Change Management Lead

PURPOSE OF POSITION

Thr Change Management Lead is responsible for leading organizational change management activities for the University System of Maryland (USM) Advancement Consortium's Technology Modernization Program, including the implementation and adoption of a shared Salesforce CRM platform across eleven USM institutions. The position develops and executes strategies that promote stakeholder engagement, communication, training, user readiness, and technology adoption, ensuring successful transition from the legacy CRM environment to Salesforce. Working closely with campus stakeholders, project teams, and executive sponsors, the Change Management Lead helps drive sustainable adoption, address resistance to change, and support long-term success of the Consortium's advancement technology transformation.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Change Management, Adoption, and Organizational Readiness:

• Leads the program’s change management strategy within the Salesforce Center of Excellence, ensuring alignment with the CRM Project Director’s implementation roadmap, program objectives, and governance framework.
• Drives adoption of the shared Salesforce CRM platform across all participating institutions by developing and executing stakeholder engagement, communication, and user readiness strategies that promote awareness, acceptance, and sustained utilization.
• Conducts organizational change impact and readiness assessments across member campuses, identifying affected stakeholder groups, adoption risks, potential resistance, and areas requiring targeted support; develops and implements mitigation strategies to address identified challenges.
• Partners with the CRM Project Director, campus stakeholders, and implementation teams to align change management activities with project milestones, releases, training initiatives, and go-live events; monitors adoption risks and escalates significant concerns to program leadership when appropriate.

Change Communications and Engagement:

• Develops and executes communication strategies and rollout plans to support new features, system enhancements, releases, and major implementation milestones across the Consortium.
• Creates and delivers targeted communications for executive sponsors, campus advancement leaders, functional stakeholders, and end users, ensuring messaging is relevant, timely, and actionable for each audience.
• Manages the program’s change communications calendar, coordinating messaging activities with project milestones, training initiatives, release schedules, and go-live events.
• Provides clear, consistent, and transparent communications that establish expectations, build stakeholder confidence, reinforce program objectives, and support successful adoption of new processes and technologies.

Change Reinforcement and Sustainment:

• Partners with customer success, user support, and other stakeholder groups to ensure smooth transitions from implementation to ongoing operations and sustainment.
• Develops and maintains a network of campus-based change champions to promote local engagement, reinforce adoption, and foster institutional ownership of the Salesforce platform.
• Identifies, assesses, and helps address sources of resistance and adoption barriers, collaborating with campus leaders and executive sponsors to resolve challenges and strengthen organizational commitment to change.
• Serves as a primary point of contact for change-related questions, concerns, and feedback, providing guidance and support to stakeholders across the Consortium.
• Establishes and manages feedback mechanisms, including surveys, listening sessions, stakeholder consultations, and system usage analyses, to assess adoption and support ongoing organizational transformation.
• Defines, monitors, and reports on adoption, engagement, readiness, and satisfaction metrics, providing regular updates and recommendations to the CRM Project Director and governance stakeholders.
• Leverages stakeholder feedback, performance measures, and adoption data to reinforce change, refine engagement strategies, and inform future releases, enhancements, and Consortium-wide expansion efforts.

Training and Organizational Readiness:

• Develops and implements scalable training strategies, curricula, and learning materials to support adoption of the Salesforce platform, including role-based training programs and train-the-trainer models across participating institutions.
• Coordinates the delivery of training and enablement activities in alignment with project milestones, release schedules, and go-live events, ensuring learning resources accurately reflect approved system configurations and business processes.
• Establishes and maintains ongoing user enablement resources, including job aids, knowledge base content, office hours, and other support tools that reinforce learning and promote sustained adoption beyond implementation.
• Evaluates training effectiveness and user readiness by partnering with functional subject matter experts, project teams, and the CRM Project Director to validate that training outcomes support business objectives and prepare users for successful adoption of the Salesforce platform.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Required Education Level/Certifications:

Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university. Additional qualifying experience may substitute for education on a year-for-year basis for up to four (4) years.

Required Experience:

• Five (5) years of progressively responsible experience in organizational change management, technology adoption, stakeholder engagement, training, communications, or a related field.
• Experience supporting at least one enterprise technology, CRM, ERP, or other large-scale system implementation.
• Demonstrated experience developing and executing communication, training, and user adoption strategies for organizational or technology-related change initiatives.
• Demonstrated experience engaging diverse stakeholder groups and addressing resistance across multiple departments, business units, or organizations.

Required Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:

• Knowledge of organizational change management principles, methodologies, and best practices supporting successful technology adoption and business transformation.
• Knowledge of communication, stakeholder engagement, and user adoption strategies for large-scale organizational initiatives.
• Skill in developing and delivering audience-specific communications, presentations, and engagement activities for executive, functional, and end-user audiences.
• Skill in designing and implementing training programs, learning resources, and enablement strategies, including role-based and train-the-trainer approaches.
• Ability to build consensus, foster stakeholder engagement, and promote adoption across diverse groups with varying needs and priorities.
• Ability to identify, assess, and address organizational readiness challenges, adoption barriers, and resistance to change.
• Ability to establish and evaluate adoption, engagement, and satisfaction measures and use results to drive continuous improvement.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and coordinate change activities within complex project, program, or governance environments.
• Excellent written, verbal, presentation, facilitation, and relationship-management skills.
• Ability to exercise sound judgment, diplomacy, and political awareness when working with executives, functional leaders, subject matter experts, and end users.
• Working familiarity with enterprise CRM platforms, such as Salesforce, and the impact of system configuration and release decisions on user experience and business processes.