executive responsible for architecting and stewarding ECS’s enterprise-wide people strategy in direct service of student achievement, instructional excellence, and long-term organizational sustainability. As a core member of the Executive Team, the CTHRO ensures that talent, culture, leadership, and people systems are intentionally designed, aligned, and continuously improved to support ECS’s mission and growth.

This role moves beyond operational HR leadership to owning outcomes, building scalable systems, advising the Co-CEO and Board, and ensuring ECS has the leadership capacity and workforce stability required to deliver exceptional results.

Impact of the Role

The Chief Talent & Human Resources Officer ensures Excellence Community Schools has leadership, workforce stability, and people systems required to deliver exceptional outcomes for students, today and as the network grows. This role directly influences instructional quality, organizational resilience, and ECS’s ability to scale with excellence.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic People Leadership & Governance

• Serve as a principal advisor to the Co-CEO and Executive Team on all matters related to talent, workforce strategy, organizational design, and people investment decisions.
• Translate ECS’s academic vision and growth strategy into a cohesive, long-term people strategy that ensures the right talent is in place at every level of the organization.
• Lead enterprise-wide change management efforts related to organizational growth, restructuring, performance expectations, or shifts in instructional and operational priorities.
• Partner with the Board and senior leadership on succession planning, leadership continuity, and risk mitigation related to talent and workforce capacity.
• Set and own the enterprise talent acquisition vision to ensure ECS consistently attracts, selects, and retains exceptional educators, school leaders, and network staff aligned to ECS’s instructional model and values.
• Establish and scale long-term, sustainable talent pipelines through strategic partnerships (universities, certification programs, residencies, and internal leadership pathways) to meet current and future staffing demands.
• Ensure hiring systems and selection practices advance ECS’s commitments to diversity, equity, inclusion, and excellence, using data to monitor outcomes and drive continuous improvement.
• Oversee onboarding and early-tenure talent strategies that accelerate effectiveness, strengthen engagement, and improve long-term retention across schools and network teams.
• Use labor market insights, workforce analytics, and vacancy risk data to inform proactive staffing strategies and support network stability and growth.
• Design and steward ECS’s enterprise performance management philosophy and systems, ensuring alignment with instructional rigor, accountability, and professional growth expectations.
• Partner with Academic Leadership to ensure educator effectiveness frameworks, coaching models, and leadership development pathways are cohesive and mutually reinforcing.
• Own succession planning for school leaders and key network roles, building internal pipelines that reduce reliance on external hiring for critical leadership positions.
• Ensure managers and leaders across the organization are equipped to lead people effectively through training, tools, and clear expectations.

Culture, Employee Experience & Engagement

• Champion and model high-expectations, mission-driven culture that balances excellence, accountability, and staff sustainability.
• Set the vision for employee experience across the full lifecycle, from recruitment through advancement and exit.
• Oversee employee relations strategy, ensuring consistent, fair, and values-aligned approaches to conflict resolution, investigations, and performance management.
• Use engagement data, retention trends, and feedback loops to proactively address risks to morale, performance, and organizational health.

Compensation, Benefits & Total Rewards Strategy

• Set ECS’s total rewards philosophy to ensure compensation and benefits are competitive, equitable, and aligned with budget realities and talent priorities.
• Partner with CFO and the CEO on workforce cost modeling, salary planning, and long-term financial sustainability.
• Ensure internal equity and compliance while positioning ECS as an employer of choice within competitive education labor markets.
• Evaluate and evolve benefits offerings to support recruitment, retention, and staff well-being.
• Serve as the organization’s senior authority on employment law, HR compliance, and workforce risk management.
• Ensure ECS policies, practices, and systems comply with all federal, state, and local regulations across operating regions.
• Anticipate and mitigate organizational risk related to employee relations, investigations, performance management, and labor matters.
• Advise executive leadership on sensitive personnel matters with sound judgment, discretion, and consistency.

HR Operations, Systems & Analytics

• Provide executive oversight of HR operations, ensuring systems, processes, and structures support school leaders and minimize administrative burden.
• Leverage people data and analytics to inform executive decision-making related to hiring efficiency, retention, performance, diversity, and workforce planning.
• Ensure HR technology, reporting, and infrastructure scale effectively with organizational growth.
• Hold the Talent & HR function accountable for service quality, responsiveness, and strategic impact.
• Build, lead, and retain a high-performing Talent & Human Resources leadership team.
• Set clear expectations for strategic thinking, execution excellence, and cross-functional partnership.
• Serve as a trusted partner to Principals, school leaders, and Network leaders, balancing support with accountability.
• Model ECS’s leadership values and decision-making standards in all interactions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree in Education, Human Resources, Organizational Leadership, or related field preferred.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in Talent Management and Human Resources, with senior leadership experience.
• Demonstrated success leading talent strategy in K-12 education, charter networks, or mission-driven organizations.
• Deep understanding of educator recruitment, retention, and performance systems.
• Strong knowledge of employment law, HR compliance, and best practices in New York and/or Connecticut.
• Exceptional leadership presence, judgment, and ability to influence across schools and network teams.

Compensation and Benefits

• Salary range:$225,000 - $250,000,commensurate with experience and qualifications.
• Health Benefits:Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Leave:Paid time off, paid sick leave, parental leave, and FMLA.
• Additional Benefits:Short-term and long-term disability coverage, life insurance, and $5,000 annual tuition reimbursement.