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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As Chief People Officer, you will partner directly with the President and firm leadership to connect people decisions to business performance. In engineering consulting, the expertise, relationships, and capacity of our people determine the work we win, how well we deliver, and how profitably we grow. You will translate that connection into workforce plans, stronger retention, effective leadership, and an employee experience that gives talented people compelling reasons to join and stay.
This role combines executive partnership with hands-on leadership of the HR team. You will shape people priorities within the firm while partnering with regional and Trilon HR leaders and Centers of Excellence in Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, and Talent Management. You will also lead the people side of AI adoption and organizational change, helping employees build the skills and confidence to work differently.
What you will lead:
People Strategy and Business Partnership:
- Advise the President and firm leadership on organization design, culture, succession, and people risk. Build trust, challenge assumptions constructively, and turn decisions into action.
- Translate the business plan, project backlog, and pursuit pipeline into workforce plans that align skills and capacity with utilization, project delivery, and growth.
- Partner with Trilon Talent Acquisition on critical hiring needs, and close capability gaps through development, internal mobility, flexible staffing, and appropriate automation. Build succession plans for leadership, technical, and client-facing roles.
- Align firm priorities with regional and Trilon people programs while tailoring execution to local business needs.
Retention and Employee Engagement:
- Own the firm’s retention strategy, with clear goals and targeted actions to retain critical expertise, high performers, and early-career talent. Protect the client relationships and delivery capacity that depend on these employees.
- Use turnover trends, stay and exit interviews, and employee feedback to understand why people stay or leave. Partner with leaders to address root causes and measure the impact of retention and engagement actions.
- Strengthen the employee value proposition and ensure it is delivered through meaningful work, career opportunities, competitive rewards, flexibility, and day-to-day leadership.
- Equip managers to hold regular career and stay conversations, recognize contributions, and follow through on employee feedback. Hold leaders accountable for engagement and retention commitments.
Leadership and Talent Development:
- Lead performance management and career development, including technical career paths, licensure support, and opportunities for internal mobility within the firm and Trilon.
- Build leadership and project manager capability in coaching, feedback, accountability, and leading through change.
- Equip managers to address performance issues and support employee growth. Develop successors for critical roles.
HR Operations and Total Rewards:
- Build, lead, and develop an effective HR team with clear priorities, accountability, and a strong service mindset.
- Oversee reliable HR operations, employee relations, policies, and compliance in partnership with Trilon HR and Legal.
- Lead people planning and integration for acquisitions, including leadership alignment, cultural integration, employee communication, and retention of critical talent.
- Partner with Trilon Total Rewards on competitive, equitable compensation, incentives, and benefits that support attraction, retention, and firm performance within Trilon frameworks.
- Use people analytics to identify risks, recommend action, and assess results. Connect turnover, hiring, engagement, workforce capacity, and rewards spending to business performance.
AI Adoption and Change Leadership:
- Apply HR technology and AI where they improve recruiting, onboarding, employee service, analytics, or HR productivity.
- Partner with technology and operational leaders to assess how AI changes roles, skills, and workflows; guide workforce planning, learning, and adoption.
- Lead people-focused change management and internal communications, with Marketing support. Help employees understand the firm’s direction and changes affecting their work, and create two-way channels for questions and feedback.
- Partner with technology, Legal, and Trilon HR on responsible AI use, privacy, fairness, and employee trust.
What you bring:
Qualifications and Experience:
- 10+ years of progressive HR leadership, with experience leading a people function or serving as the senior HR partner to a business leader. High-impact leaders ready for a broader remit will be considered.
- Demonstrated success improving retention and employee engagement, with measurable results and clear examples of personal ownership and business impact. Experience translating workforce planning or leadership development into stronger organizational performance.
- Strong business and analytical judgment, including the ability to connect workforce decisions to revenue growth, project delivery, utilization, and profitability.
- Experience supporting a complex workforce across multiple locations, entities, or a matrixed organization is highly relevant.
- High emotional intelligence and the credibility to influence senior, operational, and technical leaders. Able to challenge constructively, navigate resistance, and hold people accountable while maintaining strong relationships.
- Broad HR expertise across employee relations, organizational development, talent management, compensation, and US employment practices, with sound judgment on when to engage specialist partners.
- Demonstrated success leading organizational change and improving HR processes and technology. Able to guide the workforce implications of AI adoption in partnership with technical experts.
- Preferred experience includes engineering consulting, AEC, or another professional services business with a technical workforce; growth through acquisitions or a private equity-backed environment is also valuable.
DRMP Offers
- Excellent compensation package
- Outstanding holiday and paid-time-off programs
- 401(k) Plan and Match
- Career Path Development Program (Management & Technical Career Tracks)
- Mentorship Program
- Tuition Reimbursement
- Parental Leave
- Competitive health and dental insurance premiums
- Variety of voluntary benefit options
- Short-Term Disability/Long-Term Disability
- Company-furnished life insurance
- Employee Assistant Program (EAP)
- Flexible Spending Account
- and More
DRMP is a Drug and Alcohol Free workplace, an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and E-Verify employer.
Pay Transparency
The base salary range for this role is indicated in the posting. This range reflects the company’s good faith estimate of the compensation for this position at the time of posting. Final compensation will be determined based on factors such as experience, skills, qualifications, internal equity, and geographic location.
About DRMP
Transforming communities and strengthening connectivity across the Southeast since 1977, DRMP is an award-winning multidiscipline firm that delivers infrastructure solutions to meet the needs of our public, private, and industrial clients. We're 700+ employees strong and growing, with 23 strategically located offices. With expertise in six core markets – alternative delivery, construction services, federal, surveying and mapping/geospatial, and transportation – we’re ranked among Engineering News-Record’s “Top 500 Design Firms” and have earned both local and national recognition for project excellence.
That growth and recognition wouldn’t be possible without the people behind it. At DRMP, employees are supported, challenged, and valued through professional development, career advancement opportunities, and work that contributes to the communities we serve. When you join DRMP, you’re not just building a career – you are making a difference and helping shape what’s next.
Description
As Chief People Officer, you will partner directly with the President and firm leadership to connect people decisions to business performance. In engineering consulting, the expertise, relationships, and capacity of our people determine the work we win, how well we deliver, and how profitably we grow. You will translate that connection into workforce plans, stronger retention, effective leadership, and an employee experience that gives talented people compelling reasons to join and stay.
This role combines executive partnership with hands-on leadership of the HR team. You will shape people priorities within the firm while partnering with regional and Trilon HR leaders and Centers of Excellence in Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, and Talent Management. You will also lead the people side of AI adoption and organizational change, helping employees build the skills and confidence to work differently.
What you will lead:
People Strategy and Business Partnership:
- Advise the President and firm leadership on organization design, culture, succession, and people risk. Build trust, challenge assumptions constructively, and turn decisions into action.
- Translate the business plan, project backlog, and pursuit pipeline into workforce plans that align skills and capacity with utilization, project delivery, and growth.
- Partner with Trilon Talent Acquisition on critical hiring needs, and close capability gaps through development, internal mobility, flexible staffing, and appropriate automation. Build succession plans for leadership, technical, and client-facing roles.
- Align firm priorities with regional and Trilon people programs while tailoring execution to local business needs.
Retention and Employee Engagement:
- Own the firm’s retention strategy, with clear goals and targeted actions to retain critical expertise, high performers, and early-career talent. Protect the client relationships and delivery capacity that depend on these employees.
- Use turnover trends, stay and exit interviews, and employee feedback to understand why people stay or leave. Partner with leaders to address root causes and measure the impact of retention and engagement actions.
- Strengthen the employee value proposition and ensure it is delivered through meaningful work, career opportunities, competitive rewards, flexibility, and day-to-day leadership.
- Equip managers to hold regular career and stay conversations, recognize contributions, and follow through on employee feedback. Hold leaders accountable for engagement and retention commitments.
Leadership and Talent Development:
- Lead performance management and career development, including technical career paths, licensure support, and opportunities for internal mobility within the firm and Trilon.
- Build leadership and project manager capability in coaching, feedback, accountability, and leading through change.
- Equip managers to address performance issues and support employee growth. Develop successors for critical roles.
HR Operations and Total Rewards:
- Build, lead, and develop an effective HR team with clear priorities, accountability, and a strong service mindset.
- Oversee reliable HR operations, employee relations, policies, and compliance in partnership with Trilon HR and Legal.
- Lead people planning and integration for acquisitions, including leadership alignment, cultural integration, employee communication, and retention of critical talent.
- Partner with Trilon Total Rewards on competitive, equitable compensation, incentives, and benefits that support attraction, retention, and firm performance within Trilon frameworks.
- Use people analytics to identify risks, recommend action, and assess results. Connect turnover, hiring, engagement, workforce capacity, and rewards spending to business performance.
AI Adoption and Change Leadership:
- Apply HR technology and AI where they improve recruiting, onboarding, employee service, analytics, or HR productivity.
- Partner with technology and operational leaders to assess how AI changes roles, skills, and workflows; guide workforce planning, learning, and adoption.
- Lead people-focused change management and internal communications, with Marketing support. Help employees understand the firm’s direction and changes affecting their work, and create two-way channels for questions and feedback.
- Partner with technology, Legal, and Trilon HR on responsible AI use, privacy, fairness, and employee trust.
What you bring:
Qualifications and Experience:
- 10+ years of progressive HR leadership, with experience leading a people function or serving as the senior HR partner to a business leader. High-impact leaders ready for a broader remit will be considered.
- Demonstrated success improving retention and employee engagement, with measurable results and clear examples of personal ownership and business impact. Experience translating workforce planning or leadership development into stronger organizational performance.
- Strong business and analytical judgment, including the ability to connect workforce decisions to revenue growth, project delivery, utilization, and profitability.
- Experience supporting a complex workforce across multiple locations, entities, or a matrixed organization is highly relevant.
- High emotional intelligence and the credibility to influence senior, operational, and technical leaders. Able to challenge constructively, navigate resistance, and hold people accountable while maintaining strong relationships.
- Broad HR expertise across employee relations, organizational development, talent management, compensation, and US employment practices, with sound judgment on when to engage specialist partners.
- Demonstrated success leading organizational change and improving HR processes and technology. Able to guide the workforce implications of AI adoption in partnership with technical experts.
- Preferred experience includes engineering consulting, AEC, or another professional services business with a technical workforce; growth through acquisitions or a private equity-backed environment is also valuable.
DRMP Offers
- Excellent compensation package
- Outstanding holiday and paid-time-off programs
- 401(k) Plan and Match
- Career Path Development Program (Management & Technical Career Tracks)
- Mentorship Program
- Tuition Reimbursement
- Parental Leave
- Competitive health and dental insurance premiums
- Variety of voluntary benefit options
- Short-Term Disability/Long-Term Disability
- Company-furnished life insurance
- Employee Assistant Program (EAP)
- Flexible Spending Account
- and More
DRMP is a Drug and Alcohol Free workplace, an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and E-Verify employer.
Pay Transparency
The base salary range for this role is indicated in the posting. This range reflects the company’s good faith estimate of the compensation for this position at the time of posting. Final compensation will be determined based on factors such as experience, skills, qualifications, internal equity, and geographic location.
About DRMP
Transforming communities and strengthening connectivity across the Southeast since 1977, DRMP is an award-winning multidiscipline firm that delivers infrastructure solutions to meet the needs of our public, private, and industrial clients. We're 700+ employees strong and growing, with 23 strategically located offices. With expertise in six core markets – alternative delivery, construction services, federal, surveying and mapping/geospatial, and transportation – we’re ranked among Engineering News-Record’s “Top 500 Design Firms” and have earned both local and national recognition for project excellence.
That growth and recognition wouldn’t be possible without the people behind it. At DRMP, employees are supported, challenged, and valued through professional development, career advancement opportunities, and work that contributes to the communities we serve. When you join DRMP, you’re not just building a career – you are making a difference and helping shape what’s next.
See all 697+ 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.