Head of People

Centre for Research in Schemes and Policies (CRISP); New York (NY); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Centre for Research in Schemes and Policies (CRISP) is seeking a strategic Head of People to shape our growing national law firm’s people function. You will design programs across onboarding, development, performance, and compensation while driving culture and organizational effectiveness.

The role demands five+ years leading people functions in fast growth, with strong NY employment knowledge, SHRM-style practices, and a tech-forward approach to automation and AI in HR.

Qualifications

• Five+ years of people leadership in a high-growth, entrepreneurial setting.
• Strategic ability to develop and refine people strategies aligned with business goals.
• Strong leadership, executive presence, and ability to influence senior leaders.
• Experience with NY and federal employment practices and SHRM standards.

Responsibilities

• Develop and own the strategic people roadmap and culture.
• Design scalable onboarding programs and ensure a consistent employee experience.
• Build performance management systems with clear metrics and accountability.
• Create career development programs and coach leaders to grow talent.
• Oversee compensation design and merit-based progression.
• Lead HR systems, automation, and AI-enabled processes.

Skills

People leadership

Strategic mindset

Change management

Communication

Executive presence

HR compliance

HRIS

AI in HR

Tools

HRIS platforms

Automation tools

Job description

Are you a strategic thinker who thrives in shaping workplace culture and fostering employee success?

Do you love building systems that show how people are performing - and coaching them to get better?

Are you ready to build and lead the People function at a fast-growing national law firm?

Can you navigate complex employee dynamics with confidence and empathy?

Final question: When faced with a challenge, do you get excited or run away?

We are a sophisticated, nationally recognized plaintiffs’ law firm that has been around for decades. We have grown to a team of two hundred people fighting for the rights of our clients. Our powerhouse team of attorneys combines deep expertise with innovative litigation strategies to tackle some of the largest and most complex cases in the country.

We are relentless in pursuing excellence, taking on high-impact litigation that holds corporations accountable while delivering meaningful results for the clients and communities we serve.

We are just as ambitious about our people as we are about our cases. As our firm continues to grow, we are looking for a strategic Head of People to help shape the future of our organization.

This is more than a traditional HR leadership role. You’ll build and lead a high-performing, values-driven People function - and at its core, this role is about performance: seeing clearly how our people and teams are performing, coaching them to do their best work, and continually finding ways to get more out of the organization as we grow. From onboarding and talent development to performance management and organizational effectiveness, you’ll help us attract, develop, and retain exceptional talent while driving productivity.

What you’ll do:

• People Strategy: Develop and own the strategic people roadmap that supports business growth, strengthens culture, and drives long-term organizational success.
• Onboarding and Integration: Design scalable, role-specific onboarding programs that equip new hires for success, accelerate integration, and create a consistent employee experience from day one.
• Performance Management: Work with the tech team to build the systems that make performance visible - clear metrics, tracking, and reporting that show who is performing and who is not across every team - and analyze that intelligence with firm leadership. Operating with the rigor of a project manager, you’ll track output against goals, diagnose where productivity is being lost as we grow, and partner with management to close those gaps. You’ll design performance processes that foster accountability, continuous feedback, and professional growth.
• Employee Development and Coaching: Create meaningful career development programs that help employees maximize their potential, and personally coach employees and leaders to raise their performance. Just as important, build the firm’s coaching capability - equipping managers to develop and coach their own people - while growing a strong leadership pipeline for the firm’s future.
• Compensation Strategy: Design structured, merit-based frameworks for raises, bonuses, promotions, and career progression that recognize performance and support long-term employee growth.
• Culture and Organizational Development: Shape a high-performing, values-driven culture and design the organization to sustain it - owning org-chart and role planning as we scale, spotting inefficiencies and structural friction early, and building the environment and platform where people can perform at their best. You’ll strengthen communication, address organizational challenges, and create a workplace where employees can thrive.
• HR Systems and Automation: Evaluate, implement, and optimize the HR systems and People Operations processes that improve efficiency and inform decision-making, championing an AI-forward approach and building automations where they help. Work hand in hand with our tech-forward team to make the firm faster and smarter.

What we’re looking for:

• Experience and Expertise: Brings at least five years of people leadership experience in a high-growth, entrepreneurial environment, with a proven ability to build scalable programs and lead through change.
• Strategic Acumen: Proven ability to develop, implement, and continuously refine people strategies that align with business objectives and strengthen organizational culture. Comes to the table with ideas and launches initiatives proactively rather than waiting to be told what to do.
• Leadership Skills: Demonstrates strong leadership, executive presence, excellent judgment, and the ability to influence department leaders while building and shaping the firm’s People function.
• Communication Proficiency: Communicates effectively in both written and verbal settings, with demonstrated success in coaching leaders, navigating difficult conversations, and fostering trust and alignment across the organization.
• Trusted Executive Partner: Operates at a true senior-executive level - low-ego and easy to work with, the kind of leader the CEO can hand a problem to and trust it will be handled with judgment, discretion, follow-through, and the reporting discipline a high-growth firm demands, earning the respect of peers, attorneys, and staff at every level.
• HR and Compliance Knowledge: Has a strong understanding of New York and federal employment practices, balancing compliance with a progressive, performance-driven approach to People Operations.
• HR Craft and Fluency: Lives and breathes HR, deeply versed in current best practices, SHRM standards, and the leading literature on teams, culture, and organizational health, with the instincts to do and say the right thing in any people situation.
• Technological Literacy: Demonstrated ability to leverage, evaluate, and implement HRIS, employee engagement, and People Operations technology to support scalable people programs.
• Systems and Performance Builder: Thinks like a project manager and a coach - designs and implements the systems that track who is performing and why, coaches people and their managers to improve, uses AI to make the team more efficient, and gives leadership a clear, honest picture of productivity. Treats getting the best out of people as the central measure of success.

Why you should work here:

• Visionary Role: Build and shape the firm’s People function - with genuine autonomy to identify opportunities, challenge the status quo, and create the strategies, systems, and culture that will drive the firm’s growth for years to come.
• Executive Partnership: This role offers a true seat at the leadership table, partnering closely with the firm’s Founder and executive leaders to shape strategic decisions and strengthen the organization.
• Tech-Forward Environment: Join a firm that genuinely embraces AI and automation. You’ll have the tools, budget, and tech-savvy colleagues to build a truly modern People function.
• Performance Bonuses: Eligibility for discretionary bonuses based on individual and firm performance.

Join us as the Head of People and become a key player in driving organizational excellence and a high-performing culture. If you are a proactive leader ready to make a significant impact, we invite you to apply and help us continue our legacy of client empowerment and innovative legal representation.