Chief Talent Officer

Chief Talent Officer

Description

The School District of Philadelphia is committed to becoming the fastest improving District in the country and transforming the educational opportunities it offers to our city's more than 200,000 students. The District seeks leaders who have a passion for working with schools and communities who are committed to ensuring all students achieve. Serving a population as diverse as ours requires creativity.

Job Summary

The Chief Talent Officer drives the effort to staff 100% of schools with exceptional principals, teachers and school-based support staff to ensure all students have access to a high-quality education. The Chief Talent Officer is responsible for setting the vision and direction for The School District of Philadelphia's approach to recruiting, selecting, deploying, developing and retaining high-quality talent for all positions across the organization. The Chief Talent Officer oversees the development and implementation of the District's strategic human resources plan, priorities and benchmarks with the goal of improving school performance by focusing primarily on teacher and principal effectiveness. Additionally, the Chief Talent Officer leads the strategy and day-to-day operations of the Office of Talent with a keen focus on providing superior service to schools and central offices on all matters related to talent

The preferred candidate will have executive-level HR leadership in a large, urban school district and will have a demonstrated history of positive collaboration with union leadership. The candidate should also possess substantial, hands-on expertise across core HR functions such as recruitment, onboarding, employee relations, and compensation. Familiarity and connection to the Philadelphia area/region would be an asset.

Essential Functions

• Develops, communicates and implements the Office of Talent vision, direction, priorities, goals and objectives, ensuring alignment with the Goals and Guardrails of the School District over the next five years.
• Oversees and directs all administrative and mission support functions within the Office of Talent.
• Develops and executes a comprehensive human resources strategy to recruit, select, deploy, develop and retain highly effective staff with a primary focus on executive-level staff, Assistant Superintendents, Principals and Teachers.
• Identifies and resolves complex problems, which have a strategic impact on the District's Goals and Guardrails, as related to talent and human resources.
• Leads the implementation of a valid and reliable performance management system for all school-based staff, and partners with the Deputy Superintendent of Operations and the Executive Director, Employee Effectiveness and Evaluationon the development of and implementation of a performance management system for all central-office based staff.
• Designs and implements a strategic plan to ensure the District hires and retains high-quality teachers and principals (e.g. strategic compensation, career ladders).
• Supports the organization's labor strategy.
• Aligns resources to support the professional learning and development needs across the District.
• Collaborates and partners with the Office of Academic Services and Assistant Superintendents to effectively support the development and evaluation of principals and teachers.
• Ensures the Office of Talent provides superior support to employees with an emphasis on creating systems and processes that best address the needs of employees (e.g. self-service).
• Ensures that the Office of Talent is viewed as a valued partner to the leadership of the District.
• Cultivates and maintains partnerships and alliances with external partners.
• Directs through the Talent Leadership Team, the functional areas of Employee Relations, Employee Support Services, Recruitment and Selection, Talent Management, Employee Effectiveness and Evaluation, and Talent Operations.
• Encourages and promotes collaboration across all functional areas as well as with other internal and external partners.
• Ensures that the Office of Talent teams work in an effective manner and that all necessary resources are available and accessible.
• Interfaces closely with executive management to coordinate and execute strategic plans; conducts presentations to management and staff; develops and disseminates information related to the impact of short- and long-range strategic plans.
• Ensures that best practices related to the Office of Talent structure, systems and service delivery are implemented.
• Keeps abreast of and ensures that all the Office of Talent activities and programs are in compliance with legal and contractual requirements.
• Oversees and manages all divisional fiscal resources.

Qualifications

Minimum Requirements

• Master's degree from an accredited college or university in human resources, public administration, business administration or related areas.
• Ten years of full-time, paid, professional operational management in a large, complex organization, five of which have been in human resources in an administrative capacity and have included overseeing professional and support staff and strategic and organization planning.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Demonstrated knowledge of:

• principles and theories of human resources administration and management.
• administrative and business management principles and practices.
• principles and techniques of organizational planning, development and analysis.
• various functions commonly found in a human resources organization including recruitment and selection, staffing, employee/labor relations and onboarding.
• budgeting and associated record keeping.
• supervisory methods and techniques.

Demonstrated ability to:

• oversee operational initiatives and process-improvement programs.
• exercise sound judgment and discretion.
• lead and implement strategic initiatives.
• respond to sensitive issues with diplomacy.
• work on multiple projects simultaneously, as evidenced by an ability to balance and prioritize multiple competing priorities.
• understand, interpret and analyze a variety of data sources.
• critically analyze problems and make sound decisions or recommendations to remedy problems.
• identify and breakdown complex problems and develop strategies to address the identified issues.
• build and maintain strong, effective working relationships across all levels of an organization.
• adapt to different situations, particularly when new information is provided.
• communicate clearly, concisely, and persuasively, both orally and in writing, with a wide variety of audiences.
• use MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint; have familiarity with the Google suite of products; and use technology to enhance efficiency and accuracy.

Disclaimer

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this classification. They are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of personnel so classified.

Nondiscrimination

The School District of Philadelphia provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, age, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, ancestry, national origin, disability, pregnancy, marital status, gender identity, or genetic information. Please refer to Board Policy 348 for further information regarding the District's commitment to Nondiscrimination in Employment Practices.

Primary Location: Talent Operations (940F)

Job: Central Office

Organization: The School District of Philadelphia

Regular

Employee Status: Senior Executive

Job Posting: Nov 13, 2025, 9:46:42 PM

Union Affiliation: Not represented by a union

Overtime Status: Exempt

Unposting Date: Jan 12, 2026, 10:59:00 PM