Change Manager

Working within a complex environment involving multiple projects and external vendors, you will ensure the consistent application of best-practice change methodologies and alignment of activities across all workstreams. Your focus will be on preparing the organisation for system, process, and operational changes while ensuring a smooth transition to business-as-usual operations. You will also play a key role in supporting sustained adoption and realisation of programme benefits.

Key responsibilities include:

Programme Change Management Leadership

• Lead and coordinate change management activities across the programme using structured methodologies (e.g., PROSCI) to ensure consistency and integration.
• Establish and maintain governance frameworks, standards, methods, reporting mechanisms, and assurance processes for change management.
• Oversee a team responsible for communications, training, business readiness, and user adoption activities.
• Provide regular updates on change progress, readiness levels, adoption rates, and associated risks.

Change Planning & Delivery

• Develop and maintain a comprehensive change strategy and roadmap aligned with programme milestones and delivery plans.
• Conduct impact assessments to identify people, process, technology, and organisational impacts.
• Coordinate change activities across projects, agile delivery cycles, vendors, user acceptance testing (UAT), and releases.
• Plan and manage operational go-lives to ensure successful implementation and transition to business-as-usual operations.

Stakeholder Engagement & Communications

• Develop and implement stakeholder engagement strategies for diverse groups including internal teams, external partners, government agencies, and other stakeholders.
• Build trusted relationships with stakeholders at all levels and actively manage expectations throughout the programme lifecycle.
• Support leaders and subject matter experts to act as effective change sponsors and champions.

Organisational Readiness & Adoption

• Define and oversee business readiness activities for each phase of the programme’s delivery.
• Manage training programmes, readiness assessments, UAT support, dress rehearsals, and go/no-go decisions to ensure successful adoption of changes.

About you

We are seeking an experienced Change Manager who thrives in complex environments involving multiple projects with significant organisational impact. You will bring strong leadership skills alongside technical expertise in managing large-scale change initiatives.

To succeed in this role, you will ideally have:

Essential experience:

• Extensive experience (10+ years) in leading change management within large project or programmes.
• New Zealand Public sector experience.
• Proven ability to apply structured methodologies such as PROSCI to deliver practical outcomes in complex environments.
• Demonstrated success in developing integrated change strategies across hybrid delivery models involving internal teams and external vendors.
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills with experience influencing senior leaders, sponsors, governance forums, and external partners.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to produce clear reports for senior management audiences.
• Expertise in identifying risks related to organisational change and implementing effective mitigation strategies.
• Experience planning training programmes and driving user adoption for system or process changes.
• Strong understanding of benefits realisation frameworks with experience tracking adoption outcomes against defined success measures.

This role offers an opportunity to make a meaningful difference by leading transformational change that will have long-term benefits for New Zealanders.