Adoption Change Management Consultant, AI Adoption and Digital Transformation
20 hours ago
Austin
Job Description:\n\nLocation: Remote, hybrid, or client-site as required by engagement\nAbout Verdtek\nVerdtek helps organizations turn technology investment into real adoption, sustained usage, and measurable business value. We specialize in the human side of digital transformation, working at the intersection of technology deployment, organizational change management, user adoption, communications, training, and long-term sustainment.\nAs the home of the AERA® User Adoption Methodology, Verdtek helps clients move people from awareness to engagement, readiness, and adoption. Our work is especially focused on AI adoption, Microsoft 365 Copilot transformation, Copilot Studio and Agent adoption, workflow integration, champion enablement, and helping organizations build the confidence, behaviors, and structures required to use AI responsibly and effectively.\nWe are seeking experienced Adoption Change Management Consultants to support temporary, contract-based AI adoption and digital transformation engagements. This is an opportunity for senior change practitioners who are comfortable working with executive sponsors, business leaders, people managers, champions, technical teams, and end users to help organizations move beyond AI pilots and into sustained ways of working.\nPosition Summary\nThe Adoption Change Management Consultant will lead and support the people side of AI adoption and digital transformation initiatives for Verdtek clients. This role is responsible for designing, facilitating, and executing structured adoption and change management strategies that help organizations prepare for, adopt, and sustain new AI-enabled capabilities, with a strong emphasis on Microsoft 365 Copilot and related Microsoft AI technologies.\nThis consultant will work closely with Verdtek leadership, client executives, project teams, technical implementation partners, business stakeholders, people managers, champions, and impacted users to assess readiness, define adoption goals, develop change strategies, execute engagement and communications plans, support role-based readiness, and measure adoption outcomes.\nThe ideal candidate is an experienced, certified change management professional who understands that AI adoption is not just a technology rollout. It is a behavior change, a workflow change, a leadership alignment challenge, and a sustained adoption journey. The strongest candidates will bring a proven record of helping organizations adopt AI, Microsoft 365 Copilot, enterprise applications, or other large-scale digital transformation solutions in complex, matrixed environments.\nWork You Will Do\nAs an Adoption Change Management Consultant, you will help Verdtek clients successfully navigate the people, process, and behavioral impacts of AI adoption. Responsibilities may include:\nAdoption Strategy and AERA-Based Planning\n\nLead or support adoption discovery activities to understand the client’s current state, desired future state, impacted audiences, readiness gaps, adoption risks, and success measures.\nApply Verdtek’s AERA® framework to develop structured, tailored adoption plans across Awareness, Engagement, Readiness, and Adoption.\nConduct or support stakeholder analysis, change impact analysis, readiness assessments, adoption risk assessments, and audience segmentation.\nIdentify impacted roles, workflows, business processes, and behavioral changes required for successful AI adoption.\nDevelop adoption strategies that align technical deployment timelines with user readiness, leadership engagement, communications, training, and sustainment activities.\nTranslate assessment findings into executive-ready recommendations, adoption roadmaps, risk mitigation strategies, and prioritized action plans.\nSupport the development of AERA User Adoption Plans, communications plans, training strategies, champion network plans, sponsor coalition plans, resistance management plans, and sustainment plans.\n\nExecutive Sponsor and Leadership Engagement\n\nWork directly with C-Suite executives, senior leaders, sponsor coalitions, business decision-makers, and people managers to build alignment around the vision, value, risks, and expectations of AI adoption.\nCoach executive sponsors and leadership teams on their role in creating visible sponsorship, reinforcing adoption messages, addressing resistance, and modeling AI-enabled ways of working.\nDevelop leadership talking points, sponsor messaging, meeting-in-a-box materials, briefing decks, executive summaries, and change narratives.\nFacilitate leadership alignment sessions, sponsor coalition meetings, manager readiness sessions, and Art of the Possible workshops.\nHelp leaders connect AI adoption to business outcomes, workforce productivity, role transformation, responsible AI practices, and measurable value realization.\n\nAI Adoption and Microsoft 365 Copilot Enablement\n\nSupport AI adoption initiatives involving Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Chat, Copilot Studio, agents, Microsoft 365 apps, Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, and related Microsoft AI capabilities.\nPartner with technical teams and client stakeholders to identify high-value Copilot use cases by role, function, workflow, or business outcome.\nHelp clients move from generic Copilot awareness to practical, role-based application of AI in day-to-day work.\nSupport workflow integration analysis by identifying where AI can assist, augment, automate, or remain inappropriate for specific work activities.\nDevelop or support use-case libraries, prompt examples, role-based scenarios, learning paths, quick reference guides, job aids, and readiness resources.\nFacilitate AI adoption workshops, champion sessions, manager enablement sessions, early adopter programs, and end-user readiness activities.\nPromote responsible, secure, and practical use of AI by reinforcing governance, data protection, ethical use, and organizational policies in adoption materials and coaching.\n\nCommunications, Engagement, and Readiness\n\nDesign and execute communication strategies that build awareness, reduce confusion, address resistance, and reinforce the “why” behind AI adoption.\nCreate clear, audience-specific messaging for executives, people managers, champions, early adopters, and end users.\nDevelop engagement strategies that involve stakeholders early, create feedback loops, build trust, and help users feel heard and prepared.\nSupport the creation and activation of champion networks, super-user groups, early adopter cohorts, and change agent communities.\nBuild readiness strategies that include training, coaching, practice opportunities, microlearning, job aids, office hours, webinars, and ongoing support.\nPartner with instructional designers, trainers, communications specialists, media creators, and technical SMEs to ensure adoption materials are accurate, relevant, and easy to use.\nHelp prepare impacted groups for go-live through targeted communications, readiness checks, manager support, and reinforcement activities.\n\nMeasurement, Sustainment, and Value Realization\n\nDefine adoption outcomes, success measures, KPIs, feedback mechanisms, and reporting methods in partnership with Verdtek and client leadership.\nMonitor adoption progress, readiness indicators, engagement participation, training outcomes, feedback themes, usage patterns, and resistance signals.\nPrepare adoption status updates, executive briefings, risks and issues reports, lessons learned, and value realization summaries.\nRecommend adaptive actions when adoption barriers, readiness gaps, sponsor gaps, or resistance patterns emerge.\nSupport post-launch sustainment activities including refresher sessions, reinforcement messaging, champion follow-ups, adoption reporting, and transition of ownership to client teams.\nHelp clients understand that go-live is not the finish line, and that sustained adoption requires ongoing reinforcement, support, and measurement.\n\nRequired Qualifications\nCandidates should meet most or all of the following qualifications:\n\n5 or more years of relevant experience in organizational change management, adoption change management, user adoption, digital transformation, technology implementation, or enterprise transformation consulting.\nProsci Change Management Practitioner certification, or a comparable change management certification or methodology credential.\nDemonstrated experience leading change management or adoption efforts for large-scale digital transformations, enterprise technology deployments, AI initiatives, or Microsoft 365 transformations.\nProven success working with executive sponsors, C-Suite leaders, sponsor coalitions, senior stakeholders, and people managers.\nExperience developing change strategies, adoption plans, communications plans, stakeholder engagement plans, training strategies, readiness plans, resistance management plans, and sustainment plans.\nStrong understanding of change management principles, stakeholder analysis, change impact analysis, readiness assessment, sponsor engagement, manager enablement, resistance management, and reinforcement.\nDemonstrated ability to translate complex technology changes into clear, practical, human-centered messages and actions.\nStrong facilitation skills, including experience leading workshops, discovery sessions, sponsor meetings, manager briefings, and stakeholder working sessions.\nExcellent writing, editing, and storytelling skills, with the ability to create executive-ready materials, adoption communications, training support content, and change narratives.\nStrong project coordination skills, including the ability to manage multiple workstreams, deadlines, deliverables, stakeholders, and priorities in a fast-paced consulting environment.\nAbility to work independently as a contract consultant while staying aligned with Verdtek’s methods, standards, client commitments, and delivery expectations.\nHigh comfort level operating in ambiguity, structuring complex problems, and recommending practical next steps.\n\nPreferred Qualifications\nThe strongest candidates will also bring one or more of the following:\n\nHands-on experience leading AI adoption, generative AI enablement, Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption, Copilot Studio adoption, AI agent adoption, or enterprise AI transformation.\nDeep familiarity with Microsoft 365 Copilot and its application across Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, and Microsoft 365 Chat.\nExperience helping organizations identify and activate role-based AI use cases, prompt patterns, workflow improvements, and productivity scenarios.\nMicrosoft certifications related to AI, Copilot, Microsoft 365, or AI transformation, such as:\n\nMicrosoft 365 Certified: Copilot and Agent Administration Fundamentals.\nMicrosoft Certified: AI Transformation Leader.\nMicrosoft Certified: AI Agent Builder Associate.\nMicrosoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals or another relevant Microsoft AI credential.\n\nExperience with ADKAR, Prosci tools, sponsor roadmaps, PCT assessments, readiness assessments, and change impact analysis.\nExperience building or supporting champion networks, early adopter programs, super-user groups, Centers of Excellence, or train-the-trainer models.\nExperience in consulting environments, government projects, public sector digital transformation, enterprise technology adoption, or Microsoft partner-led engagements.\nExperience designing or supporting role-based training, microlearning, job aids, quick reference guides, instructional materials, or knowledge base content.\nExperience with adoption measurement, usage analytics, sentiment feedback, value realization reporting, and executive adoption dashboards.\nAbility to collaborate effectively with technical implementation teams, solution architects, project managers, product owners, IT leaders, business SMEs, and instructional design teams.\n\nIdeal Candidate Profile\nThe ideal Adoption Change Management Consultant is a senior practitioner who can move comfortably between strategy and execution. This person can sit with executive sponsors in the morning, facilitate a manager readiness workshop in the afternoon, and refine a role-based adoption plan by the end of the day.\nThey understand that AI adoption succeeds when people understand the change, see how it benefits their work, have opportunities to practice, receive support from leaders and managers, and are reinforced after go-live. They are confident enough to guide leaders, practical enough to support end users, and structured enough to bring order to complex transformation efforts.\nThis person is not simply a communications resource, trainer, or project coordinator. They are a true adoption and change management consultant who knows how to connect leadership alignment, behavior change, readiness, training, communications, sustainment, and measurable outcomes.\nKey Deliverables May Include\nDepending on the engagement, the consultant may be responsible for creating, contributing to, or delivering:\n\nAERA User Adoption Plan.\nAdoption and Change Management Plan.\nStakeholder analysis.\nSponsor coalition plan.\nChange impact analysis.\nReadiness assessment summary.\nAdoption risk register.\nCommunications plan and messaging calendar.\nExecutive sponsor messaging.\nPeople manager toolkits.\nChampion network plan.\nEarly adopter engagement plan.\nRole-based Copilot use-case catalog.\nTraining and readiness strategy.\nWorkshop materials and facilitator guides.\nJob aids, quick reference guides, and microlearning support content.\nResistance management plan.\nAdoption measurement plan.\nAdoption status updates.\nExecutive summaries and leadership briefings.\nSustainment and reinforcement plan.\nLessons learned and value realization summary.\n\nEngagement Expectations\nThis is a temporary, contract-based consulting role. Engagement length, hours, travel expectations, and client assignments may vary based on project scope and client needs. Consultants may be asked to support remote, hybrid, or onsite engagements.\nContract consultants are expected to:\n\nRepresent Verdtek professionally with clients, partners, stakeholders, and project teams.\nFollow Verdtek’s AERA-based adoption approach and delivery standards.\nProduce high-quality, client-ready work products.\nCollaborate effectively with Verdtek team members, client teams, and implementation partners.\nMaintain confidentiality and handle client information responsibly.\nBe responsive, organized, proactive, and comfortable working in dynamic project environments.\n\nWhat Success Looks Like\nA successful Adoption Change Management Consultant will help Verdtek clients:\n\nBuild clear awareness of why AI adoption matters and how it affects the organization.\nEngage leaders, managers, champions, and users in meaningful adoption activities.\nPrepare impacted groups with role-based training, practical use cases, and confidence-building support.\nReduce resistance and adoption risk through proactive engagement and communication.\nHelp users apply Microsoft 365 Copilot or other AI capabilities