Head of People & Talent

Acumen•New York, NY

15h•$200,000 - $225,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Acumen is seeking a senior talent leader to strengthen how the organization cares for its people and develops talent, while supporting a strong organizational culture during an important period of evolution. Acumen has approximately 250 people across a complex ecosystem of global offices, remote and semi-remote teams, investment funds, programs, and different legal, regulatory, and cultural contexts. As Acumen advances its “One Acumen” effort, the Head of People & Talent will help integrate programs, funds, offices, and teams while preserving local ownership and initiative. The role will anticipate people and talent needs and drive initiatives that improve visibility, communication, common standards, shared practices, and accountability. Reporting jointly to the President and General Counsel, and partnering closely with senior leaders, this person will serve as Acumen’s senior talent leader and a trusted advisor on people, organization, and culture. The role focuses on identifying and advancing what the organization needs to attract and develop talent, care for its people, and evolve effectively. It is not intended to build a large centralized HR operation; administration is relatively lean. The Head will lead and develop a globally distributed people team with four direct reports and help ensure that Acumen’s people and leadership continue to match the ambition of its mission while reinforcing a culture that combines purpose with excellence. The position is based in Acumen’s New York City office. Acumen follows a hybrid schedule, with employees expected to work on-site at its New York headquarters at least three days per week. Candidates should be based in the New York City metropolitan area and willing and able to commute regularly, and should be ready to travel internationally. Candidates must have valid U.S. work authorization that does not require employment visa sponsorship.

Requirements

Substantial experience leading talent, people, or human resources work in a global organization.
Broad command of talent management, performance, succession, leadership development, compensation, global workforce planning, operations, and organizational effectiveness.
Demonstrated change management experience guiding high-performing, talent-dense, evolving organizations through robust talent systems and processes, clear expectations, leadership development, shared accountability, and cultural reinforcement.
Global and cross-cultural dexterity, including the ability to work effectively across countries, cultural competencies, working styles, and institutional contexts.
Strong organizational judgment and ability to anticipate, identify, diagnose, and address team, culture, and performance issues.
Experience serving as a trusted advisor to senior executives, with confidence to offer a point of view and pragmatism to help leaders act on it.
Analytical strength and comfort with quantitative, data-driven work, including compensation benchmarking, talent data, and evidence-based decision-making.
High emotional intelligence and a direct, grounded, caring, low-ego leadership style, paired with a commitment to a culture of excellence.
Genuine passion for Acumen’s mission and for building an organization capable of delivering on it at greater scale.
Based in the New York City metropolitan area and able and willing to commute regularly to the New York headquarters at least three days per week.
Readiness to travel internationally.
Valid authorization to work in the United States without requiring employment visa sponsorship.

Nice To Haves

Experience in or with geographies in Acumen’s global footprint.
Sector experience in mission-driven organizations, B Corps, financial services, investment organizations, or values-led for-profit companies; sector background is flexible.

Responsibilities

Serve as a strategic thought partner and trusted advisor to the executive team and leaders on organizational effectiveness, growth, people development, culture, and emerging opportunities or challenges.
Support development of an integrated One Acumen talent model that increases visibility, connection, knowledge sharing, and accountability across global offices, funds, and affiliated entities while preserving appropriate regional and fund-level autonomy.
Translate Acumen’s mission, strategy, and evolving organizational model into a proactive, integrated talent agenda with clear priorities and operating rhythms across the employee lifecycle.
Strengthen succession planning, director-level pipelines, internal mobility, promotion paths, and leadership development; help leaders identify critical roles, emerging talent, and capability gaps.
Advance performance management and feedback practices so expectations are clear, high performance is recognized, underperformance is addressed, and leaders can conduct direct, constructive conversations.
Oversee compensation benchmarking and develop useful talent data and insights to support informed, equitable, and responsible decisions.
Ensure recruiting, onboarding, performance, promotion, development, total rewards, exits, and employee relations processes are well designed, consistently executed, and continuously improved.
Partner with local team members and leaders responsible for day-to-day HR administration in individual countries.
Improve HR and talent software systems, performance management models and tools, workflows, and service delivery; responsibly identify opportunities to use artificial intelligence and automation to improve capability and efficiency.
Lead, mentor, and develop a globally distributed people team with four direct reports, building organizational capability and fostering high performance and accountability.