Chief People Officer (F/M/D) 100%

Facing the challenges of our time - Help us grow and be more impactful!

Your mission

As key member of the Executive Committee, reporting to the CEO, the CPO is responsible for shaping and driving CSEM’s people strategy to support its mission: enabling Swiss industry to innovate and remain globally competitive.

The CPO leads all aspects of Human Resources, culture, organizational development, leadership capability building, and employee experience across CSEM’s seven sites in Switzerland. The CPO designs the systems, capabilities, and leadership behaviors that attract, grow, and retain top engineering talent, ensuring CSEM remains a magnet for innovators and a benchmark for responsible, high‑performance and high-trust culture where curiosity, openness and learning thrive.

The CPO fosters an inclusive, high‑performance environment where innovation, wellbeing, customer orientation and accountability flourish, and builds HR strategies that empower leaders and strengthen teamwork.

This role requires a strategic, people-focused leader who understands the unique dynamics of a multi-cultural, deeptech research environment—where talent scarcity, interdisciplinary collaboration, long-term capability development, and responsible innovation are central.

Your responsibilities

• People Strategy & Organizational Architecture: Ensuring HR initiatives align with business objectives, defining and managing HR’s quarterly Objectives and Key Results.
• Hiring Strategy & Staffing Policies: Developing recruitment policy (establish talent pipelines with universities, other RTOs, and industry partners. Shape company’s employer brand to attract world-class researchers and engineers), the offer process (salary grids, offer levels), employer branding strategy, approval of critical or strategic hires.
• Compensation, Benefits & Internal Equity: Defining salary grids and compensation architecture, benefits policy, methodology for salary equality analysis, salary review process and governance.
• Performance Management Framework: Deciding on performance review system, tools and calendar, criteria for evaluations, rules for promotions.
• Compliance, Ethics & Risk Management: Guaranteeing adherence to labor laws, data protection regulations, internal policies and ISO requirements.
• Culture & Engagement: Driving organizational culture, employee experience, actions on engagement, well-being and inclusion.
• Learning, skills & Leadership Development: Defining the learning and development strategy, the leadership development programs, the succession planning methodology, and partnerships with external training providers.
• Identify structural improvements and advance leadership development: Support Business Unit and Group leaders, build leadership capability, operate succession planning for critical roles.
• Budget & Resource Allocation: Owning HR budget and resource planning.
• Executive-Level Reporting: Providing HR insights and metrics.
• Drive change management: Lead organizational transformations, craft internal narratives that foster alignment, transparency, and trust.
• Foster positive employee relations, safety & wellbeing: Ensure a safe, respectful environment with clear channels for concerns. Resolve conflicts with fairness and speed.
• Ensure people operations, data & compliance: Oversee HR operations (HR policies and programs, payroll, benefits, tools, HRIS), ensuring accuracy, privacy, and regulatory compliance. Build people analytics for decision‑quality: time‑to‑hire, retention, mobility, inclusivity, engagement.
• Lead the HR Team: Manage HR Team of 8 people and support our Day Care structure.
• Liaise with: Executive Committee, Pension fund, Employee Representation, cantonal and federal authorities.

Your profile

Know-how

• Bachelor or master’s degree in HR Management, Business Administration, Work Psychology, or related social sciences.
• Swiss HR Certification (Brevet Fédéral or equivalent) is a plus.
• At least 15 years of experience in the HR domain, ideally supporting highly skilled R&D teams.
• At least 5 years of experience in a similar position (Executive Committee member position).
• Fluency in French and English required, German a strong asset.
• Ability to develop and implement HR strategies aligned with business objectives.
• Expertise in workforce planning, organizational structure, and change management.
• Advanced knowledge of recruitment, succession planning, and leadership development.
• Strong understanding of compensation structures, benefits programs, and market benchmarking.
• Deep knowledge of Swiss labor laws, regulations, and risk management.
• Proficiency in HRIS (Human Resource Information Systems) and digital HR tools.
• Ability to leverage HR analytics for data-driven decision-making.
• Ability to manage HR budgets and forecast resource needs.

Interpersonal skills

• Leadership, capacity to influence and convince others.
• Resilience and emotional intelligence.
• Listening, communication and coaching skills.
• Integrity, confidentiality and courage.
• Customer orientation and problem-solving mindset.
• Negotiation and conflict management.

CSEM mission and values

We believe in a future that is imagined, shared, and created TOGETHER.

At CSEM, we don’t just innovate, we envision technologies that shape tomorrow.

Since 1984, our purpose has remained constant: to harness science and technology for the benefit of society. Today, with over 650 people across Switzerland, we remain committed to our mission: to develop and transfer world-class solutions in digital technologies, precision manufacturing, and sustainable energy systems. In doing so, we empower Swiss industry to innovate and remain competitive.

Our strength is the excellence of our people. We believe that strong values support the successful development of our organization as well as the harmonious and balanced development of all our employees.

We are

• A unique place between research and industry at the cutting edge of new technologies
• An innovative, non-profit, and employee-driven company
• A dynamic, multidisciplinary, and multicultural environment
• A solar team focused on enabling solutions to energy challenges for a sustainable world

Working@CSEM means

• Being part of a passionate community.
• Flexibility, attractive working conditions, and opportunities of development.
• Benefit from a management style based on trust & feedback and that favors a work-life balance.

 

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity.

We look forward to receiving your complete application file via (CV, cover letter, certificates & diplomas) our job page. Preference will be given to professionals applying directly.