Organizational Change Management Specialist

Job Summary

The Organizational Change Management (OCM) Specialist carries out change management efforts across the university for a variety of HR projects and initiatives, focusing on the people impacted by changes to business processes, systems, technology, job roles and organization structures. This role operates in a consultant capacity to facilitate change planning workshops such as readiness assessments and stakeholder analyses. The will bring stellar communications skills to partner with university communications and training development teams to develop and deliver effective communications and change plans that enable successful end-to-end HR projects and programs. This role will help enable USC’s vision while championing USC’s culture and values.

Minimum Qualifications

The candidate for the position of Organizational Change Management (OCM) Specialist must meet the following qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in business, psychology, communications, or another related field, or equivalent experience.

• Five or more years of experience in one or more of the following fields: human resources or organizational change.

• Knowledge of change management models and practices needed to quickly gain credibility within HR and university-wide.

• Experience working with or leading change councils and other stakeholders to identify roadblocks in change campaign delivery and implementation.

• Experience deploying global projects or programs focused on driving change and organizational effectiveness.

• Experience using change management methodologies/models to implement organization change initiatives.

• Knowledge of core learning and organizational development principles and leading practices in driving knowledge transfer and change.

• Ability to manage concurrent projects, prioritize competing assignments, and work under pressure with tight deadlines and frequent interruptions.

• Ability to exercise sound judgment in making decisions with minimal supervision and discretion with confidential information.

• Excellent written and verbal communications skills with the ability to produce quality copy on a tight schedule.

• Excellent interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, and relationship-building abilities.

• Ability to work strategically and collaboratively across departments.

• Experience working in diverse, cross-functional teams.

• Excellent analytical skills and the ability to think strategically and creatively.

• Demonstrated data-driven mindset and instinct for extracting insights from metrics for informed decision-making.

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint).

Preferred Qualifications

The ideal candidate for the position of Organizational Change Management (OCM) Specialist has the following qualifications:

• Advanced degree in business, psychology, communications, or another related field.

• Seven or more years of in one or more of the following fields: human resources or organizational change.

• Experience in higher education.

• Experience in management and/or human capital consulting, with HR knowledge based on a combination of theory, learning, research and hands-on experiences.

• Demonstrated ability to effectively communicate with senior leadership.

• Positive track record of influencing department cultures during change through trust-building.

• Demonstrated experience in leadership/management roles, building and managing exceptional teams and providing consistent feedback to achieve results in line with strategic goals.

• CCMP, CMS, CPCM, Prosci certification, or other similar certifications.

Job Responsibilities

The candidate for the position of Organizational Change Management (OCM) Specialist will be responsible for:

• Leading the design development, and evaluation of comprehensive change management strategies across HR projects, programs, policies and processes across the university. Managing change tasks and ensuring quality of work products including change impact workshops, readiness assessments, team health assessments, transition plans, stakeholder assessments, etc. Identifying anticipated points of resistance and developing plans to address or mitigate concerns, implementing training programs, systems and requirements.

• Providing strategic analyses, advice, and education to executives and managers on how to recover from change impacts and alignment of organizational development initiatives with strategic goals. Nurturing relationships with sponsor coalitions of influential leaders and managers who can serve as trusted change champions within the impacted organization.

• Acting as a liaison between HR Partners and various university organizations to develop change plans for the business. Creating and managing detailed plans, working with relevant stakeholders to support communication design, delivery and management. Maintaining close communication with project managers and project teams to revise plans as needed in response to new information, resistance or technical developments.

• Pivoting approach based on available information and staying current of project risks and impacts that can affect projects and change plan activities. Maintaining currency of change management trends and industry leading practices, connecting back to innovating change management strategy and process in the university context. Forming and organizing performance metrics to assess and evaluate change adoption and utilization of changed functions and/or systems. Measuring levels of participation and proficiency of users and stakeholders with new processes. Maintaining open channels for teams, end users, and stakeholders to provide feedback and identify opportunities to improve.

• Creating change management strategies using structured methodology, experience and situational details of the group(s) impacted to assist in completion of change initiatives regarding people, process, and technology. Managing risks posed to projects and change plans and escalating as needed to appropriate stakeholders. Defining, clarifying and driving the project teams’ common understanding of business processes for successful change adoption. Taking the pulse of the organization through identifying change characteristics and designing assessments to collect insightful and unbiased data. Incorporating assessment findings in thoughtful formulation of change plan strategies. Structuring change management teams deliberately to assign resources and responsibilities based on project team requirements (e.g. a dedicated change manager, a centralized team supporting various project teams).

• Harnessing emotional commitment to USC’s strong cultural attributes to develop sustainable change initiatives, understanding that a culture-led approach drives lasting change. Promoting an environment that fosters inclusive relationships and creates unbiased opportunities for contributions through ideas, words, and actions that uphold principles of the USC Code of Ethics.

• Understanding relationship between HR organization strategy and university strategy. Demonstrating, through words, actions, and ideas, alignment to USC’s strategic plan and the HR organization’s strategic plan. Enabling the university to fulfill its academic and people missions through enhanced HR service.

• Performing other related responsibilities as requested and when necessary. The university reserves the right to add or change duties at any time.

The annual base salary range for this position is $,.-$,.. When extending an offer of employment, the University of Southern California considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate’s work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer equity, federal, state, and local laws, contractual stipulations, grant funding, as well as external market and organizational considerations.

To support the well-being of our faculty and staff, USC provides benefits-eligible employees with a broad range of perks to help protect their and their dependents’ health, wealth, and future. These benefits are available as part of the overall compensation and total rewards package. You can learn more about USC’s comprehensive benefits .

Minimum Education: Bachelor's degree Minimum Experience: 5 years Minimum Field of Expertise: Experience in change management, organizational development, project management or related fields. Experience and knowledge of OCM principles, methodologies and tools, with a solid understanding of how people go through change processes. Experience with business service management tools (e.g., ServiceNow), project management software (e.g., Smartsheet, MS Project), cloud/collaboration technology (e.g., Sharepoint, Google suite) and presentation software (e.g., Visio). Excellent written and oral communication skills. Ability to multitask, interacting with multiple stakeholders and navigate changing priorities.