Change Manager

Harvard University • Cambridge, MA

45d • Hybrid

About The Position

Harvard University Information Technology (HUIT) is a community of Information Technology professionals committed to delivering service and technological solutions in support of teaching, learning, research and administration. We are recruiting an IT workforce that has both breadth in their ability to collaborate and innovate across disciplines – and depth in specific areas of expertise. HUIT offers opportunities for IT professionals to learn and work in a unique technology landscape and service-focused environment. If you are a technically proficient, nimble, user-focused, and accountable IT professional who also connects with the importance of collaborating well in a team environment, we are looking for you!
The Change Manager provides dedicated, end-to-end process ownership for Harvard University Information Technology’s (HUIT) Change Management practice. Reporting to the Senior Director of IT Service Management & Operations, this role is responsible for the governance, quality, and continuous improvement of HUIT’s change management process across all service areas.
The Change Manager owns the full change lifecycle from intake through close-out, chairs the Change Advisory Board (CAB), manages Executive CAB (ECAB) escalations, and enforces documentation and risk assessment standards across HUIT’s decentralized service environment. The role partners with the ITSM team, CAB Co-Chairs, service owners, and senior leadership to mature governance practices and integrate Release Management as a subprocess of Change Management. This role provides single-point accountability for process quality, stakeholder coaching, and governance maturation.

Requirements

• Minimum of five years’ post-secondary education or relevant work experience.
• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Business Administration, or related field
• ITIL v4 Foundations Certification (or equivalent)
• Experience with ServiceNow or similar ITSM platforms, including change workflows, approval engines, and reporting
• Demonstrated experience managing change advisory board operations or equivalent governance bodies
• Proven ability to enforce process standards across decentralized service teams with varied levels of process maturity
• Strong understanding of change management principles including risk assessment, categorization, and post-implementation review
• Experience producing executive-level reporting and stakeholder communications
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to coach technical staff on governance expectations

Nice To Haves

• 7+ years of experience in IT Service Management with 3+ years in dedicated change management process ownership
• Advanced ITIL certifications (ITIL Managing Professional, ITIL Strategic Leader, or Expert level)
• ServiceNow certifications (e.g., Certified Implementation Specialist, ITSM Professional)
• Experience implementing or maturing change management programs across multiple practice areas or organizational units
• Experience integrating change management with Problem Management and Major Incident processes
• Experience with Configuration Management, CMDB practices, and leveraging CI data to inform change governance and risk assessment
• Experience developing governance frameworks for critical infrastructure, OT systems, or systems with life-safety implications
• Experience with higher education IT environments and decentralized organizational structures
• Experience developing and delivering ITSM process training and adoption programs
• Demonstrated success driving process adoption and compliance across large, complex organizations
• Experience with ServiceNow platform configuration including workflow design, business rules, and dashboard development
• Experience with data analytics, KPI development, and performance measurement frameworks for ITSM processes
• Completion of Harvard IT Academy specified foundational courses (or external equivalent) preferred
• Advanced ITIL certifications strongly preferred
• ServiceNow certifications valued

Responsibilities

• Own the full change management process from intake through close-out, including triage, categorization, risk assessment, scheduling, approval routing, and lifecycle management
• Chair CAB meetings; facilitate cross-team coordination, conflict prevention, and resource alignment; escalate high-impact and emergency changes to ECAB
• Develop and maintain governance policies, standards, and frameworks covering categorization, risk assessment, ECAB escalation, and change freeze periods
• Establish and enforce documentation standards for implementation plans, test plans, backout plans, and communications plans, ensuring change records are substantive and self-contained within ServiceNow
• Leverage CI relationships and CMDB data to inform risk assessment, impact analysis, and approval routing; identify where configuration data gaps limit change governance
• Manage the Standard change catalog and address patterns of change type misapplication, including periodic CAB review of templates
• Develop governance frameworks for changes affecting systems with physical security or life-safety implications, ensuring routing to qualified review bodies
• Partner with the ITSM platform team to implement automated triage, categorization, and governance controls within ServiceNow
• Scale the change management process across HUIT, including transitioning legacy standard changes to the current governance model
• Mature Release Management as a subprocess of Change Management, establishing governance standards and workflows for release activity
• Partner on the maturation of Configuration Management practices and CMDB accuracy to enable CI-based impact analysis and automated risk assessment
• Coordinate with the Service Desk on post-implementation reviews; ensure change-related findings feed into Problem Management and that unauthorized changes and scope exceedances are escalated and reviewed
• Maintain alignment with Major Incident, Problem Management, Security and Vulnerability Response, and IT Crisis Management processes
• Produce executive reporting and maintain ServiceNow dashboards; analyze change data to identify trends and drive iterative process improvement
• Coach service owners and change submitters on documentation standards, governance expectations, risk assessment, and cross-service impact awareness
• Develop and deliver mandatory change management training at onboarding and as a periodic refresh
• Partner with service area senior leadership to ensure governance expectations are understood and reinforced through their teams
• Coordinate with the Impact Review and HUIT Communications teams to integrate communications plans into the CAB approval workflow
• Perform additional responsibilities as assigned to support the IT Service Management and Client Services mission.

Benefits

• Generous paid time off including parental leave
• Medical, dental, and vision health insurance coverage starting on day one
• Retirement plans with university contributions
• Wellbeing and mental health resources
• Support for families and caregivers
• Professional development opportunities including tuition assistance and reimbursement
• Commuter benefits, discounts and campus perks

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior