Organizational Change Management (OCM) Lead

AeroVironment, Inc.; Lawrence (KS); On-site; USD 127,000 - 193,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical

Dental & Vision

401K match

9/80 schedule

Holiday shutdown

Job summary

AeroVironment, Inc. seeks an Organizational Change Management Lead to drive the people side of change across the Digital Business Transformation program, partnering with CIO leaders to transform culture, operating model, processes, and capabilities.

The role embeds structured OCM into major DBT initiatives, collaborating with stakeholders, Learning & Development, and program teams to ensure changes are understood, adopted, reinforced, and sustained for measurable business value.

Qualifications

• 7+ years leading organizational change, transformation, organizational effectiveness, or large-scale technology and business change initiatives.
• Experience supporting enterprise organizational transformation and complex program implementations.
• Strong knowledge of structured OCM methodologies (change impact, stakeholder, readiness, resistance, communications, adoption).

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a DBT-wide change strategy and framework aligned with the Transformation Office vision, roadmap, and Initiative Backlog.
• Lead change across people and culture, process excellence, policy and governance, tools and technology, brand and communications, and partnerships.
• Drive organizational effectiveness initiatives that strengthen engagement, collaboration, accountability, leadership effectiveness, workforce capabilities, and continuous improvement.
• Build leadership alignment, sponsorship, and ownership for transformation priorities and prepare leaders to reinforce change.
• Partner with Communications to advance the One DBT narrative and communicate changes and progress.
• Establish reusable OCM methods, standards, templates, tools, governance, and a consolidated change calendar.
• Assess stakeholder impacts, readiness, resistance, adoption risks, and translate findings into actionable plans.
• Develop and execute integrated plans for communications, engagement, sponsorship, readiness, training coordination, and reinforcement.
• Partner with Program Managers to integrate OCM activities into program plans.
• Work with LM Lead to translate change impacts into training, job aids, knowledge resources, upskilling, and reinforcement.
• Define success criteria with the business and establish methods to measure and report outcomes.

Skills

Change management

Stakeholder management

Executive communication

Facilitation

Project coordination

Education

Bachelor's degree in Organizational Change Management

Equivalent experience

Tools

Prosci

ADKAR

Job description

US Regional

Full time

9118

Worker Type

Regular

Job Description

Summary

The Organizational Change Management (OCM) Lead is a key member of the DBT Transformation Office responsible for leading the people side of change at both the strategic organizational and tactical program levels. The role helps work with the CIO leaders to transform the Digital Business Transformation (DBT) organization itself, including its culture, operating model, processes, capabilities, and ways of working, while embedding structured OCM into major DBT programs and initiatives. This individual partners with DBT leadership, program teams, business stakeholders, Learning & Development (LM) to ensure changes are understood, adopted, reinforced, and sustained, and that transformation delivers measurable business value.

Position Responsibilities

• Work with the CIO and DBT leaders to develop and execute a DBT-wide change strategy and framework aligned with the Transformation Office vision, roadmap, and Transformation Initiative Backlog.
• Lead change efforts across people and culture, process excellence, policy and governance, tools and technology, brand and communications, and customer and BRM partnerships.
• Drive organizational effectiveness initiatives that strengthen engagement, collaboration, accountability, leadership effectiveness, workforce capabilities, and continuous improvement.
• Build leadership alignment, sponsorship, and ownership for transformation priorities, preparing leaders and managers to communicate and reinforce change.
• Partner with Communications to advance the One DBT narrative and communicate what is changing, why it matters, progress, wins, and expected behaviors.
• Establish reusable OCM methods, standards, templates, tools, governance, and a consolidated change calendar to embed change management as a sustained DBT capability.
• Assess stakeholder impacts, readiness, resistance, adoption risks, and capacity for assigned programs, and translate findings into actionable OCM and mitigation plans.
• Develop and execute integrated plans for communications, stakeholder engagement, sponsorship, readiness, training coordination, resistance management, reinforcement, and adoption.
• Partner with Program Managers to integrate OCM activities, milestones, dependencies, risks, resources, and success measures into program plans.
• Work with the LM Lead to translate change impacts into training, job aids, knowledge resources, upskilling, and reinforcement strategies.
• Partner with the business to define success criteria—including customer satisfaction—and establish methods to measure, report, and drive intended outcomes from program initiation through post-launch adoption.
• Support go-live readiness and post-implementation stabilization to sustain adoption and transition changes into operations. Capture lessons learned, address adoption gaps, and continuously improve DBT’s OCM methodology and organizational change capability.

Basic Qualifications (Required Skills & Experience)

• Bachelor’s degree in Organizational Change Management, Organizational Development, Business, Communications, Human Resources, or a related field; equivalent experience considered.
• 7+ years of experience leading organizational change, transformation, organizational effectiveness, or large-scale technology and business change initiatives.
• Demonstrated experience supporting both enterprise organizational transformation and complex program implementations.
• Strong knowledge of structured OCM methodologies and practices, including change impact, stakeholder, readiness, resistance, communications, and adoption planning.
• Experience developing and executing integrated change strategies across multiple concurrent initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to influence executives, leaders, program teams, and employees without direct authority.
• Strong facilitation, executive communication, stakeholder management, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and operate effectively in a fast-moving, matrixed environment.

Other Qualifications & Desired Competencies

• Prosci, ADKAR, or comparable change management certification preferred.
• Experience with digital transformation, enterprise systems, process transformation, or technology-enabled change strongly preferred.
• Experience in aerospace, engineering, manufacturing, or another regulated environment preferred.
• Experience establishing enterprise OCM standards, governance, tools, templates, and measurement practices.
• Ability to assess change saturation and advise leaders on sequencing, prioritization, and organizational capacity.
• Experience defining and evaluating readiness, adoption, engagement, proficiency, utilization, resistance, and stakeholder sentiment measures.
• Strong business acumen and ability to connect change activities to operational outcomes and measurable business value.
• High ownership, sound judgment, adaptability, and a collaborative approach to working across technical and business teams.

Physical Demands

• Ability to work in an office environment (Constant)
• Required to sit and stand for long periods; talk, hear, and use hands and fingers to operate a computer and telephone keyboard (Frequent)
• Will be required to travel mostly within the Continental U.S.
• Must be within 50 miles of an AV office location

Clearance Level

No Clearance

Salary Range

$126,500 - $192,750

AeroVironment considers several factors when extending an offer, including but not limited to, the location, the role and associated responsibilities, a candidate’s work experience, education/training, and key skills.

ITAR Requirement

This position requires access to information that is subject to compliance with the International Traffic Arms Regulations (“ITAR”) and/or the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”). In order to comply with the requirements of the ITAR and/or the EAR, applicants must qualify as a U.S. person under the ITAR and the EAR, or a person to be approved for an export license by the governing agency whose technology comes under its jurisdiction. Please understand that any job offer that requires approval of an export license will be conditional on AeroVironment’s determination that it will be able to obtain an export license in a time frame consistent with AeroVironment’s business requirements. A “U.S. person” according to the ITAR definition is a U.S. citizen, U.S. lawful permanent resident (green card holder), or protected individual such as a refugee or asylee. See 22 CFR § 120.15. Some positions will require current U.S. Citizenship due to contract requirements.

Benefits

• medical
• dental vision
• 401K with company matching
• a 9/80 work schedule
• a paid holiday shutdown

For more information about our company benefit offerings please visit: http://www.avinc.com/myavbenefits .

We also encourage you to review our company website at http://www.avinc.com to learn more about us.

About AV

AV isn’t for everyone. We hire the curious, the relentless, the mission-obsessed. The best of the best.

We don’t just build defense technology—we redefine what’s possible. As the premier autonomous systems company in the U.S., AV delivers breakthrough capabilities across air, land, sea, space, and cyber. From AI-powered drones and loitering munitions to integrated autonomy and space resilience, our technologies shape the future of warfare and protect those who serve.

Founded by legendary innovator Dr. Paul MacCready, AV has spent over 50 years pushing the boundaries of what unmanned systems can do. Our heritage includes seven platforms in the Smithsonian—but we’re not building history, we’re building what’s next.

If you're ready to build technology that matters—with speed, scale, and purpose—there’s no better place to do it than AV.

We are proud to be an EEO/AA Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability/veterans. AeroVironment, Inc. is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer and welcomes all qualified applicants. Qualified applicants will receive fair and impartial consideration without regard to race, sex, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, genetic data, sexual orientation, gender identity or other legally protected status.

ITAR

U.S. Citizen, U.S. Permanent Resident (Green Card holder), asylee/refugee status as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3) or a person approved for an export license from the appropriate governing agency.

About AV

AV isn’t for everyone. We hire the curious, the relentless, the mission-obsessed. The best of the best.

We don’t just build defense technology—we redefine what’s possible. As the premier autonomous systems company in the U.S., AV delivers breakthrough capabilities across air, land, sea, space, and cyber. From AI-powered drones and loitering munitions to integrated autonomy and space resilience, our technologies shape the future of warfare and protect those who serve.

Founded by legendary innovator Dr. Paul MacCready, AV has spent over 50 years pushing the boundaries of what unmanned systems can do. Our heritage includes seven platforms in the Smithsonian—but we’re not building history, we’re building what’s next.

If you're ready

Careers at AeroVironment (https://www.avinc.com/careers/our-team)