• Chief People Officer

    JHNA (Patuxent River, MD)


    Patuxent River, MD, USA | Full Time

     

    Chief People Officer

    Overview:

    JHNA is seeking a seasoned Chief People Officer (CPO) to join our leadership team. This role is responsible for developing and executing an integrated people strategy that supports JHNA's mission-focused culture, growth objectives, and operational excellence across the DoD contracting environment.

     

    The CPO serves as a strategic advisor to the CEO and executive leadership team, ensuring human capital strategies directly support business growth, contract performance, workforce scalability, and long-term organizational effectiveness.

    Responsibilities:

    Talent Management & Organizational Effectiveness

     

    + Design, implement, and continuously evolve an enterprise-wide performance management framework, including performance review cycles, evaluation criteria, leadership calibration, and feedback mechanisms.

    + Develop and oversee structured bonus and incentive compensation programs aligned to individual performance, company profitability, contract performance, and strategic growth objectives.

    + Partner with executive leadership and Finance to ensure incentive plans are competitive, equitable, fiscally responsible, aligned with contract pricing, margin requirements, and government contracting requirements.

    + Establish formal career pathing, progression frameworks, and competency models across technical, functional, and leadership roles.

    + Lead the development of career tracking and professional development programs that support employee growth, retention, and succession planning.

    + Create scalable leadership development and mentoring programs to strengthen management capability and future executive readiness.

    + Drive initiatives that enhance employee engagement, performance accountability, and long-term retention.

    + Provide executive oversight of talent acquisition and workforce planning strategies to ensure the organization can attract, hire, and deploy qualified personnel in support of current contracts, recompetes, and future growth.

    + Partner with Business Development, Operations, and Program Leadership to support proposal staffing models, workforce scalability, and rapid deployment requirements.

     

    Compliance, Governance & Risk

     

    + Work with HR to ensure company policies, programs, and practices comply with federal labor laws, government contracting requirements, security clearance requirements, and internal governance standards.

    + Provide oversight of people-related risk management, workforce compliance, and ethical standards, including risks related to employee relations, workforce security, clearance readiness, and contract staffing continuity.

    + Support audits, due diligence activities, and internal controls related to human capital.

    + Ensure workforce practices align with DoD, federal, and contract-specific requirements related to labor categories, onboarding timelines, and cleared workforce management.

     

    HR Operations & Analytics

     

    + Provide executive oversight of core HR functions, including talent management, compensation and benefits, employee relations, compliance, and HR operations, while maintaining a strategic rather than transactional focus.

    + Ensure HR systems, data analytics, and reporting capabilities support data-driven decision-making, workforce optimization, and leadership visibility into talent risks and opportunities.

    Required Qualifications:

    + Bachelor's degree in Business Management, Human Resources, or related field from an accredited college or university (Master's degree or MBA preferred).

    + 10+ years of progressive experience in workforce planning, human capital strategy, talent management, or management consulting.

    + Experience supporting or operating within federal government, defense, intelligence, or professional services environments.

    + Experience leading workforce strategy during periods of rapid growth, transformation, or organizational change.

    + Strong knowledge of talent deployment models, workforce optimization, and organizational design.

    + Demonstrated experience translating enterprise workforce strategies into operationally executable solutions.

    + Proven ability to partner with senior leaders and influence decision-making at the executive level.

    + Strong analytical skills with experience leveraging workforce data to drive business outcomes.

    + Ability to travel up as required.

    Preferred Qualifications:

    + HR certification, such as SHRM-SCP or SPHR

    + Experience implementing HRIS systems