Change Management Consultant

Founded in 2001, Optima Global Solutions Inc., brings over 2 decades of experience and expertise in facilitating IT transformation within industries ranging from higher education and government to manufacturing and financial services. Sporting scalable and diverse business solutions expertise along with deep-domain based resourcing capabilities, Optima has a specialization in Automation and AI, Strategic Staffing and Custom Solutions Development, focusing on the core pillars of process, people, strategy and transformation.

Our client in Montclair, NJ is seeking an experienced Change Management Consultant to support a major Workday Student implementation. This individual will lead organizational change initiatives, stakeholder engagement, communications, and user adoption activities to ensure a successful enterprise-wide transformation.

The ideal candidate brings extensive experience leading change management efforts for complex technology implementations across large organizations. Previous Workday Student implementation experience is highly desirable; however, candidates with proven success supporting other large-scale ERP, HCM, Finance, Student Information Systems (SIS), or enterprise transformation initiatives are encouraged to apply.

This role requires an individual who can influence stakeholders, develop communication strategies, manage organizational readiness, and partner with executive leadership, project teams, and functional business units throughout the implementation lifecycle.

• Lead the Change Management workstream supporting the Workday Student implementation.
• Develop and execute a comprehensive Organizational Change Management (OCM) strategy.
• Conduct stakeholder identification, analysis, and engagement planning.
• Assess organizational readiness and recommend mitigation strategies to address adoption risks.
• Develop executive communications, project updates, presentations, FAQs, newsletters, and other communication materials.
• Create and manage communication plans for executive leadership, faculty, staff, students, and business stakeholders.
• Facilitate workshops, focus groups, town halls, and stakeholder meetings.
• Partner closely with project leadership, Workday implementation teams, functional departments, and university leadership.
• Identify organizational impacts resulting from new business processes and technology changes.
• Develop change impact assessments and organizational readiness assessments.
• Track stakeholder engagement and adoption metrics throughout the implementation.
• Support training strategy development and collaborate with training teams to maximize user adoption.
• Coach project sponsors and business leaders on effective change leadership practices.
• Identify resistance points and develop mitigation strategies.
• Ensure change management activities align with overall project milestones and implementation schedule.
• Prepare leadership dashboards and regular status reporting.

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Organizational Development, Communications, Human Resources, Information Systems, or related field.
• 7+ years of organizational change management experience supporting enterprise technology implementations.
• Demonstrated experience leading change management efforts for complex, cross-functional initiatives.
• Strong experience developing executive communications and communication strategies.
• Experience conducting stakeholder analysis and organizational readiness assessments.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong facilitation and presentation skills.
• Experience working directly with executive leadership and senior stakeholders.
• Ability to influence without direct authority.
• Experience managing multiple priorities in fast-paced project environments.

• Experience supporting a Workday Student implementation.
• Experience with Workday HCM, Finance, Payroll, or other Workday modules.
• Higher Education experience preferred.
• Experience supporting ERP, SIS, Oracle, Banner, People Soft, SAP, Ellucian, or other enterprise transformations.
• Familiarity with Prosci ADKAR, Kotter, Lean Change Management, or similar organizational change methodologies.
• Prosci Change Management Certification or equivalent certification is a plus.
• Project Management experience or PMP certification is beneficial.

Thank you.