Change Management SME

ecsfederal; Virginia (MN); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

ecsfederal seeks a Change Management SME to lead a human-centered CX capability for a National Security program in Arlington, VA with a hybrid work option. You will guide a team of change strategists and HCD practitioners, shaping journey maps, service blueprints, and strategic communications to drive adoption.

The role emphasizes blending formal change-management methods with Human-Centered Design in complex government environments, requiring strong leadership and client management skills.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive experience in Change Management, CX, or HCD in complex environments.
• Active Top Secret Clearance.
• Proven expertise in change-management planning, stakeholder engagement, and strategic communications.
• Experience establishing portfolio-level CX roadmaps, HCD baselines, and program progress evaluations.
• Hands-on experience with ethnographic interviews, usability testing, surveys and focus groups.
• Proficiency in evidence-based decision criteria, prioritization, and design standards.
• Experience facilitating co-design and participatory design sessions with stakeholders and product teams.
• Expertise creating HCD artifacts: journey maps, service blueprints, personas, playbooks, SOPs.

Responsibilities

• Lead a human-centered change management and CX capability for a National Security program.
• Develop portfolio-level CX roadmaps and establish HCD capability baselines.
• Run qualitative and quantitative user research and drive enterprise-wide change-management planning.
• Direct a team of change strategists and HCD practitioners to enable organizational adoption.
• Craft journey maps, service blueprints, playbooks, and strategic communications for program transformation.

Job description

ECS is seeking a Change Management SME to work in our Arlington, VA (Hybrid) office.

Job Description:

ECS is seeking a Change Management SME to lead a human-centered change management and customer experience (CX) capability in support of our National Security client. The scope of the program includes developing portfolio-level CX roadmaps, establishing Human-Centered Design (HCD) capability baselines, conducting qualitative and quantitative user research, and driving enterprise-wide change-management planning and communications across a diverse portfolio of programs. This position is located in Ballston, VA (Arlington) with the option for routine remote work. In this role, you will lead a specialized team of change strategists and HCD practitioners driving organizational adoption and user-centric service delivery.

We are seeking an accomplished, dynamic, and creative leader with extensive experience blending formal change management methodologies with Human-Centered Design principles in complex government environments. The role requires strong team leadership and client management skills to establish evidence-based decision criteria, facilitate participatory co-design sessions, and ensure structured handoffs between design and engineering teams. Your ability to craft comprehensive journey maps, service blueprints, playbooks, and strategic communications will be critical to establishing trusted partnerships and driving successful program transformation.

Salary Range:

General Description of Benefits

• 10+ years of progressive experience in Change Management, Customer Experience (CX), or Human-Centered Design (HCD), including experience leading multi-disciplinary teams.
• Active Top Secret Clearance.
• Proven expertise in change-management planning, stakeholder engagement, organizational readiness, and strategic communications.
• Strong track record establishing portfolio-level CX roadmaps, HCD capability baseline assessments, and periodic progress evaluations.
• Hands-on experience directing customer/user research methodologies, including ethnographic interviews, usability testing, heuristic evaluations, tree-testing/card-sorting, focus groups, and surveys.
• Proficiency in establishing evidence-based decision criteria, feature prioritization, and portfolio-wide design standards and frameworks.
• Demonstrated success facilitating co-design and participatory design sessions with stakeholders, product teams, and end-users.
• Deep expertise creating core HCD artifacts, including journey maps, service blueprints, personas, playbooks, templates, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).