Change Management Lead - OCM Lead at Blue Star… · Columbus

Job Title: Change Management Lead Location: Columbus, OH Work Model: Hybrid — Tuesday through Thursday onsite, Monday and Friday remote Rate: $100-$110/hour Contract Duration: October 1, 2026 – October 1, 2027 Possibility of Extension: Yes, strong possibility of extension Employment Type: W-2 Only Work Authorization: U.S. Citizens Only | Green Card holders also eligible; no visa sponsorship available Work Schedule: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM, with 1-hour lunch

Position Overview

We are seeking an experienced Change Management Lead to support the NiSource Customer Program, a large-scale enterprise customer transformation initiative focused on driving adoption of common business practices, processes, and technology solutions.

The Change Management Lead will lead a team of change management resources responsible for developing and executing change strategies, change plans, stakeholder engagement approaches, communications, readiness activities, and adoption measurement. This role will help position the strategic purpose, benefits, and people impacts of the program to increase understanding, build commitment, reduce resistance, and enable successful end-user adoption.

The ideal candidate is a senior change leader with strong experience supporting large enterprise transformation programs, technology implementations, business process change, stakeholder engagement, and cross-functional delivery. This person should be comfortable leading OCM resources, partnering with business and IT leaders, managing consulting resources, and driving alignment across program teams, vendor partners, and impacted stakeholder groups.

Key Responsibilities

Change Strategy & Planning

• Lead the scoping, solutioning, estimating, and delivery of change management solutions for high-impact transformational initiatives.
• Develop and execute change management strategies and plans that support adoption of new business practices, processes, and technology solutions.
• Define change management scope, objectives, deliverables, timelines, resource needs, and success measures.
• Identify people-related risks, resistance points, adoption barriers, and mitigation strategies.
• Ensure change management activities are aligned to the broader program roadmap, implementation milestones, and business outcomes.

Stakeholder Management & Engagement

• Drive stakeholder management and engagement across program workstreams and impacted business areas.
• Identify key stakeholder groups, assess impacts, and develop targeted engagement strategies.
• Partner with executive sponsors, business leaders, IT leaders, project teams, SMEs, and end users to build alignment and commitment.
• Facilitate stakeholder discussions, readiness sessions, change network meetings, leadership briefings, and engagement events.
• Ensure stakeholders understand the purpose, benefits, timing, and expectations associated with program changes.

Communications Planning & Execution

• Lead development and execution of change communications across the Customer Program.
• Oversee creation of clear, targeted, and audience-specific messaging for leaders, managers, end users, and impacted stakeholder groups.
• Partner with communications resources, consulting partners, and program teams to develop newsletters, leader materials, talking points, presentations, roadshow content, demo materials, FAQs, job aids, and other engagement assets.
• Ensure communications are consistent, timely, accurate, and aligned to the program’s strategic purpose and adoption goals.
• Review and approve change-related messaging and materials to ensure quality and alignment.

Change Impact, Readiness & Adoption

• Lead identification, documentation, and validation of change impacts across business processes, roles, responsibilities, technology, workflows, and ways of working.
• Translate change impacts into actionable readiness plans, communication needs, training inputs, engagement activities, and adoption support actions.
• Develop readiness and adoption measurement approaches to assess end-user preparedness, utilization, engagement, and adoption.
• Review qualitative and quantitative metrics to identify gaps, risks, resistance themes, and mitigation opportunities.
• Partner with program leadership to drive actions that improve readiness, reduce resistance, and support successful adoption.

Business & IT Partnership

• Partner with Information Technology and business leaders in the design and execution of change solutions.
• Work closely with project teams to understand implementation timelines, solution impacts, business process changes, training needs, and stakeholder implications.
• Collaborate with business and technical teams to ensure change plans are integrated with program delivery, testing, deployment, cutover, and stabilization activities.
• Help translate technical and process changes into clear business impacts and practical adoption actions.
• Support alignment across business, IT, consulting partners, and vendor teams.

OCM Team Leadership

• Lead, guide, and support a team of change management professionals responsible for program-level change activities.
• Provide role clarity, direction, prioritization, and expectations for OCM team members.
• Coach team members and vendor partners to operate as one unified team.
• Provide regular performance feedback, solicit team input, and remove barriers to effective delivery.
• Model strong collaboration across change management, business, technical, and consulting teams.
• Ensure OCM resources are focused on high-value activities that support program success.

Consulting Partner & Vendor Coordination

• Provide leadership to supporting consulting resources and vendor partners.
• Coordinate with consulting teams to ensure change deliverables are high quality, consistent, and aligned to the approved change strategy.
• Set expectations for consulting resources, review deliverables, and ensure work products meet program standards.
• Drive integrated execution across internal change resources, consulting partners, technical teams, and business stakeholders.
• Escalate delivery risks, resource gaps, or quality concerns as needed.

OCM Tracking, Reporting & Governance

• Ensure timely and high-quality tracking and reporting of OCM team status, deliverables, issues, risks, and dependencies.
• Maintain visibility into change activities, readiness progress, adoption metrics, stakeholder engagement, communications, and open actions.
• Prepare leadership updates, scorecards, status reports, risk summaries, and decision materials.
• Participate in program governance forums and provide clear updates on change readiness, adoption risks, and mitigation plans.
• Ensure change management work is documented, organized, and traceable across the program lifecycle.

Day-to-Day Responsibilities

• Lead execution of the change management strategy and tactical change plan.
• Guide OCM team members on priorities, deliverables, timelines, and stakeholder needs.
• Partner with business and IT leaders to align change activities with program milestones.
• Facilitate stakeholder engagement sessions, change network meetings, readiness reviews, and leadership discussions.
• Review and refine communications, job aids, roadshow materials, demo support materials, and engagement content.
• Track change impacts, readiness risks, adoption metrics, resistance themes, and mitigation actions.
• Coordinate with consulting partners and vendor teams to ensure high-quality change delivery.
• Prepare OCM status updates, issue/risk summaries, leadership materials, and program reporting.
• Coach team members and vendor partners to drive consistent, integrated change execution.
• Support adoption planning, deployment readiness, and post-implementation stabilization activities.

Required Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in change management, organizational change management, business transformation, communications, stakeholder engagement, or related work.
• Experience leading change management workstreams for large-scale enterprise initiatives, technology implementations, or transformation programs.
• Experience developing and executing change strategies, change plans, stakeholder engagement plans, communication plans, readiness plans, and adoption approaches.
• Experience leading change impact assessments, readiness assessments, resistance management, and adoption measurement activities.
• Strong experience partnering with business leaders, IT leaders, project teams, consulting partners, SMEs, and end users.
• Experience leading, guiding, coaching, or coordinating change management resources.
• Strong ability to translate complex business and technology changes into clear stakeholder impacts and actionable change plans.
• Strong facilitation, communication, stakeholder management, and executive presence.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple workstreams, deadlines, risks, and deliverables.
• Ability to operate in a fast-paced, complex program environment with changing priorities.
• Proficiency with Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel, Word, Outlook, and Teams.
• Ability to work onsite Tuesday through Thursday in Columbus, OH.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting customer transformation, customer operations, utility, energy, or regulated industry programs.
• Experience supporting common platform initiatives, enterprise technology implementations, business process standardization, or large-scale operating model changes.
• Experience working with consulting partners, systems integrators, and vendor teams.
• Experience with Prosci, ADKAR, CCMP, or other structured change management methodologies.
• Experience building or leading change networks, leader enablement programs, roadshows, demos, readiness events, and adoption campaigns.
• Experience developing dashboards, readiness scorecards, adoption reports, survey summaries, or change management metrics.
• Experience supporting deployment, cutover, hypercare, and post-implementation adoption activities.
• Change management certification or formal training is strongly preferred.

Core Competencies

• Change Management Leadership
• Organizational Change Management
• Change Strategy
• Change Planning
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Communications Planning
• Leader Enablement
• Change Impact Assessment
• Readiness Assessment
• Adoption Measurement
• Resistance Management
• Change Network Support
• Business Transformation
• Technology Adoption
• OCM Team Leadership
• Consulting Partner Coordination
• Risk and Issue Management
• Executive Communication
• Program Governance
• Customer Transformation

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is a senior Change Management Lead who can own OCM strategy and execution across a large enterprise customer transformation program. They should be comfortable leading change resources, partnering with business and IT leaders, coordinating consulting partners, managing stakeholder engagement, and driving readiness and adoption across impacted teams. The strongest candidates will bring a combination of enterprise change leadership, communications strategy, stakeholder management, readiness measurement, people leadership, and transformation program experience.