Senior Change Readiness and Training Specialist
Guidacent is seeking a Senior Change Readiness and Training Specialist to support a retail client based in the Pacific Northwest. This consultant will help the client prepare for and adopt changes involving people, business processes, and technology across merchandising-related programs and initiatives.
Position Overview
The Senior Change Readiness and Training Specialist will assess how planned initiatives affect employees and stakeholders, identify organizational readiness needs, and develop the change management, communication, and training strategies required to support successful adoption.
This role will collaborate with business leaders, project sponsors, project managers, business analysts, training professionals, technology teams, and other stakeholders. The ideal candidate is an experienced change practitioner who can move comfortably between strategy and execution, communicate effectively across all levels of an organization, and advocate for the people affected by business and technology change.
Key Responsibilities
Change Readiness and Adoption
Lead change readiness activities for large-scale business and technology initiatives.
Conduct stakeholder analyses, change impact assessments, and organizational readiness assessments.
Identify changes to roles, responsibilities, workflows, behaviors, capabilities, and ways of working.
Partner with leaders and stakeholders to identify adoption risks, resistance points, and barriers to change.
Develop practical mitigation strategies that improve organizational readiness and user adoption.
Monitor adoption following implementation and recommend additional interventions when adoption goals are not being met.
Help project teams evaluate organizational readiness as part of major implementation and go-live decisions.
Serve as an advocate for employees and other users throughout technology and process implementations.
Change Strategy and Stakeholder Engagement
Develop and execute change management strategies aligned with program objectives and stakeholder needs.
Build stakeholder engagement plans that create awareness, understanding, acceptance, and adoption.
Advise leaders and project teams on change management practices and readiness considerations.
Facilitate discussions with executives, managers, subject matter experts, and impacted teams.
Coach business leaders and project team members on their roles in leading and reinforcing change.
Promote consistent change management practices, standards, and tools across initiatives.
Communications
Create and execute communication plans for complex business and technology changes.
Draft clear, audience-specific messages that explain what is changing, why it is changing, how employees will be affected, and what actions they need to take.
Recommend the appropriate sequencing, timing, and delivery channels for communications.
Develop executive communications, presentations, FAQs, job aids, newsletters, email campaigns, and digital content.
Coordinate communication reviews and approvals with project sponsors and business stakeholders.
Training and Enablement
Assess training needs based on stakeholder groups, business impacts, process changes, and technology changes.
Design and develop training strategies, curricula, course materials, facilitator guides, job aids, and supporting resources.
Develop and deliver instructor-led, virtual, and self-paced learning experiences.
Coordinate training schedules, audiences, objectives, logistics, and deliverables.
Facilitate training sessions and other learning or readiness activities for employees, managers, and project stakeholders.
Create engaging digital learning content, which may include e-learning modules, system simulations, instructional videos, surveys, and interactive sites.
Evaluate training effectiveness and modify enablement approaches based on feedback, readiness indicators, and adoption results.
Measurement and Reporting
Define meaningful change readiness, communication, training, and adoption metrics.
Develop dashboards, status reports, and other tools to communicate readiness, adoption, risks, and performance.
Provide regular updates and actionable recommendations to project leaders and executive stakeholders.
Gather and synthesize information from multiple sources to support sound decisions.
Capture lessons learned and contribute to the continuous improvement of change management and training practices.
Required Qualifications
At least five years of professional change management experience, including communications, stakeholder engagement, training, leadership engagement, and adoption measurement.
At least three years of experience developing and delivering change management or training materials.
At least three years of experience scoping, designing, and delivering change activities for business transformation initiatives.
Experience supporting enterprise-scale initiatives within complex organizations.
Demonstrated experience conducting stakeholder analyses, change impact assessments, and readiness assessments.
Experience developing and executing communication, engagement, and training plans.
Strong written, verbal, presentation, facilitation, and interpersonal communication skills.
Ability to communicate effectively with audiences ranging from individual contributors to executive leadership.
Strong project management skills, including the ability to manage multiple priorities, meet deadlines, and keep stakeholders informed.
Ability to work collaboratively with business, technology, and project delivery teams.
Sound judgment, critical thinking, and the ability to translate complex information into clear, practical guidance.
Bachelor’s degree in organizational development, communications, business, education, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience supporting retail, merchandising, supply chain, inventory, or related business functions.
Experience with enterprise systems, ERP implementations, or retail and merchandising platforms.
Certification or demonstrated expertise in a recognized change management methodology, such as Prosci, Kotter, or a comparable framework.
Familiarity with project delivery and process improvement methodologies, such as Agile, Scrum, SAFe, PMP, or Six Sigma.
Experience developing e-learning, interactive training, system simulations, instructional videos, or digital adoption content.
Experience with learning-authoring and multimedia tools such as Articulate Storyline, Camtasia, Adobe Creative Cloud, or comparable platforms.
Experience using Microsoft 365 collaboration and productivity tools, including PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Teams, and SharePoint.
Familiarity with HTML, CSS, user experience design, surveys, digital communications, or online content management.
What Success Looks Like
The successful consultant will:
Build trusted relationships with client leaders, project teams, and impacted stakeholders.
Anticipate the people and organizational impacts of business and technology decisions.
Produce clear, useful, and audience-appropriate communications and learning materials.
Help leaders and employees understand and prepare for change.
Identify adoption risks early and recommend practical solutions.
Balance strategic change leadership with hands-on delivery.
Bring structure, curiosity, flexibility, and a collaborative approach to a complex transformation environment.
Engagement Details
Client: Retail company based in the Pacific Northwest
Work arrangement: [Insert onsite, hybrid, or remote expectations]
Location: [Insert location or geographic requirements]
Engagement type: [Insert employment or contract classification]
Expected duration: [Insert anticipated engagement duration]
Travel requirements: [Insert requirements, if applicable]
Compensation and Benefits
Compensation range: [Insert hourly rate or annual salary range]
Benefits: [Insert Guidacent benefits applicable to this position]
Other compensation: [Insert bonus, incentive, or other compensation information, if applicable]
About Guidacent’s Culture
Guidacent values consultants who are collaborative, accountable, thoughtful, and committed to delivering practical results. We look for professionals who are comfortable working through ambiguity, willing to challenge assumptions constructively, and able to build strong relationships across business and technology teams.
Guidacent is an equal opportunity employer. We consider qualified applicants without regard to legally protected characteristics and are committed to providing an inclusive and respectful workplace.