2025 median annual pay
$149,280
Median for the whole occupation, across all experience levels. It is not specific to a level or to Brazil.
Career in 2026 and 2027
Head of People
A Head of People leads the whole human side of a company: hiring, pay, performance, culture, organization design and the legal duties around employees. The role connects business strategy to the people who deliver it.
Content reviewed on October 21, 2026
- Levels
- 4
- Skills mapped at Mid-level
- 10
What each level must prove
Mid-level
Accountable for designing and improving people programs, from hiring plans to culture and leadership development.
You stop only running processes and start designing them. You propose team structures, build programs for new managers, measure engagement and adjust. The change from junior is that you choose the approach and answer for its result.
Average score required: 60%
Study trail for this level: Head of People / Chief People Officer
Recruiting Strategy & Planning
Why: You can turn a growth target into a workforce plan with hiring timing and cost, so engineering is not left short when a launch date is fixed.
Sourcing & Candidate Engagement
Why: You can build a diverse pipeline for a role that is hard to fill and use employer branding where the usual channels return the same profile.
Employee Lifecycle Management
Why: You can redesign promotion and transition steps so they are the same across teams and compliant, instead of depending on each manager's habits.
Benefits & Compensation
Why: You can propose a pay or benefit change and show its cost against budget, for example when attrition concentrates in one pay band.
Org Design & Structure
Why: You can recommend reporting lines and spans of control when a team outgrows its manager, and say what the new structure gains and costs.
Leadership Development
Why: You can build a program for first-time managers after promotions from individual contributor, so new managers do not learn on their team.
Culture Definition & Evolution
Why: You can turn stated values into behaviors that can be observed, so culture is visible in hiring and reviews and not only on a wall.
Employee Engagement Strategies
Why: You can read a survey that shows low engagement in one team and design an action, such as a manager change, instead of a company-wide event.
Goal Setting (OKRs)
Why: You can cascade company OKRs into team goals so each person sees how their work connects to the company priority.
Performance Reviews
Why: You can run a calibration session that catches a manager rating too leniently and keeps ratings comparable across teams.
Study for Head of People: trails and practice exams
Each level of this career maps to a study trail. Read the full topic map for free, then measure your level.
Market snapshot (United States)
Projected job growth, 2025–2035
+6%
Faster than average
US occupation used: Human Resources Managers. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, updated August 27, 2026
Two ways to move up one level
12 weeks · intensive
For whoever has a deadline
About 8 hours a week, in 1 cycle focused on the gaps that weigh most.
40 weeks · regular
Alongside work
About 4 hours a week, in 3 cycles. Each cycle carries what was left from the previous one.
Frequently asked questions
What is Head of People?
A Head of People leads the whole human side of a company: hiring, pay, performance, culture, organization design and the legal duties around employees. The role connects business strategy to the people who deliver it.
What must each level of Head of People prove?
Head of People is mapped in 4 levels: Junior, Mid-level, Senior, and Expert. Open each level above to see the skills it must prove.
How long does the Head of People plan take?
The plan has 2 paces: 12 weeks per level at about 8 hours a week (intensive) and 40 weeks per level at about 4 hours a week (regular).
How the plan works
AI tutor
A study session on each new topic, at your level.
AI school
Hands-on lessons on using AI in your career's daily work.
Assessments
Each requirement is proven by measurement, not by a checkbox.
Stage review
At the end of each cycle you see what moved and what carries over.
Find out which level you are at
A short diagnostic measures the skills you already have. The journey starts from there.