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 JHNA is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, age, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other protected characteristic.