Job Details
Colorado College, one of the nation's leading liberal arts colleges, seeks an Associate Vice President for Human Resources to serve as the College's chief human resources strategist, providing collaborative leadership and innovative thinking to advance a comprehensive human resources program. This is a compelling opportunity for a seasoned, people-centered executive to help shape Colorado College's next chapter. The institution is entering an important period of organizational assessment, workforce planning, and operational transformation, creating a unique opportunity for a leader who brings deep functional expertise, strategic perspective, and a strong bias toward action.
Colorado College is a private, four-year liberal arts college of approximately 2,050 undergraduates located on a beautiful 99-acre campus in downtown Colorado Springs. The only institution of its kind in the Rocky Mountain region, Colorado College is known as a community of forward-thinking innovators and pioneers. It was the first college in the country to make a public commitment to antiracism in 2019 and is renowned for its Block Plan, a distinctive academic model wherein students take one course at a time during immersive 3.5-week blocks. Established in the late 1960s, the Block Plan fosters deep engagement, experiential learning, and intellectual curiosity.
Reporting to the Vice President for Finance & Administration/Chief Financial Officer, the Associate Vice President for Human Resources will serve as a key strategic advisor on workforce strategy and organizational design, leading a comprehensive portfolio that includes talent acquisition and workforce planning, total rewards, performance management, leadership and talent development, employee relations, HR technology and analytics, and policy development and compliance. The AVP-HR partners with the Office of Civil Rights, Institutional Equity and Belonging, and other campus leaders to ensure equity and belonging are embedded throughout HR policy and practice, and that the employee experience reflects the College's mission and values.
The Associate Vice President will play a pivotal role in advancing a human resources function that is strategic, service-oriented, and focused on operational excellence. Leveraging deep HR expertise and strong execution skills, the successful leader will help ensure the College's workforce is positioned to thrive while supporting institutional priorities during a period of significant change across higher education. The executive will inherit a collaborative, mission-driven HR team with strong momentum and will be charged with strengthening HR's role as a trusted campus partner while modernizing systems, enhancing service delivery, and helping the institution navigate complex organizational and workforce challenges.
The successful candidate will bring broad human resources leadership experience across functional areas such as talent acquisition, compensation and benefits programs, employee relations, compliance, organizational effectiveness, and workforce planning, with particular depth in compensation strategy and workforce planning. Equally important will be the ability to build trust through transparency, responsiveness, consistency, and follow-through while effectively engaging faculty, staff, and administrators within a shared governance environment. The community seeks a leader who has demonstrated success in embedding principles of equity, inclusion, and belonging into human resources programs and practices and who can balance empathy, humanity, and employee advocacy with accountability, sound judgment, and the courage to make and communicate difficult decisions. In addition, candidates with significant experience supporting organizations through periods of change, organizational restructuring, workforce realignment, and operational transformation will be critical. The new leader will possess the judgment and courage to make and support strategic decisions while approaching those decisions with transparency, empathy, consistency, and respect. This individual will help the institution balance compassion with accountability, ensuring that organizational changes are implemented thoughtfully, legally, and in alignment with the College's mission and values.
A bachelor's degree and a minimum of eight years of progressively responsible human resources leadership experience, including supervisory responsibility, are required. An advanced degree and professional HR certification are preferred. Experience in higher education is strongly preferred, including familiarity with shared governance, faculty personnel matters, tenure systems, and academic culture. Candidates from other complex, mission-driven organizations will also be considered if they demonstrate exceptional learning agility and the ability to successfully navigate the distinctive dynamics of higher education. The anticipated salary range for the opportunity is $160,000 - $190,000, commensurate with experience, and Colorado College Benefits can be found here.
Additional information about this position, including a leadership profile, can be found at www.wittkieffer.com.
All applications, nominations, and inquiries are invited. Applications should include, as two separate documents, a CV/resume and a letter of interest. For fullest consideration, all materials should be received by August 10, 2026.
Please direct all applications through the WittKieffer Candidate Portal by clicking here. and all nominations and inquiries to the WittKieffer consultants assisting Colorado College with this recruitment:
Sarah Palmer and Julia Bradley