Chief People Officer Jobs in USA with Visa Sponsorship
Chief People Officer roles attract H-1B visa and O-1A sponsorship from large enterprises and high-growth companies, but the bar is high: you'll need a graduate degree in HR, business, or organizational psychology, plus a track record of leading HR at scale. For detailed occupation requirements, see the O*NET profile.
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Get Access To All JobsChief People Officer - CPO
Administration
| Job ID: CPO
The Stowers Institute for Medical Research is seeking a Chief People Officer (CPO) to serve as a strategic member of the Stowers Institute's executive leadership team. The CPO is responsible for building and sustaining the people, culture, organizational capabilities, and infrastructure required to advance its world-class basic medical research mission.
The CPO partners closely with the CEO/Chairman, scientific and executive leadership, and Board of Directors to create an environment where exceptional scientists, research professionals, and administrative colleagues can thrive. The CPO will help shape a culture grounded in scientific excellence, collaboration, inclusion, accountability, integrity, curiosity, and respect, while ensuring a consistent and engaging employee experience.
The CPO oversees the Institute's comprehensive people strategy, including culture, workforce planning, organizational effectiveness, performance, talent, leadership development, compensation, HR operations and technology, employee relations, immigration and people analytics.
The ideal candidate will be an enterprise-minded, highly credible people leader who combines strategic vision with operational rigor and can translate institutional priorities into organizational capabilities and measurable outcomes within a complex, mission-driven world-class research environment.
Key Responsibilities
1. People Strategy & Strategic Planning
- Serve as a strategic advisor to the CEO/Chairman and executive leadership on people, workforce, organizational, and cultural matters.
- Align the people strategy with the Institute's scientific and institutional priorities.
- Translate strategic direction into workforce, talent, leadership, culture, and organizational priorities.
- Anticipate future workforce needs and provide insights on organizational health, talent opportunities, and people risks.
- Establish meaningful people metrics to inform executive and Board decision-making.
2. Culture & Employee Experience
- Steward and continually strengthen the Institute's culture and employee experience.
- Ensure the employee lifecycle reflects the Institute's mission, values, and commitment to scientific excellence.
- Foster trust, collaboration, inclusion, accountability, and mutual respect.
- Establish effective employee listening mechanisms and translate insights into action.
- Monitor engagement and organizational health and drive continuous improvement.
3. Performance Management & Organizational Effectiveness
- Lead the Institute's performance management philosophy and practices, including goal setting, feedback, coaching, evaluation, recognition, and accountability.
- Promote high performance and continuous improvement appropriate to scientific and research work.
- Partner with leaders on organizational structure, role clarity, decision-making, collaboration, and accountability.
- Strengthen management capabilities and organizational effectiveness across scientific and administrative functions.
4. Talent Strategy, Workforce Planning & Succession
- Lead strategies to attract, develop, engage, and retain exceptional scientific and professional talent.
- Partner with leaders on workforce planning, critical roles, succession, and leadership pipelines.
- Strengthen the Institute's reputation as a destination for outstanding talent.
- Support career development and meaningful pathways for scientists, research staff, technical professionals, and administrative employees.
- Identify and proactively address critical talent and workforce risks.
5. Compensation & Total Rewards
- Provide strategic oversight of compensation, recognition, and total rewards.
- Ensure programs are competitive, equitable, mission-aligned, and responsive to the talent marketplace.
- Regularly assess internal equity and external competitiveness across roles and levels.
- Partner with executive leadership and the Board on executive compensation and related governance.
- Align total rewards with attraction, performance, retention, and institutional priorities.
6. Comprehensive Immigration Services
- Oversee specialized immigration services supporting international scientists, scholars, and staff.
- Develop proactive strategies for visa management and permanent residency sponsorship to support retention of critical scientific talent.
- Serve as an institutional point of contact for relevant federal immigration and labor agencies.
- Provide high-touch onboarding, relocation, tax, housing, Social Security, and family support.
- Ensure rigorous compliance with I-9, E-Verify, Public Access Files, visa tracking, and related requirements.
7. Leadership Support
- Provide strategic direction for leadership and management development.
- Strengthen capabilities in coaching, feedback, communication, team effectiveness, conflict management, and change leadership.
- Serve as a trusted advisor to the CEO/Chairman and executive leadership.
- Support leaders through organizational change while maintaining trust, engagement, and scientific productivity.
8. HR Infrastructure, Operations & Technology
- Lead a high-performing, service-oriented HR function aligned with the needs of a sophisticated research institution.
- Oversee HR policies, processes, systems, governance, and service delivery.
- Ensure HR technology effectively supports recruiting, performance, compensation, talent, learning, engagement, and the employee experience.
- Drive efficiency, consistency, accessibility, compliance, and continuous improvement.
- Develop the HR organization, capabilities, structure, and operating model needed to support the Institute's evolving needs.
9. Cultural Awareness & Belonging
- Foster an environment that values diverse cultural backgrounds, experiences, perspectives, and traditions.
- Promote cultural awareness and understanding across the Institute's global scientific and professional community.
- Ensure individuals feel respected, welcomed, and valued.
- Leverage the Institute's international and multicultural community to strengthen collaboration, learning, innovation, and institutional effectiveness.
10. Employee Relations & Organizational Trust
- Provide strategic oversight of employee relations and workplace practices.
- Equip leaders to address employee concerns, conflicts, conduct matters, and workplace issues fairly and constructively.
- Maintain effective mechanisms for raising concerns and providing candid feedback.
- Balance employee advocacy with institutional values, responsibilities, and operational needs.
11. People Analytics & Continuous Improvement
- Advance the use of people analytics and workforce data in institutional decision-making.
- Monitor key indicators including engagement, retention, turnover, recruiting, compensation, performance, leadership, and workforce capacity.
- Translate insights into actionable recommendations for leadership.
- Regularly assess and improve people programs, policies, and practices as institutional needs evolve.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in human resources, business, organizational development, psychology, or related field; advanced degree preferred.
- Significant progressive experience in senior HR/people leadership, preferably as a CPO, CHRO, or equivalent.
- Demonstrated success developing enterprise people strategies and leading organizational change.
- Deep expertise in compensation, performance management, talent, succession, organizational effectiveness, and employee experience.
- Experience advising CEOs, executive teams, and Boards.
- Strong knowledge of employment law, HR governance, and contemporary people practices.
- Exceptional strategic, interpersonal, communication, influencing, judgment, and relationship-building skills.
Leadership Profile
The successful candidate will bring strategic vision, organizational and business acumen, executive presence, operational discipline, data-driven decision-making, integrity, discretion, and a demonstrated ability to build trust and lead through complexity and change.
To Apply
Submit the requested documents to careers@stowers.org or to Administration Department, Stowers Institute for Medical Research, 1000 E 50th Street, Kansas City, MO 64110.
Chief People Officer - CPO
Administration
| Job ID: CPO
The Stowers Institute for Medical Research is seeking a Chief People Officer (CPO) to serve as a strategic member of the Stowers Institute's executive leadership team. The CPO is responsible for building and sustaining the people, culture, organizational capabilities, and infrastructure required to advance its world-class basic medical research mission.
The CPO partners closely with the CEO/Chairman, scientific and executive leadership, and Board of Directors to create an environment where exceptional scientists, research professionals, and administrative colleagues can thrive. The CPO will help shape a culture grounded in scientific excellence, collaboration, inclusion, accountability, integrity, curiosity, and respect, while ensuring a consistent and engaging employee experience.
The CPO oversees the Institute's comprehensive people strategy, including culture, workforce planning, organizational effectiveness, performance, talent, leadership development, compensation, HR operations and technology, employee relations, immigration and people analytics.
The ideal candidate will be an enterprise-minded, highly credible people leader who combines strategic vision with operational rigor and can translate institutional priorities into organizational capabilities and measurable outcomes within a complex, mission-driven world-class research environment.
Key Responsibilities
1. People Strategy & Strategic Planning
- Serve as a strategic advisor to the CEO/Chairman and executive leadership on people, workforce, organizational, and cultural matters.
- Align the people strategy with the Institute's scientific and institutional priorities.
- Translate strategic direction into workforce, talent, leadership, culture, and organizational priorities.
- Anticipate future workforce needs and provide insights on organizational health, talent opportunities, and people risks.
- Establish meaningful people metrics to inform executive and Board decision-making.
2. Culture & Employee Experience
- Steward and continually strengthen the Institute's culture and employee experience.
- Ensure the employee lifecycle reflects the Institute's mission, values, and commitment to scientific excellence.
- Foster trust, collaboration, inclusion, accountability, and mutual respect.
- Establish effective employee listening mechanisms and translate insights into action.
- Monitor engagement and organizational health and drive continuous improvement.
3. Performance Management & Organizational Effectiveness
- Lead the Institute's performance management philosophy and practices, including goal setting, feedback, coaching, evaluation, recognition, and accountability.
- Promote high performance and continuous improvement appropriate to scientific and research work.
- Partner with leaders on organizational structure, role clarity, decision-making, collaboration, and accountability.
- Strengthen management capabilities and organizational effectiveness across scientific and administrative functions.
4. Talent Strategy, Workforce Planning & Succession
- Lead strategies to attract, develop, engage, and retain exceptional scientific and professional talent.
- Partner with leaders on workforce planning, critical roles, succession, and leadership pipelines.
- Strengthen the Institute's reputation as a destination for outstanding talent.
- Support career development and meaningful pathways for scientists, research staff, technical professionals, and administrative employees.
- Identify and proactively address critical talent and workforce risks.
5. Compensation & Total Rewards
- Provide strategic oversight of compensation, recognition, and total rewards.
- Ensure programs are competitive, equitable, mission-aligned, and responsive to the talent marketplace.
- Regularly assess internal equity and external competitiveness across roles and levels.
- Partner with executive leadership and the Board on executive compensation and related governance.
- Align total rewards with attraction, performance, retention, and institutional priorities.
6. Comprehensive Immigration Services
- Oversee specialized immigration services supporting international scientists, scholars, and staff.
- Develop proactive strategies for visa management and permanent residency sponsorship to support retention of critical scientific talent.
- Serve as an institutional point of contact for relevant federal immigration and labor agencies.
- Provide high-touch onboarding, relocation, tax, housing, Social Security, and family support.
- Ensure rigorous compliance with I-9, E-Verify, Public Access Files, visa tracking, and related requirements.
7. Leadership Support
- Provide strategic direction for leadership and management development.
- Strengthen capabilities in coaching, feedback, communication, team effectiveness, conflict management, and change leadership.
- Serve as a trusted advisor to the CEO/Chairman and executive leadership.
- Support leaders through organizational change while maintaining trust, engagement, and scientific productivity.
8. HR Infrastructure, Operations & Technology
- Lead a high-performing, service-oriented HR function aligned with the needs of a sophisticated research institution.
- Oversee HR policies, processes, systems, governance, and service delivery.
- Ensure HR technology effectively supports recruiting, performance, compensation, talent, learning, engagement, and the employee experience.
- Drive efficiency, consistency, accessibility, compliance, and continuous improvement.
- Develop the HR organization, capabilities, structure, and operating model needed to support the Institute's evolving needs.
9. Cultural Awareness & Belonging
- Foster an environment that values diverse cultural backgrounds, experiences, perspectives, and traditions.
- Promote cultural awareness and understanding across the Institute's global scientific and professional community.
- Ensure individuals feel respected, welcomed, and valued.
- Leverage the Institute's international and multicultural community to strengthen collaboration, learning, innovation, and institutional effectiveness.
10. Employee Relations & Organizational Trust
- Provide strategic oversight of employee relations and workplace practices.
- Equip leaders to address employee concerns, conflicts, conduct matters, and workplace issues fairly and constructively.
- Maintain effective mechanisms for raising concerns and providing candid feedback.
- Balance employee advocacy with institutional values, responsibilities, and operational needs.
11. People Analytics & Continuous Improvement
- Advance the use of people analytics and workforce data in institutional decision-making.
- Monitor key indicators including engagement, retention, turnover, recruiting, compensation, performance, leadership, and workforce capacity.
- Translate insights into actionable recommendations for leadership.
- Regularly assess and improve people programs, policies, and practices as institutional needs evolve.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in human resources, business, organizational development, psychology, or related field; advanced degree preferred.
- Significant progressive experience in senior HR/people leadership, preferably as a CPO, CHRO, or equivalent.
- Demonstrated success developing enterprise people strategies and leading organizational change.
- Deep expertise in compensation, performance management, talent, succession, organizational effectiveness, and employee experience.
- Experience advising CEOs, executive teams, and Boards.
- Strong knowledge of employment law, HR governance, and contemporary people practices.
- Exceptional strategic, interpersonal, communication, influencing, judgment, and relationship-building skills.
Leadership Profile
The successful candidate will bring strategic vision, organizational and business acumen, executive presence, operational discipline, data-driven decision-making, integrity, discretion, and a demonstrated ability to build trust and lead through complexity and change.
To Apply
Submit the requested documents to careers@stowers.org or to Administration Department, Stowers Institute for Medical Research, 1000 E 50th Street, Kansas City, MO 64110.
See all 790+ Chief People Officer Jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new Chief People Officer roles.
Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding Chief People Officer Jobs
Target companies with 500+ employees
HR leadership sponsorship becomes economically viable at larger headcounts. Companies with 500 or more employees have established immigration programs and legal infrastructure to support H-1B filings for senior people operations roles.
Lead with org transformation, not administration
CPO roles that qualify as specialty occupations are defined by strategic workforce design, not HR administration. Frame your experience around restructuring organizations, scaling culture through hypergrowth, or leading M&A people integration to strengthen your petition.
Consider O-1A if your profile is exceptional
Published HR thought leadership, board advisory roles, keynote speaking, or industry recognition can support an O-1A petition. This bypasses the H-1B lottery entirely and is worth evaluating if your career record demonstrates extraordinary achievement.
Align your degree field to the role description
USCIS requires your degree to directly relate to the position. An MBA, MS in Organizational Psychology, or MA in Industrial Relations strengthens the specialty occupation argument. A general bachelor's without a graduate degree can create complications at adjudication.
Expect employer scrutiny on ROI
Many employers assume CPO-level hires must be domestic. Come prepared to explain that the H-1B process for a direct hire takes roughly six months and that premium processing accelerates approval to 15 business days, reducing the perceived risk.
Document your reporting structure clearly
USCIS looks for evidence that the role is complex and non-routine. A CPO reporting directly to the CEO, overseeing multiple HR functions, and managing a team of people managers presents a far stronger specialty occupation case than a standalone HR director title.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a Chief People Officer role qualify for H-1B sponsorship?
Yes, but it requires a well-constructed petition. The employer must demonstrate the role is a specialty occupation requiring at minimum a bachelor's degree in a specific field such as human resources, organizational behavior, or business administration. A CPO overseeing strategic workforce planning, compensation architecture, and organizational design presents a stronger case than a generalist HR role. USCIS has scrutinized senior HR positions before, so employer documentation matters significantly.
What degree is typically required for H-1B sponsorship as a CPO?
Most successful H-1B visa petitions for CPO-level roles cite a master's degree in Human Resources Management, Organizational Psychology, Industrial-Organizational Psychology, or an MBA with an HR concentration. A bachelor's degree alone may leave the specialty occupation argument vulnerable to a Request for Evidence. If your degree is in an unrelated field, substantial graduate-level credentials or professional certifications in HR can help, but won't fully substitute.
Is the O-1A visa a realistic option for a Chief People Officer?
It can be, depending on your professional profile. The O-1A requires evidence of extraordinary ability, which for HR executives often means published research or articles in major outlets, serving as a judge or reviewer for HR industry awards, membership in distinguished professional associations, or critical contributions to organizations with a prominent reputation. If your career includes any of these, an O-1A evaluation with an immigration attorney is worth pursuing before the H-1B lottery.
How common is visa sponsorship for CPO roles, and where should I look?
Sponsorship at the CPO level is less common than for technical roles, but it does happen regularly at enterprise companies, VC-backed startups scaling quickly, and multinationals with established immigration programs. The key is targeting employers who already sponsor at the director and VP level, which signals infrastructure and willingness. Migrate Mate filters specifically for sponsoring employers, making it the most efficient place to identify CPO and senior people leadership opportunities.
What happens if USCIS issues a Request for Evidence on a CPO H-1B petition?
An RFE for a CPO role typically challenges whether the position genuinely requires a degree in a specific specialty. The response should include the job description, internal organizational charts, evidence of the degree requirement in industry job postings for comparable roles, and expert opinion letters from HR academics or practitioners. RFEs are manageable but add two to four months to the timeline, so premium processing on the initial petition is worth considering to accelerate the base decision.
What is the prevailing wage requirement for sponsored Chief People Officer jobs?
U.S. employers sponsoring a visa must pay at least the prevailing wage, which is what workers in the same role, area, and experience level typically earn. The Department of Labor sets this rate to make sure companies aren't hiring foreign workers simply because they'd accept lower pay than a U.S. worker. It varies by job title, location, and experience. You can look up current prevailing wage rates for any occupation and location using the OFLC Wage Search page.