Chief People Officer

Jericho Road Ministries Inc • Buffalo, NY

28d • $140,000 - $160,000

About The Position

Jericho Road Community Health Center is seeking a Chief People Officer to provide executive leadership for its human resources and people strategy. This full-time role is part of the Executive team, works across all sites, and is primarily based at 181 Barton. The position partners with the CEO and other leaders to align people, culture, leadership, workforce capacity, and organizational change with the organization’s mission and strategic priorities. It also provides executive oversight and support for the Senior Director of Ministry and the ministry portfolio, including spiritual care, justice and inclusion, faith-based community initiatives, and volunteer engagement.

The Chief People Officer oversees core human resources functions and systems, supports organizational learning and leadership development, and advances employee engagement, retention, wellbeing, and a values-based culture. The role serves as a trusted advisor and strategic thought partner to the CEO and Executive Team, contributing an enterprise-wide perspective to organizational decisions and change initiatives. Jericho Road’s mission focuses on caring for communities, health equity, social justice, and serving people with dignity and compassion.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in human resources, business, organizational development, psychology, or a related field.
• Significant progressive leadership experience in human resources, including substantial responsibility for leading an HR function in a complex organization.
• Broad and demonstrated expertise across core human resources functions.
• Demonstrated experience in organizational development, performance management, leadership development, staff engagement, learning and development, and supporting organizational change.
• Proven ability to advise senior and executive leaders, coach leaders through complex people matters, and provide guidance on workforce and employee issues.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, facilitation, and conflict-resolution skills.
• Sound judgment and discretion, including the ability to handle sensitive and confidential matters effectively.
• Experience fostering a healthy organizational culture grounded in accountability, trust, inclusion, collaboration, and employee wellbeing.
• Demonstrated ability to lead and support faith-based ministry and spiritual care initiatives with authenticity and cultural humility.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree.
• Experience in nonprofit, healthcare, community health, or other mission-driven organizations.
• Experience leading organizational change or transformation and using data to strengthen organizational effectiveness.

Responsibilities

• Provide executive leadership and strategic direction for human resources and people strategy, aligned with the organization’s mission and strategic priorities.
• Oversee talent acquisition, onboarding, retention, compensation, benefits, employee relations, performance management, professional development, and offboarding.
• Strengthen systems for performance, accountability, recognition, employee engagement, talent development, and workforce planning.
• Partner with leaders on complex employee relations matters and promote consistent, equitable, and legally compliant employment practices.
• Oversee HR resources, systems, budget, and team performance; use workforce data and trends to inform leadership decisions and continuous improvement.
• Provide strategic oversight of organization-wide staff learning and development, including required training, professional development, and learning initiatives.
• Strengthen staff training design and delivery through adult-learning principles, engaging learning methods, appropriate technology, and evaluation of effectiveness.
• Develop and implement leadership development strategies that strengthen leadership capabilities, effectiveness, and accountability.
• Partner with the CEO, Executive Team, and other leaders to strengthen leadership effectiveness, team dynamics, and organizational capacity.
• Develop succession planning and talent development strategies for critical leadership and other key positions.
• Foster a culture of accountability, trust, collaboration, inclusion, professionalism, wellbeing, and alignment with the organization’s mission and values.
• Advance strategies that strengthen staff engagement, retention, recognition, wellbeing, and the employee experience.
• Ensure the organization’s mission and values are meaningfully reflected in the employee experience and organizational culture.
• Use staff feedback, workforce data, and other measures to identify opportunities to strengthen culture and staff experience.
• Provide executive oversight and support to the Senior Director of Ministry and ministry portfolio, including spiritual care, justice and inclusion, faith-based community initiatives, and volunteer engagement.
• Ensure effective integration of ministry with the organization’s broader mission and priorities.
• Strengthen the connection between the organization’s mission, culture, staff experience, and patient experience.
• Support organizational and community initiatives reflecting the organization’s commitment to dignity, compassion, justice, service, and care for the whole person.
• Serve as a strategic thought partner to the CEO and Executive Team on people, culture, leadership, organizational effectiveness, and change.
• Partner with leaders to align organizational structures, roles, talent, culture, and workforce capacity with strategic priorities and evolving needs.
• Lead and support organizational change initiatives, assessing readiness and addressing people, culture, leadership, and workforce implications.
• Strengthen systems and practices for cross-functional collaboration, accountability, communication, prioritization, and execution.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to the CEO and participate fully as a member of the Executive Leadership Team, bringing an enterprise-wide perspective to organizational decisions.
• Constructively challenge assumptions, identify organizational and people-related risks, and help the CEO and Executive Team navigate complex decisions.
• Foster collaboration, trust, accountability, and effective communication across leadership teams, including clear communication of priorities, changes, expectations, and values.
• Model the organization’s mission and values through visible, values-based and servant leadership, dignity, and respect for every person.

Benefits

• Medical coverage, with single-high coverage paid in full by the employer.
• HSA.
• Dental insurance.
• Vision insurance.
• Employer-paid life insurance benefit.
• Supplemental insurances.
• Tuition discounts.
• Generous paid time off.
• Opportunity for global travel to the organization’s three global health clinics.
• Loan forgiveness for applicable positions.
• Option of a flexible 40-hour workweek within certain teams.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive