HR Roles and Responsibilities: Every Role Explained, From Coordinator to CPO

Human resources roles range from entry-level administrative positions to C-suite executives who shape company strategy. The titles, responsibilities, and salary ranges differ significantly across each level, and which roles a company actually needs depends primarily on its size. A 15-person startup needs a very different HR setup than a 500-person company, yet most guides describe HR roles as though every business has a full HR department.

This guide covers every major HR role from coordinator to Chief People Officer, the 7 core functions these roles support, salary benchmarks, the generalist vs specialist question, and the part most guides skip entirely: which HR roles your business actually needs at each stage of growth, and which ones can be handled by software instead. The HR functions guide covers the 8 functional areas in detail.

The 7 Core Functions of HR

Every HR role exists to support one or more of these seven functions. Understanding the functions first makes the roles make sense, because each role is essentially a bundle of responsibilities drawn from this list.

At a company with 200+ employees, each function may have its own specialist or team. At a company with 15 employees, one person (the founder or an HR generalist) covers all seven. The functions exist regardless of company size. The question is how they are staffed. The HR processes guide covers the specific workflows within each function.

HR Job Titles: The Complete Hierarchy

Salary ranges reflect US national averages. Major metros (San Francisco, New York, Seattle) run 15 to 30% higher. Industry matters too: technology and financial services typically pay more than nonprofit and education. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median salary of approximately $136,350 for HR Managers (BLS). For executive-level detail, the CPO guide covers the role, salary, and when businesses actually need one.

Entry-Level HR Roles

HR Assistant / HR Coordinator

HR Assistants and Coordinators handle the administrative backbone of HR: scheduling interviews, processing new hire paperwork, maintaining employee files, updating the HRIS, coordinating benefits enrollment, and responding to routine employee questions. They are the first point of contact for employees with HR inquiries and the people who ensure the day-to-day machinery runs.

At a small business, these tasks are exactly what the founder or office manager is doing manually. Filing I-9s, updating the employee spreadsheet, sending onboarding documents, answering questions about PTO policy. The HR operations guide covers how to systematize this work regardless of who does it.

Recruiting Coordinator

Recruiting Coordinators manage the logistics of hiring: posting jobs, scheduling interviews, coordinating between candidates and hiring managers, and tracking applicants through the pipeline. At companies with 50+ employees and regular hiring, this becomes a dedicated role. Below that, recruiting coordination is part of the generalist or founder role.

Mid-Level HR Roles

HR Generalist

The HR Generalist is the most common first HR hire for growing businesses. Generalists handle a broad range of HR functions: onboarding, employee relations, compliance, benefits coordination, basic recruiting, and policy management. They do not specialize in one area. They cover all of them at a level appropriate for a company that does not yet need specialists.

The generalist role is the right hire for most companies in the 25 to 75 employee range. At this size, the volume of work in any single HR function (recruiting, L&D, compensation) does not justify a dedicated specialist. The business needs someone who can handle an I-9 audit, mediate a workplace conflict, coordinate benefits enrollment, and run onboarding, all in the same week. The HR generalist guide covers the full scope, skills, and when to hire one.

HR Specialist

HR Specialists focus deeply on a single function: recruiting (Talent Acquisition Specialist), compensation (Compensation Analyst), learning and development (L&D Specialist), HRIS (HRIS Analyst), or employee relations (Employee Relations Specialist). They bring deeper expertise than a generalist in their specific domain but do not cover the full range of HR work.

Specialists make sense when the volume in a single function justifies dedicated attention. A company hiring 30+ people per year may need a full-time recruiter. A company with complex compensation structures across multiple states may need a compensation analyst. For most businesses under 100 employees, the generalist model works. Specialists are added as the HR team grows to 3 or more people.

HR Business Partner (HRBP)

The HRBP partners with business leaders to align people strategy with business goals. Unlike generalists (who execute processes) or specialists (who go deep in one area), HRBPs advise managers on organizational design, workforce planning, talent development, and change management. This role typically exists at companies with 200+ employees where business units are large enough to warrant dedicated HR support. The HRBP guide covers the role in detail.

Senior HR Roles

HR Manager

HR Managers oversee the HR function and typically manage a small team of generalists, coordinators, or specialists. They set policies, ensure compliance, handle complex employee situations (terminations, investigations, accommodation requests), and serve as the primary HR point of contact for company leadership. At companies with 50 to 200 employees, the HR Manager is often the most senior HR role.

HR Director / Director of People Operations

HR Directors set the strategic direction for HR and manage HR Managers or functional leads beneath them. They are responsible for workforce planning, compensation strategy, talent development programs, and HR budgeting. This role typically exists at companies with 150+ employees where the HR function has grown beyond a single manager. The people operations guide covers the operational framework that HR Directors build and oversee.

Executive HR Roles

VP People / VP Human Resources

The VP People is the most senior HR leader below the C-suite. They own the HR function end-to-end, report to the CEO or CPO, and make strategic decisions about talent, culture, compensation, and organizational development. At many mid-size companies (200 to 1,000 employees), the VP People is the top HR role.

Chief People Officer (CPO) / CHRO

The CPO or CHRO sits in the C-suite, reports to the CEO, and represents people strategy at the board level. The role covers talent strategy, culture, compensation, organizational design, people analytics, and executive development. CPO signals an employee-experience orientation. CHRO signals a compliance-and-operations orientation. In practice, the responsibilities overlap significantly. This role typically exists at companies with 250+ employees. The HR career path guide covers the progression from generalist to executive in detail.

HR Generalist vs HR Specialist: Which Does Your Company Need?

For businesses under 50 employees, hire a generalist. For businesses under 25 employees, use HR software and a fractional HR consultant instead of hiring. The cost comparison makes it clear: a generalist costs $55,000 to $80,000 per year plus benefits. HR software costs $1,200 to $2,400 per year. A fractional HR consultant costs $2,000 to $5,000 per month for 5 to 10 hours. The combination covers everything a generalist does at roughly half the cost, making it the practical choice until the workload justifies a full-time hire.

HR Roles by Company Size

This is the section most HR role guides skip, but it is the most practical question for a growing business: which roles do you actually need at your size?

The key insight: the functions are the same at every size. Onboarding, compliance, employee records, and offboarding happen whether you have 8 employees or 800. What changes is who handles them and how. At 8 employees, the founder handles it with software support. At 80, an HR Manager and a coordinator handle it with specialized tools. At 800, a VP People oversees a team of specialists, HRBPs, and managers. The small business HR guide covers the full operational setup for companies under 50.

When to Make Your First HR Hire

The question is not "at what headcount do I need HR?" but "is the current setup causing problems?" Four signals indicate the founder can no longer manage HR alone.

Before the first hire, the combination of HR software and a fractional HR consultant covers most needs. FirstHR handles the operational layer: onboarding workflows, e-signature, employee database, compliance tracking, training delivery, and org chart. A fractional consultant handles the strategic and sensitive work: termination guidance, accommodation requests, policy development, and compensation benchmarking. Together, they cover the scope of an HR generalist at roughly half the cost. The HR department guide covers when a department becomes necessary versus a single hire.

What HR Software Replaces (and What It Does Not)

HR software does not replace HR people. It replaces the administrative and process-driven tasks that HR people spend most of their time on, freeing them (or the founder acting as HR) to focus on the work that requires human judgment.

For a business with 10 to 25 employees, software handles approximately 60 to 70% of the HR workload. The remaining 30 to 40% (judgment-intensive work) comes up infrequently enough that a fractional consultant or the founder's own judgment covers it. The HR technology guide covers the full landscape of HR tools. For the specific comparison of platform types, the HRIS guide explains what to look for. Research shows that approximately 20% of turnover occurs within the first 45 days (Work Institute), which means the software-automatable onboarding functions have disproportionate impact on the metric that matters most.

Frequently Asked Questions