How to hire a chief diversity officer

How to hire a chief diversity officer, step by step

Here's a step-by-step chief diversity officer hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a chief diversity officer job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new chief diversity officer
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a chief diversity officer do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   The chief diversity officer hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A chief diversity officer's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, chief diversity officers from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   This list shows salaries for various types of chief diversity officers.

   Type of Chief Diversity Officer	Description	Hourly rate
   Chief Diversity Officer	Top executives devise strategies and policies to ensure that an organization meets its goals. They plan, direct, and coordinate operational activities of companies and organizations.	$31-66
   Vice President, Business Development	A vice president of business development is a professional who leads in the execution of business plans and provides new business strategies for an organization. Vice presidents of business development closely work with a team of salespeople, management, and lower-level employees to secure contracts with new customers and manage ongoing agreements... Show more	$50-125
   Owner	Owners, in the most basic sense, own the business, company, or organization. They are responsible for building the business... Show more	$28-64

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • HR
   • Strategic Plan
   • Title IX
   • Professional Development
   • Training Programs
   • Inclusion Strategy
   • Social Justice
   • Employee Engagement
   • Strategic Direction
   • Disabilities ACT
   • Organization Development
   • Action Plan
   • Employee Development
   • Performance Management

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Register for state and local payroll tax, and manage employees' federal and state taxes.
   • Manage the ethics reporting website and conduct investigations as appropriate.
   • Serve as subject matter expert (SME) on eLearning, blend learning, virtual world/learning environments, and gamification.
   • Implement EDI ordering and billing.
   • Counsele staff and offenders on improper conduct and ethics issues.
   • Utilize eLearning brothers' resources to save users from mundane online courses.

   More chief diversity officer duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your chief diversity officer job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. A chief diversity officer can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, chief diversity officers' average salary in mississippi is 55% less than in new jersey.
   • Seniority. Entry-level chief diversity officers 53% less than senior-level chief diversity officers.
   • Certifications. A chief diversity officer with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in a chief diversity officer's salary.

   Average chief diversity officer salary

   $95,991yearly

   $46.15 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level chief diversity officer salary

   $65,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 18, 2025

   Average chief diversity officer salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$120,989	$58
   2	New Jersey	$120,873	$58
   3	New York	$116,601	$56
   4	Washington	$111,199	$53
   5	District of Columbia	$108,106	$52
   6	Ohio	$103,705	$50
   7	Colorado	$99,518	$48
   8	Massachusetts	$99,476	$48
   9	Texas	$98,728	$47
   10	Virginia	$98,614	$47
   11	Arizona	$98,096	$47
   12	New Mexico	$97,460	$47
   13	Rhode Island	$91,726	$44
   14	Wisconsin	$89,712	$43
   15	Illinois	$89,133	$43
   16	Michigan	$86,044	$41
   17	Pennsylvania	$82,940	$40
   18	North Carolina	$80,833	$39
   19	Oklahoma	$73,263	$35
   20	Indiana	$72,397	$35

   Average chief diversity officer salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	McKinsey & Company Inc	$130,537	$62.76
   2	Marshall Gerstein	$118,740	$57.09
   3	Brigham and Women's Hospital	$114,967	$55.27	14
   4	Morgan Stanley	$113,797	$54.71	64
   5	Discovery	$107,682	$51.77
   6	Icma-rc	$107,098	$51.49	24
   7	Skidmore College	$105,171	$50.56	1
   8	SUNY Morrisville	$104,396	$50.19	1
   9	Stanford University	$101,925	$49.00	31
   10	California Polytechnic State University	$101,856	$48.97
   11	Warner Bros.	$101,052	$48.58
   12	KQED	$97,658	$46.95	3
   13	California State University	$96,695	$46.49	64
   14	University of California	$94,300	$45.34	48
   15	New York City Independent Budget Office	$93,902	$45.15
   16	EisnerAmper	$93,451	$44.93	9
   17	University of California-Berkeley	$93,327	$44.87
   18	UTMB HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS	$93,245	$44.83	4
   19	Rock Ridge Financial	$92,319	$44.38
   20	Colorado State Express	$92,319	$44.38

4. Writing a chief diversity officer job description

   A job description for a chief diversity officer role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a chief diversity officer job description:

   Chief diversity officer job description example

   Essential Functions:
   
   · Collaborate across SFPUC's Enterprises and Bureaus to lead the development and implementation of its Racial Equity Plans (“Plans”), integrate these Plans into SFPUC's strategic and business plans, report on SFPUC's progress towards goals, provide updates to the SPFUC Commission, and represent the SFPUC in related matters.
   
   · Work within a matrix organization and collaborate with the General Manager, Executive Management, Racial Equity Leaders within each Enterprise and Bureau, staff at all levels of the organization, as well as other internal and external stakeholders in partnership with the AGM of EA, to lead SFPUC's agile transformation to a more adaptive organization that is responsive to employee, customer, and community needs. The CDEIO will document SFPUC's existing equity successes and scale them methodically.
   
   · Lead a cross-functional change management effort to design and implement solutions that shift personal behavior on the issues of racial justice and equity to deliver sustainable performance improvements over time. This agile collaboration will enable SFPUC to adjust the design and implementation of its Plans to make complex, bureaucratic systems and opportunities accessible to everyone, while building a more dynamic, and adaptive culture from within that is able to deliver focused and sustainable systemic business and cultural change.
   
   · Develop workforce equity strategies, policies, trainings, and investments that address historical and current harms to employees of color and create systems that support a just workplace environment. The CDEIO will center and adapt to frontline employee and community needs, to support Executive Management to unleash SFPUC's talent, identify next generation leaders, foster effective mentorship, and build the systems, services, capabilities, and capacity that support transformative performance. The CDEIO will lead to improve SFPUC's equity culture and enhance resilience to keep employees engaged, motivated, and inspired.
   
   · Support SFPUC to become a more analytics-driven organization that achieves better performance through data. The CDEIO will help develop and augment systems and tools that capture and analyze the most valuable and meaningful trends and insights from data and translate them into actions that equip leaders and teams to drive cutting-edge solutions that lead to sustainable organizational transformation. By harnessing research, analytics, synthesis, and ideation to produce insights, SFPUC will strengthen both short-term performance, long-term organizational health, and equitable and inclusive outcomes.
   
   · Oversee, collaborate with and support SFPUC's Enterprises and Bureaus to ensure fair and consistent management of consultants and employees across the organization. The CDEIO will work with SFPUC leaders to establish best practices to achieve racial equity commitments. The CDEIO will set priorities to focus areas to address racial and equity disparities within the workforce.
   
   · Direct the allocation of resources and staffing to achieve timely outcomes and measurable goals within budget. The CDEIO will propose adjustments to the budget to meet emerging or new racial equity programs, while continuing to address major departmental priorities in racial equity. The CDEIO will participate in budget development to implement racial equity initiatives.
   
   · Manage DEI consultants and contracts established to support the objectives of the CDEIO to ensure impactful organizational racial equity and DEI efforts. The CDEIO will manage these contracts, task orders, invoices, and associated deliverables.
   
   · Class 0941 Manager VI performs other related duties as required.
   
   

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find chief diversity officers for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any chief diversity officers they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level chief diversity officers with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your chief diversity officer job on Zippia to find and recruit chief diversity officer candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   During your first interview to recruit chief diversity officers, engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. During the following interview, you'll be able to go into more detail about the company, the position, and the responsibilities.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new chief diversity officer

   Once you've decided on a perfect chief diversity officer candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new chief diversity officer. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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