Chief Talent Officer

Reports to the Chief Executive Officer. Priority application deadline: January 3, 2022

About EdLoC

EdLoC’s mission is to ensure young people of color have the supports needed to thrive, capitalize on opportunities, and build generational wealth.

We do so by ensuring that young people of color from low-income communities have access to wealth-building opportunities that enable them to break the cycle that impedes their and their families’ economic prosperity over time. According to researchers from UC Davis’s Center for Poverty and Inequality, “One-third to one-half of children who are poor for a substantial part of their childhood will be poor as adults,” making intergenerational mobility in the United States lower than in any other developed nation in the world. EdLoC aspires to a day when living in poverty does not determine the fate of your family, generation after generation.

EdLoC’s belief is that by building a network of values-aligned leaders of color and forging a third way, we can pursue the most innovative, effective, life-altering, and rapid solutions to positively impact young people of color’s access to social capital. Capital that will eventually allow them to build legacy, or intergenerational, wealth.

About the Role

EdLoC is looking for a Chief Talent Officer (CTO) to be responsible for EdLoC’s full talent function, including acting as a champion of our organization’s culture. Internally, the CTO will drive key Human Resources best practices and initiatives, elevate employee satisfaction and engagement, and provide strategic direction and expertise for the full scope of the HR function. Externally, the CTO will act as an advisor and partner to EdLoC’s membership with regards to leadership, coaching, engagement, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts, organizational design, change management, and learning and development. More importantly, the CTO’s goal will be to increase the placement of leaders of color in senior-level positions that will significantly impact wealth-building opportunities for young people of color from low-income communities.

The ideal candidate is a seasoned executive with a robust track record of success in developing talent pipelines, mentoring and advancing the careers of leaders of color, and working with organizations to eliminate barriers that prevent a diverse workforce from thriving.EdLoC’s CTO will be committed to building relationships with stakeholders across sectors, particularly those in the social justice, economic prosperity, and racial equality space to open opportunities for members of the EdLoC network. The CTO will serve as a power broker of sorts, helping EdLoC members break through the barriers that typically prevent leaders of color from having access to high-level employment opportunities.

Specifically, the CTO will contribute to the advancement of EdLoC’s values and thought leadership through four key functions: 1) Building EdLoC’s People Infrastructure, 2) Coaching, Mentoring and Professional Development, 3) Establishing a Network of Talent Advocates, 4) Contributing to Organizational Leadership.

Building EdLoC’s People Infrastructure (30%)

• Establish protocols and procedures for important milestones throughout the employment cycle.
• Lead performance management development and implementation.
• Resolve personnel issues by partnering with EdLoC’s legal counsel, the CEO, and managers as appropriate.
• Serve as the steward of culture and values for EdLoC’s headquarters team and the membership at large.
• Evaluate compensation and benefits to remain competitive and attract high-quality talent into the EdLoC ranks.

Coaching, Mentoring and Professional Development (30%)

• Build capacity among EdLoC’s membership to better position them for senior-level employment opportunities through the development of a skills-based training and development program.
• Identify senior-level employment opportunities across sectors where leaders can have a significant impact on building wealth for people of color from low-income communities and promote them among EdLoC’s membership in a general and targeted way.
• Serve as coach and mentor, or identify someone that can serve in that capacity, for leaders of color seeking high-impact, senior-level employment.
• Collaborate with values-aligned, like-minded organizations to increase the transparency of career pathways and high-level vacancies across sectors.

Establishing a Network of Talent Advocates (30%)

• Work with headhunters and talent acquisition organizations to surface transformative, high-level employment opportunities for EdLoC members.
• Create a network of influential talent advocates that can steward the candidacy of leaders of color seeking senior-level opportunities.
• Build a dynamic database of EdLoC member profiles, areas of expertise, and career aspirations to facilitate the sharing of information and the better positioning of leaders of color.
• Facilitate the relationship building of leaders of color and industry leaders to increase talent visibility and independent career mentorship.

Contributing to Organizational Leadership (10%)

• Collaborate with the executive team to establish org-wide strategic plans, goals, and impact metrics.
• Guide goal-setting processes for EdLoC through peer coaching and sharing of best practices.
• Work with the Chief of Staff to create, maintain, and oversee systems and processes to ensure effective management of the daily operations of program staff and an organizational structure that supports the organization’s goals.
• Supervise, coach, and collaborate with program staff to ensure programmatic and team success, as well as to support the team’s ongoing professional development and growth.
• Develop and implement strategies that will maximize the synergies among Network team areas.
• Lead annual planning and manage budgets for Talent programs and projects.

Qualifications & Attributes

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Human Resources, Communications, or related field. Master’s degree strongly preferred.
• 10 -15 years of senior-level experience across nonprofit, education, philanthropy, or grassroots organizations, overseeing HR, talent acquisition, professional development, and/or employee benefits.
• Track record of success in developing and executing a talent acquisition strategy, building career pipelines, and elevating leaders of color into senior-level roles.
• Experience working with a variety of external players.
• Excellent problem solver and critical thinker, who can synthesize information, ask insightful questions, think on your feet, and spot trends quickly.
• Strategic and creative visionary who can take a nebulous idea, translate it into a program design, and lead a team to turn it into reality.
• Creative thinker, joyful collaborator, self-starter and detail-oriented communicator with a positive approach, can-do attitude and a sense of humor.
• Experience with complex program management. From designing new initiatives to overseeing a spectrum of programs, the CTO will effectively manage projects with a variety of stakeholders, allocate resources across numerous disciplines, and calmly juggle competing priorities.
• Comfortable discussing topics in a variety of policy areas, including wealth building, social justice, and racial equity.
• Experience developing multi-sector partnerships that shift political power either through social justice grantmaking, brokering or allocating talent development funding streams, social impact investment on capacity building and training
• Committed to working with diverse communities and to finding shared goals amongst varying experiences and perspectives.
• Ability to identify and implement solutions independently in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment, and a track record of taking responsibility when faced with challenges.
• Willingness and ability to exceed the “typical” job expectations on specific occasions (i.e., work late hours and/or weekends when project deadlines, events, or travel require it).
• Capable of mobilizing partnerships across the political spectrum to advance EdLoC’s agenda.
• Bilingual (English/Spanish) a plus.

The CTO is a full-time remote position. Fully functioning home office required. Travel expected 20% of the time.

Salary and Benefits

• Salary for this role falls between $160,000 and $200,000, commensurate with relevant experience and qualifications.
• Monthly stipends to support remote engagement.
• Competitive health care benefits, including vision and dental.
• Immediate 401K match of 50% up to 10% of salary.
• Company-paid life insurance.
• Flexible time off with a minimum of three weeks of vacation, plus all federal holidays (11 days).