Scientific Safety Alliance , or SSA, exists to Accelerate Science. Delightfully. SSA is growing at an exceptional rate and is rapidly rising Inc Magazines 2024 and 2025 list of fastest growing privately held companies. In just over three years, SSA has created over $300M in enterprise value through disciplined growth and 21 acquisitions. We are now intentionally building the executive leadership team that will take SSA to $1B+ in enterprise value.
We serve the life sciences world — pharmaceutical, biotech, hospital, and research facilities — by removing operational friction so innovation can move faster. SSA is a 100% founder- and employee-owned company, and ownership is real: performance directly compounds value for every team member.
We are at a pivotal inflection point. The systems, culture, and people decisions made now will define SSA for the next decade.
The Opportunity: Chief People Officer
This is a once-in-a-career opportunity to architect a category-defining People function at a company already accelerating on a powerful growth trajectory. It is a dream role for an innovator and builder who wants to create a high-performance people organization — one not centered on bureaucracy, policy management, or reactive employee issues, but on elite talent, ownership, productivity, and long-term value creation.
The Chief People Officer will serve as a core member of SSA’s executive leadership team and will be responsible for building and scaling the people organization required to support aggressive growth, frequent acquisitions, and increasing operational complexity.
At SSA, People is not a support function — it is the most strategic function in the company. You will build the systems, culture, and leadership engine that enable an army of A-Players to consistently outperform the industry, stay for the long term, and passionately build SSA as owners — turning talent into a durable competitive advantage and a primary driver of enterprise value.
How You Will Make an Impact
Design and execute SSA’s enterprise-wide people strategy aligned to rapid growth, M&A, and long-term ownership value
Build a best-in-class Talent Acquisition engine that consistently delivers 90%+ A-Players.
Build scalable Talent Acquisition, People Operations, and Leadership Development functions capable of supporting rapid expansion
Establish SSA as a destination for elite talent through culture, development, and ownership mindset
Build and scale SSA’s Learning & Development ecosystem, including:
Leadership development as the core pillar (SSAcademy)
Frontline and technical enablement (e.g., TechEx)
Manager capability and internal mobility pathways
Design performance management systems that clearly connect goals, accountability, rewards, and equity value
Own people compliance, governance, and risk mitigation across a multi-state and international footprint
Lead people integration across acquisitions while preserving entrepreneurial energy and local excellence
Establish structured development pathways for frontline leaders, managers, and executives , aligned with SSA’s growth, values, and ownership mindset
Own SSA’s people-related compliance and risk management strategy, ensuring adherence to federal, state, and international employment laws as the company scales
Proactively identify and mitigate people, culture, and workforce risks across a multi-entity, multi-jurisdiction organization
Ensure compliant and consistent people practices across acquisitions, including classification, compensation, benefits, and employment agreements
Design and implement policies, controls, and governance frameworks that protect SSA while preserving speed and autonomy
Oversee post-acquisition people integration, including onboarding, compensation alignment, benefits harmonization, and cultural integration
Serve as a trusted advisor to leaders on sensitive people matters, change management, and organizational health
Deliverables & Outcomes
A world-class People function purposely-built for scale, speed and ownership
An organization composed of an army of A-Players who:
Represent 90%+ of the workforce
Deliver >2x industry-average productivity
Maintain 90%+ retention
Generate >$100K profit per employee
A fully scalable people infrastructure that supports sustained high-growth and multi-company integration
Consistent hiring, onboarding, and performance standards across all SSA operating companies
Measurable improvement in quality of hire, retention of top performers, and leadership effectiveness
Build scalable onboarding, training, and upskilling programs that support rapid growth, internal mobility, and post-acquisition integration
Clear compensation, incentive, and equity frameworks tied directly to performance and value creation
Minimal people-related risk exposure through proactive compliance and governance
Measurable improvement in leadership effectiveness, team performance, and retention of high performers
A repeatable L&D model that scales across newly acquired companies without diluting culture
Executive-level dashboards and KPIs that link people outcomes to business results
What We’re Looking For
Proven first-time CPO experience — you have built the People function from the ground up Track record of building a distinctive, non-cookie-cutter People function (e.g., Netflix-style thinking) Proven experience scaling teams and infrastructure in acquisitive or multi-entity environments Deep expertise across talent, performance, L&D, compensation, equity, and compliance Builder mentality — you design systems that didn’t exist before Experience in rapid growth PE-backed, or highly complex environments preferred.
Operator mindset — you measure success by business outcomes, not HR activity Proven experience building and scaling Learning & Development programs, including leadership development, manager training, and high-potential programs in high-growth environments Demonstrated experience leading HR compliance, employment law risk mitigation, and governance in complex, multi-state and/or international environments
