Manager, Strategy and Transformation

American Engineering Testing•St Paul, MN

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Manager, Strategy & Transformation role sits at the operational core of AET's organizational transformation. This person will be the execution engine behind the Road to 2030 program, keeping strategic initiatives on track, making the annual planning cycle run smoothly, and ensuring the organization's internal communications are clear, consistent, and well-timed through a period of significant change. This role sits at the intersection of program management and organizational change management. The person who thrives here understands that a strategic initiative is not complete when a solution is built — it is complete when the people who need to work differently are actually working differently. They bring the same rigor to change adoption that they bring to milestone tracking: structured, proactive, and accountable to outcomes rather than activities. The role reports to the VP of Strategy & Growth and collaborates closely with initiative sponsors, project leads, and cross-functional teams across every part of the organization. The ideal candidate is a highly adaptable, execution-focused professional with deep experience managing multi-initiative transformation programs in small to mid-sized organizations. They bring strong change management expertise, the ability to influence without authority, and the judgment to know when to escalate and when to resolve. This role requires both strategic thinking and operational discipline, the ability to frame an executive update in the morning and facilitate a cross-initiative coordination meeting in the afternoon.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in business, organizational development, engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience
7 or more years of experience in program management, transformation management, or strategy execution
Demonstrated experience managing complex, multi-workstream programs over multiple years in a small to mid-sized organization where success required building structure rather than inheriting it
Demonstrated change management expertise including the ability to plan for and support adoption, not just delivery of operating model, process redesign, systems implementation, and culture change
Comfortable adjusting quickly when priorities shift or new constraints emerge without losing momentum on the broader program along with demonstrated ability to create structure where it does not exist and make sound decisions with incomplete information
Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to frame complex information clearly and concisely for senior audiences
Exceptional ability to influence without formal authority, engaging effectively with senior leaders and cross-functional teams
Experience working effectively across a wide range of stakeholders, from front-line teams to senior executives, without direct authority over any of them
Skilled at running productive meetings, surfacing real issues, and helping groups make decisions rather than talking around them
Ability to work on-site at AET's office in St. Paul, MN with potential, infrequent travel to regional office locations
The selected candidate must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. without requiring visa sponsorship now or in the future.

Nice To Haves

Experience in the architecture, engineering, or construction industry is a plus but not required

Responsibilities

Own the governance structure that keeps the transformation program running — cross-initiative coordination cadence, integrated program roadmap, dependency and risk tracking, and the governance calendar across all active initiatives
Establish and maintain the governance structure with full accountability, cadences, reporting, and decision-making forums, that keeps AET's transformation initiatives on track
Translate strategic priorities into clear, actionable execution plans with defined milestones, owners, and dependencies
Design and facilitate program meetings, prepare pre-work, follow through on decisions, and ensure the program maintains a consistent, reliable operating rhythm
Facilitate cross-initiative coordination to resolve dependencies and conflicts between workstreams. Hold multiple workstreams progress simultaneously, track complex interdependencies, and maintain forward momentum across a long-horizon program
Maintain and continuously update the RAID log and program dashboard
Build trusted working relationships with senior leaders across the organization, influencing outcomes without direct authority.
Partner with business leads and executive sponsors who own each initiative helping them build realistic work plans, track against milestones, surface risks before they become crises, and drive decisions to closure on schedule
Serve as the accountability and discipline layer across all initiatives, not as the project manager for any single workstream, but as the integrating force across all of them
Define and deploy project management templates, standards, and operating rhythms that initiative teams use to run their work
Prepare and deliver the monthly program update for the senior leadership team, maintain the integrated roadmap, and develop the materials that support executive decision-making
Synthesize complexity into clear, concise narratives for senior audiences, ensuring the right people have the right information at the right time
Prepare options papers, business case framing, and decision structures that enable leaders to make timely, well-informed decisions
Track decisions and ensure follow-through after they are made
Prepare leaders in advance for upcoming decisions and flag issues before they become blockers
Coordinate change management and communication activity across initiatives, ensuring change readiness planning, training timelines, and stakeholder engagement are integrated with execution milestones
Partner with the communications function to ensure employees receive consistent, timely messages tied to initiative progress
Contribute to a culture of accountability, transparency, and disciplined execution.
Actively develop the project management and execution skills of the business leads and sponsors working alongside this role
Treat every governance forum and planning session as an opportunity to build organizational capability, not just to coordinate
Support the annual strategic planning process, translating confirmed priorities into execution plans, maintaining the multi-year roadmap, and managing future-phase work to ensure nothing falls through the cracks between planning cycles