Chief People Development Officer

Aprio is in a period of intentional transformation - growing through acquisition, investing in technology and AI, and reshaping what it means to be a modern professional services firm. The Chief People Development Officer (CPDO) is a strategic architect of that transformation from a people and capability standpoint.

This is not a program administration role. The CPDO will own the firm's people development strategy and serve as a critical thought partner to the Chief People Officer on workforce strategy - bringing deep capability and skills expertise to inform how Aprio builds, develops, and deploys its talent in a profession being reshaped by automation and AI. The CPDO reports to the Chief People Officer and is a key driver of Aprio's Value Creation Plan, specifically the Unmatched Talent pillar.

Core Responsibilities:

1. Workforce Capability Strategy

• Define the capability model Aprio needs to execute its business strategy - today and over a three-to-five year horizon - accounting for the impact of AI, automation, and evolving client expectations on the profession.
• Advise and inform the CPO's workforce composition decisions - bringing a skills and capability lens to questions of onshore/offshore mix, technology displacement, and new role creation, and translating those decisions into learning and development architecture.
• Serve as an internal subject matter authority on skills, capability gaps, and readiness for strategic initiatives including M&A integration, new service line development, and market expansion.

2. AI and Transformation-Era Learning

• Develop and implement a firm-wide AI learning strategy that builds employee fluency, confidence, and practical capability to work alongside AI tools - not as a one-time initiative, but as an ongoing and evolving program tied to adoption and business outcomes.
• Design reskilling and upskilling pathways that address the real displacement and role-evolution risks facing staff at all levels as the profession transforms.
• Ensure learning programs keep pace with the rate of change in the business - adaptive, modular, and measurable rather than episodic. Stay connected to the business to develop proactive development solutions driven by their business transformations.

3. Development Strategy and Curriculum Design

• Design and execute a comprehensive, differentiated learning strategy that addresses the needs of diverse talent segments: campus hires developing foundational skills, experienced staff deepening technical expertise, and senior leaders navigating strategic complexity.
• Build and oversee curriculum across technical, leadership, and professional development domains - ensuring content is relevant to Aprio's specific practices, segments, and client context, not generic.
• Experiment with and establish new modes of learning to account for changes in the historical apprenticeship model.
• Establish rigorous learning measurement: move beyond completion rates to demonstrable impact on performance, retention, and business outcomes using OKR methodology and defined KPIs.

4. Leadership and Career Development

• Build and sustain leadership development programs that create a robust internal pipeline - from emerging leaders through partner-track candidates - reflecting Aprio's growth trajectory and succession needs.
• Partner with HRBPs and business leaders on individual development planning for high-potential and key talent, ensuring development is connected to real career paths and not siloed from talent review processes.
• Design compelling career development frameworks that serve as a retention lever - giving employees visible, credible pathways to growth within the firm.

5. Technology, Operations, and Budget

• Own the learning technology stack - selecting, implementing, and evolving platforms that expand accessibility, personalization, and scale of learning delivery.
• Manage the L&D P&L, including annual budgeting, resource allocation, and ROI measurement. Make the investment case for initiatives in business terms.
• Ensure all programs meet relevant regulatory and compliance requirements (AICPA, PCAOB, and other applicable standards), integrated efficiently rather than treated as a standalone workstream.

What We’re Looking For:

The right candidate thinks like a business strategist who happens to own learning and development - not the reverse. Specifically:

• Demonstrated ability to connect development strategy to business outcomes in measurable terms, leading with business impact before program design.
• Experience building or scaling an L&D function in a high-growth, acquisition-active, or transformation-era organization. Stability-era CLO backgrounds are a poor fit for this moment.
• Credibility and fluency in workforce strategy conversations - comfortable presenting to and pushing back on senior business leaders, not just operating within the People function.
• A track record of building AI or emerging-technology learning programs - not studying it, doing it.
• Comfort with ambiguity and iteration. Aprio is actively building, not optimizing a mature system. The CPDO will need to make decisions with incomplete information and adjust quickly.
• Strong relationship-building capability in a matrixed organization where influence matters more than authority. Willingness to collaborate with other People + Culture leaders to deliver holistic support to our clients.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree required; Master's in Education, Organizational Development, Business, or a related field preferred.
• 12+ years of progressive experience in learning, talent development, or workforce strategy, with at least 5 years in a senior leadership role with enterprise-wide scope.
• Proven experience designing and implementing learning strategy in a professional services, regulated industry, or high-growth environment.
• Demonstrated experience with AI learning programs, digital learning platforms, and emerging instructional design methodologies.
• Strong financial acumen - budget ownership, ROI modeling, and the ability to make resource trade-off decisions with confidence.
• Experience supporting or leading the learning dimension of M&A integration is a meaningful differentiator.