Manager, Field Communications & Change Management

Grainger Businesses•Lake Forest, IL

9d•$95,000 - $158,400•Hybrid

About The Position

The Manager, Field Communications & Change Management ensures frontline team members across the Operations Fulfillment Network clearly understand and successfully adopt operational changes. This role leads communication and readiness planning for major initiatives and plays a critical role in shaping the change narrative, sequencing messages, and balancing field mindshare to protect focus on what matters most. The manager sets communication standards, governs channel usage, and continuously improves how information flows to the field in order to minimize disruption, reduce noise, and ensure the right messages reach the right audiences at the right time. Through deep partnership with OEO, Training & Development, Corporate Communications, Operations leaders, and project teams, this role strengthens clarity, alignment, and adoption across 8,000+ fullment network employees in DCs, Branches and Bulk Warehouses. This is a hybrid position that is based onsite in Lake Forest or Chicago 3 days a week.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Organizational Communication, or related field, or equivalent experience.
5+ years of experience in internal communications, change communications, or field communications.
Leadership or mentoring experience required.
Exceptional written and verbal communication skills with the ability to simplify complex topics.
Strong change communication capability and skilled at identifying impacts and shaping narratives that support adoption.
Ability to influence content through messaging alignment and simplification.
Channel strategy proficiency, including evaluation of reach, engagement, and effectiveness considering various wired, non-wired and hourly audience types
Strong project management and sequencing skills.
Ability to interpret engagement data and apply insights to improve messaging.
Effective relationship builder with the ability to influence cross-functional partners.
Able to maintain calm focus and solution-oriented thinking in dynamic or ambiguous situations.
Able to build and sustain productive relationships across functional boundaries, managing diverse personalities and communication styles.
Ability to lead and develop others.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting change initiatives or working with project/PMO teams strongly preferred.
Experience partnering with operational or distributed field organizations preferred.

Responsibilities

Partner early with project teams to identify impacts, shape communication strategies, and sequence communications and training for effective adoption.
Lead communication and readiness planning for operational changes, ensuring field teams clearly understand the “why,” “what,” and “how.”
Act as the steward of field mindshare by sequencing communications, prioritizing messages, and protecting field capacity from overload or conflicting information.
Use field capacity insights to plan with cross-functional partners when initiatives must be sequenced or spaced to avoid saturation.
Monitor change saturation and recommend timing adjustments to protect field capacity.
Develop and manage field-facing communication plans and calendars that reduce noise and support operational priorities.
Translate complex information into simple, plain-language narratives and align training materials to the core change story.
Provide message maps, impact insights, and recommendations that strengthen training and leader enablement.
Set operational communication standards, templates, and rhythms that drive consistency and accessibility for frontline audiences.
Oversee channel governance, in partnership with Corporate Communications, across email, SharePoint, video, and digital signage, using engagement data to optimize reach and comprehension.
Define and track communication KPIs; use engagement data and field feedback to strengthen targeting, sequencing, and clarity.
Introduce innovative formats to improve clarity and retention.
Partner with Org Effectiveness to champion enterprise frameworks, tools, and resources to ensure consistent change management methodology aligned to enterprise standards.
Partner with IT, HR, and platform owners to improve content workflows and findability.
Partner with Corp Comms and serve as a direct liaison between the teams to ensure alignment with leader messaging
Partners with Corporate Brand teams to ensure all Fulfillment Network communications and materials consistently reflect enterprise brand standards, visual identity, and tone, reinforcing a unified and professional presence across channels.
Guide development of clear, accurate, actionable field content; oversee work from the Communications Specialists and visual multimedia designer.
Create concise summaries and cascades that distill complex initiatives for field consumption.
Build strong cross-functional partnerships to ensure coordinated messaging and a consistent understanding of changes.
Coach and develop direct report(s), promoting a field-first mindset and high standards of clarity and accuracy.

Benefits

With benefits starting on day one, our programs provide choice and flexibility to meet team members' individual needs, including:
Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans with coverage starting on day one of employment and 6 free sessions each year with a licensed therapist to support your emotional wellbeing.
18 paid time off (PTO) days annually for full-time employees (accrual prorated based on employment start date) and 6 company holidays per year.
6% company contribution to a 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan each pay period, no employee contribution required.
Employee discounts, tuition reimbursement, student loan refinancing and free access to financial counseling, education, and tools.
Maternity support programs, nursing benefits, and up to 14 weeks paid leave for birth parents and up to 4 weeks paid leave for non-birth parents.

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