Chief Human Resources Officer

Responsibilities

• Institutional HR Strategy & Executive Partnership
• Represent HGSE in university-wide HR forums on policy, compliance, compensation, and workforce governance, serving as a credible and influential voice for HGSE's needs within broader Harvard frameworks.
• Monitor and interpret external trends-including employment law, higher education workforce dynamics, and the impact of emerging technologies such as AI on workforce composition-translating these into actionable recommendations for institutional leadership.
• Participate actively in governance, strategic planning, and budgeting processes to ensure that HR capacity, risk exposure, and workforce investment decisions are explicitly considered in institutional decision-making.
• HR Operations, Service Excellence & AI Enablement
• Lead and continuously improve all aspects of HR operations, including payroll, HRIS (PeopleSoft), employee lifecycle transactions, leaves of absence, and compliance for contingent and student workers, ensuring a consistently high standard of accuracy, responsiveness, and service quality.
• Establish and maintain a formal HR Service Catalog with clearly defined service level agreements (SLAs), ensuring transparency, accountability, and a shared understanding of service expectations across research centers and administrative units.
• Design, own, and continuously refine HR workflows and service delivery processes, systematically identifying inefficiencies, reducing cycle times, and addressing root causes of service breakdowns.
• Drive the thoughtful adoption of automation and AI-enabled tools, recognizing varying levels of maturity across solutions, to streamline transactional work where appropriate, reduce manual effort, and improve consistency and scalability of HR services over time.
• Explore and selectively implement AI-enabled service delivery models-such as virtual assistants, intelligent intake, and case routing system

Benefits

Additional Information

Reporting to the Chief Administrative Officer, the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) is Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE)'s senior HR leader and the institutional architect for how the School recruits, compensates, develops, and supports its workforce. The CHRO works closely with the Dean's Office, the Chief Administrative Officer, the Chief People Officer (CPO), and the senior leadership team to ensure HR operations, compliance, and workforce strategy are executed with rigor, equity, and excellence. As HGSE's lead expert on employment law, university policy, and HR risk, the CHRO ensures that HR practices are legally sound, equitable, and aligned with university standards, and that the School rests on a scalable, compliant, and data-driven HR foundation. The CHRO also leads the responsible adoption of AI across HR operations so that emerging technologies enhance efficiency, insight, and decision-making while maintaining ethical and compliant practices. The CHRO serves as a strategic leader for a workforce of more than 400 faculty and staff and several hundred student employees across academic, research, and administrative functions. This includes more than 100 faculty members, a substantial population of union-represented employees, and a diverse range of academic and administrative professionals. Partnering with leaders across more than 30 departments, centers, and administrative units, the CHRO advances workforce strategy in a complex, mission-driven environment that requires navigating faculty governance, university-wide policies, collective bargaining agreements, and the evolving needs of a leading research university. Leading a dedicated HR team, the CHRO oversees talent acquisition, employee and labor relations, compensation, organizational effectiveness, workforce planning, learning and development, and performance management. The role supports significant annual hiring activity and maintains relationships with multiple bargaining units, including HUCTW and HGSU. As a member of the School's senior leadership team, the CHRO collaborates with Harvard's Vice President for Human Resources and peer CHROs across the University, and supports a predominantly hybrid workforce operating across multiple locations, balancing strategic leadership with operational excellence in a highly collaborative environment.

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