The intent of this job description is to provide a representative summary of the major duties, locations, and responsibilities performed by incumbent(s) in this job. Incumbent(s) may not be required to perform all duties in this description, and incumbent(s) may be required to perform work-related tasks other than those specifically listed in this description. This job description is not a “contract” between the employee and the Authority. The job duties and essential functions may be changed at the discretion of the General Manager
Who We Are & What We Do
At DC Water, we provide more than 700,000 District of Columbia residents and 24.6 million annual visitors with essential water, wastewater, and stormwater services. DC Water also provides wholesale wastewater treatment services for 1.8 million people in Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland, and Fairfax and Loudoun counties in Virginia. We aspire to be known for superior service, ingenuity, and stewardship to advance the health and well-being of our diverse workforce and communities. To achieve this vision, we commit to our shared mission every day—exceeding expectations by providing high-quality water services in a safe, environmentally friendly, and efficient manner.
Role Description
The Chief People Officer and Executive Vice-President, People & Talent serves as the Authority’s senior human capital executive and is responsible for leading the development and execution of workforce, talent, labor relations, compensation, benefits, and organizational effectiveness strategies in support of DC Water’s mission and strategic objectives. This position reports directly to the CEO/General Manager with extensive latitude and independent judgment on a wide array of Human Resource matters and serves as a member of the Senior Executive Leadership Team.
Essential Duties & Responsibilities:
- Leads enterprise efforts to ensure the Authority has the skilled workforce required to operate and maintain critical infrastructure. Develops strategies related to succession planning, workforce demographics, apprenticeships, licensed positions, and future workforce requirements.
- Partners with executive leaders to develop and maintain a high-performance culture characterized by accountability, continuous improvement, operational excellence, and measurable results.
- Serves as the executive lead for labor relations strategy, collective bargaining, workforce stability, and productive labor-management partnerships.
- Advises the Board of Directors and Board committees on human capital strategy, executive compensation, succession planning, organizational effectiveness, and workforce trends.
- Leads strategies and key initiatives that promote, achieve and sustain a culture of exceptional employee engagement and overall excellence. Advances innovative approaches that strengthen employee engagement, retention, organizational effectiveness, and alignment with DC Water’s culture and values.
- Oversees execution of a talent strategy to include organizational design, competency coaching, career development, career paths, retention strategies and timely acquisition of top-talent.
- Leads talent management and workforce development programs that foster an inclusive workplace and leverage the strengths of a diverse workforce.
- Oversees a comprehensive learning and development program establishing a learning culture that prepares the Authority’s workforce for current and future requirements and challenges. Develops an enterprise-wide learning and performance management system to hold the Authority’s management team accountable for making measurable strides towards strategic planning and operational priorities at the enterprise level
- Ensures the Authority continuously maintains robust leadership development programs that strengthen management capacity and expand career advancement opportunities throughout the workforce.
- Ensures succession management plans and strategies are in place to maintain robust talent pipelines to meet current and future business needs.
- Enhances the People and Talent teams’ ability to drive critical compliance, governance, strategy alignment, investment prioritization, metrics, and continuous improvement.
- Develops and implements comprehensive compensation and benefits plans that are competitive and cost-effective.
- Partners with executive leadership to advance a culture of safety, accountability, employee engagement, and operational excellence.
- Performs other duties and special projects as assigned at the discretion of the CEO/General Manager.
Supervisory Responsibilities: Provides daily planning and administration to subordinates and is responsible for the selection, assignment, supervision, promotion, discipline, and training of personnel within the business unit’s functional area.
Key Working Relationships: Internal and external stakeholders, including DC Water’s Board of Directors; senior management and staff of the Authority; public officials in federal, state, and local government; and the general public.
Skills & Qualifications:
The qualifications listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and ability necessary for an individual to perform each essential responsibility satisfactorily. Reasonable amounts of training are provided.
Required Skills & Qualifications
Required Experience: Fifteen (15) years of Human Resources experience at the enterprise level with at least five (5) years of executive Human Resources experience to include at least five (5) years in a senior leadership role.
Minimum Education Requirements:
Bachelor’s degree in human resources, Business Management or a related field from an accredited college or university
Required Skills:
- Proven experience leading human capital strategy, talent management, labor relations, workforce planning, and organizational effectiveness initiatives.
- Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams and provide strategic leadership
- Excellent inter-personal, communication, analytical, organizational, management, and negotiation skills
- Strategic problem-solving skills
- Proven supervisory and leadership skills.
- Thorough knowledge of employment related laws and regulations
Your Experience at DC Water:
At DC Water, our people make us an industry leader. Join a group of thinkers, innovators, and problem solvers focused on protecting life’s most precious resource in the nation’s capital.
- Take pride in your work. We provide an essential service and do work that matters. A career at DC Water is an exciting opportunity to help improve the environment and make a lasting difference for the community.
- Connect to a strong culture. Everything we do is grounded in our shared values—accountability, trust, teamwork, customer focus, safety, and wellbeing.
- Be your true self. We are an inclusive organization that embraces diversity, and we recognize and celebrate employees’ individuality and unique contributions.
- Build your skills and career path. We are committed to developing a future-ready workforce by helping our employees develop skills for the jobs of tomorrow.
