Back to jobs
New

Chief People Officer (hybrid)

Boston, MA

Chief People Officer (Operator CPO – Hands-On Builder) 

Hybrid | Boston, MA 

At Wellist, we’re helping employers deliver the right resources at the right time—so employees can feel supported through every life moment, and HR leaders can maximize the value of their investments. 

As our Chief People Officer, you’ll play a mission-critical role in building the people foundation that enables Wellist’s next phase of growth. This is a hands-on operator role, responsible for personally designing and executing talent, performance, and organizational strategies as we scale to serve large employers and support more than 1 million people over the next three years. 

You’ll work closely with the CEO and Operating Committee, ensuring Wellist consistently has the right people in the right roles—leaders who can operate with clarity, accountability, and speed in a high-growth environment. 

We’re looking for a pragmatic, execution-oriented CPO who loves building from the ground up, thrives in resource-lean environments, and is excited to personally own the work—not just oversee it. 

What You’ll Own 

Talent Acquisition & Operating Committee Build-Out (Top 2026 Priority) 

  • Personally design and execute Wellist’s talent acquisition strategy, with a strong emphasis on building and strengthening the Operating Committee and management layer. 
  • Partner directly with the CEO and Operating Committee members on all critical senior and management-level hires—from role definition through final offer. 
  • Personally support or lead direct candidate sourcing for priority roles. ● Deliver a high-velocity hiring process, with: 

○ ~2-week interview cycles 

○ Roles filled within ~60 days 

  • Establish and maintain rigorous hiring standards focused on capability, values alignment, and long-term leadership potential. 
  • Build lightweight, scalable recruiting systems that support growth without unnecessary complexity 

Onboarding, Performance & Management Effectiveness 

  • Design and operationalize a robust 90-day onboarding experience that drives:
    • Rapid ramp-up
    • Early validation of role fit
    • Strong 3-month retention
  • Partner closely with Operating Committee members and people managers to:
    • Clarify role expectations
    • Define success metrics
    • Strengthen feedback and coaching rhythms 
  • Lead Wellist’s annual performance and development process, ensuring alignment with company priorities and accelerating leadership effectiveness. 
  • Ensure consistent application of Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) principles, reinforcing accountability, ownership, and cross-functional execution. 

Culture, Engagement & Organizational Health 

  • Operationalize a high-trust, high-performance culture grounded in competence, sincerity, and reliability. 
  • Work hands-on with leaders to ensure teams feel empowered, engaged, and supported to deliver ambitious goals. 
  • Continuously assess organizational health and proactively recommend changes to structure, roles, or processes as the company scales. 

People Operations & Compliance 

  • Oversee Wellist’s PEO partner (Genesis), ensuring smooth administration of benefits, time off, leaves, and employee lifecycle processes. 
  • Ensure all people practices remain compliant with local, state, and federal regulations. ● Personally manage employee relations matters with fairness, consistency, and sound judgment. 

Strategic Partnership & External Presence 

  • Serve as a trusted advisor to the CEO and Operating Committee on people strategy, organizational design, and workforce planning. 
  • Help shape Wellist’s operating and financial plans to ensure roles, resources, and KPIs align with business priorities. 
  • Represent Wellist within CPO and CHRO communities, strengthening the company’s people brand and supporting commercial growth as needed. 

What Success Looks Like 

3 months in: 

You’ve built strong trust with the CEO and Operating Committee, clarified role expectations across leadership, and are actively leading recruiting for priority senior hires. A clear onboarding and performance framework is in motion. 

6 months in: 

Key Operating Committee and management roles are filled with high-caliber leaders. Hiring velocity is strong, onboarding is driving early retention, and managers are operating with clearer accountability and feedback.

12 months in: 

Wellist has a cohesive, high-performing Operating Committee and management team. The people systems you’ve built—hiring, onboarding, performance, and development—are scalable, effective, and tightly aligned with company goals. 

What You Bring 

  • 10+ years of progressive people leadership experience, including time as a hands-on CPO or Head of People 
  • Proven success building and scaling leadership and management teams in high-growth environments 
  • Deep experience personally leading executive and senior-level hiring ● Comfort operating with lean teams (one direct report) and owning both strategy and execution 
  • Strong working knowledge of performance management, organizational design, and employee relations 
  • Experience operating within EOS or similar operating frameworks 
  • Background in HR tech, digital health, or mission-driven technology companies strongly preferred 

Why Work at Wellist 

  • A meaningful mission – Help build the support system every employee deserves ● Outstanding benefits – Excellent medical, dental, life and disability coverage, generous PTO, and 401(k) contribution 
  • Rare impact opportunity – Personally shape the people foundation of a scaling HR Tech company 
  • Award-winning culture – Recognized by Fast Company, MassTLC, Rock Health, and more 

At this time, Wellist is unable to sponsor a new applicant for employment authorization, or offer any immigration-related support for this position.

Create a Job Alert

Interested in building your career at Wellist? Get future opportunities sent straight to your email.

Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

Resume/CV*

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Cover Letter

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Wellist’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Select...
Select...
Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305
Page 1 of 1
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 04/30/2026

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Select...

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.