Chief Human Resources Officer

JK Executive Strategies, LLC; Buffalo (NY); On-site; USD 265,000 - 325,000; Full time

Job summary

JK Executive Strategies, LLC, partnering with an established food and beverage manufacturing organization, seeks a Chief Human Resources Officer to lead the HR function at the executive level. The CHRO will translate business strategy and farmer-owned values into stronger leadership, culture, talent, accountability, and performance across sites.

Reporting to the CEO, the CHRO will advise the Board and leadership team, develop capable leaders, modernize HR technology, and oversee policies,

Qualifications

• 15+ years of progressive HR leadership in a large multi-site organization.
• Experience in manufacturing/union environments preferred.
• Strong ability to influence at CEO/Board level and drive culture change.
• Proven succession planning, talent assessment, and leadership development.
• Solid knowledge of employment law, policy development, and HR governance.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a multi-year human capital strategy aligned with business goals.
• Advise executive leadership on organizational health, workforce risk, and culture.
• Build high-performance culture through clear expectations and accountability.
• Coach executives and HR leaders; implement onboarding and leadership development programs.
• Strengthen workforce planning, recruiting, and promotion decisions across locations.
• Lead talent reviews, succession planning, and internal leadership pipelines.
• Establish consistent HR policies, governance, and service standards across sites.
• Modernize HR tech, analytics, and service delivery; manage payroll, benefits, and compliance.
• Set labor relations strategy and maintain credible relationships with unions.

Skills

Strategic HR leadership

Talent development

Labor relations

Succession planning

Executive communication

Data analytics

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources or related field

Advanced degree preferred (MBA/HR)

Tools

HRIS

Payroll systems

Job description

JK Executive Strategies, LLC is proud to partner with an established food and beverage manufacturing organization in search of a Chief Human Resources Officer to join its executive leadership team.

Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, the CHRO will serve as a trusted adviser to the CEO, Board, and executive leadership team, translating business strategy and farmer-owned values into stronger leadership, culture, talent, accountability, and performance across a complex, multi-site organization.

This CHRO will lead the enterprise HR function, combining strategic judgment with frontline credibility. The CHRO will develop capable leaders, establish clear policies and operating standards, and build an HR team that executes independently while escalating high-risk, confidential, and executive matters appropriately.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a multi-year human capital strategy aligned with business, operational, growth, and financial objectives; translate priorities into SMART goals, ownership, milestones, scorecards, and operating reviews.
• Advise the CEO, Board, and leadership team on organizational health, workforce risk, executive talent, succession, compensation, culture, and organizational design.
• Build a high-performance culture through clear expectations, candid feedback, consistent accountability, recognition, and timely action on ineffective leadership and persistent underperformance.
• Coach executives, HR leaders, plant leaders, and emerging talent; develop practical onboarding, mentoring, leadership development, and frontline supervisor programs tied to measurable outcomes.
• Strengthen workforce planning, talent assessment, recruiting, hiring, and promotion decisions across hourly, skilled-trades, professional, plant leadership, and executive roles.
• Lead talent reviews and succession planning, including emergency and long-term successors, readiness, development actions, retention risks, and internal talent pipelines.
• Establish consistent employment policies, decision rights, governance, service standards, workflows, controls, audits, and follow-through across locations; hold HR leaders accountable for execution.
• Modernize HR technology, data, analytics, automation, and service delivery; oversee recruiting, employee relations, investigations, performance, development, payroll/HRIS interfaces, benefits, and compliance.
• Set labor relations and collective bargaining strategy, ensure consistent contract administration, and maintain credible relationships with unions and operational leaders.
• Ensure employment, labor, benefits, affirmative action, EEO, privacy, and recordkeeping compliance; oversee fair, documented investigations and partner with Legal, Finance, Operations, Safety, and Quality to mitigate risk.
• Govern competitive, financially responsible compensation, incentives, benefits, recognition, and wellness programs; support Board compensation and succession responsibilities and serve on the retirement committee.
• Maintain visible plant engagement, represent the organization professionally, and use people analytics, financial insight, benchmarks, and employee feedback to improve engagement, retention, hiring, leadership quality, labor outcomes, and HR service delivery.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Organizational Leadership, or a related field; advanced degree strongly preferred.
• 15+ years of progressive HR leadership experience, including enterprise responsibility in an organization of 1,000 or more employees.
• Substantial leadership experience in multi-site manufacturing, food, agriculture, consumer products, distribution, or a comparably operational environment; unionized experience strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated success improving culture, leadership quality, accountability, and sustained organizational performance with measurable results.
• Expertise in succession planning, talent assessment, leadership development, organizational design, performance management, labor relations, and total rewards.
• Strong command of employment law, collective bargaining, investigations, HR governance, and policy development and administration.
• Business and financial acumen to interpret operating results, evaluate tradeoffs, build business cases, and connect people investments to enterprise value.
• Executive presence and communication skills to influence the Board, CEO, senior leaders, plant management, union leaders, and frontline employees.
• Authenticity, confidentiality, independent judgment, courage, operational discipline, and follow-through; ability to assess talent, develop effective teams, empower leaders, and build trust.
• Willingness to travel regularly among company locations, engage visibly in manufacturing operations, and be available outside normal business hours for urgent employee, labor, safety, operational, or crisis matters.

Salary Range

• $265,000–$325,000 annually, plus variable compensation.

JK Executive Strategies is an Equal Opportunity Employer. It is the policy of JK Executive Strategies to provide equal opportunity in employment and conditions of employment to all individuals regardless of age, race, color, religious beliefs, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, veteran or military status, disability, pregnancy-related condition, predisposing genetic characteristics, genetic information, marital status, familial status, prior arrest, domestic violence victim status, non-job related convictions, participation in lawful activities outside of our workplace, or any other status protected by law.