There are many roles that are almost designed to drive change. So organizations are recognizing the need for change experts, but most are not basing the role on how change actually happens in an organization. Different roles are solving for different parts, but in this batch, there is only one that is designed for impact out of the gate. Check them out below.
Featured Roles
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Strongest to Weakest Alignment with Infectious Change Design
- Pacific Life
Role: Organizational Development & Change Management Consultant
Location: Newport Beach, CA / Charlotte, NC
Application: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4397338275
This role is strongest because it combines organizational design, business strategy, team effectiveness, and change management. It is not just asking someone to communicate change. It is asking someone to help shape the structures, workflows, and operating models people work inside.
First Moves insight: This is close to Infectious Change Design because it connects structure to execution. The remaining gap is whether the role explicitly defines the behaviors that must change and designs how those behaviors spread across teams. - United Airlines
Role: Director – Change Management
Location: Chicago, IL
Application: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4406810883
This is a serious, large-scale operational change role affecting frontline employees across stations. It emphasizes methodology, playbooks, governance, adoption, change champions, KPIs, and risk management.
First Moves insight: This role is strong on execution. The risk is the classic change management assumption: if the methodology is strong enough, adoption will follow. Infectious Change Design would push further by asking what specific frontline behaviors must change, how they will be practiced, and how they will spread. - Greystar
Role: Senior Director, People & Culture Business Partner
Location: Multi-site / hybrid with travel
Application: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4397291848
This role is embedded close to operations, supporting property management leaders and teams. It has strong proximity to real behavior because it deals with workforce planning, engagement, retention, performance, leadership coaching, and field execution.
First Moves insight: This role is close to where behavior happens, but proximity is not the same as design. Infectious Change Design would add a repeatable mechanism for turning leader coaching and engagement plans into behavior change that spreads across locations. - Dropbox
Role: Senior Manager, Talent Management
Location: Virtual First, U.S. Zones 2 and 3
Application: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4393235819
Dropbox treats HR as a product. This role emphasizes design thinking, AI, experimentation, talent systems, performance management, succession, career pathways, and data-driven iteration.
First Moves insight: This is one of the most modern talent roles in the set. But even advanced HR product design can still miss the core issue: better systems do not automatically create better behavior. Infectious Change Design would connect those systems to behavior change in real work. - Habitat Health
Role: Sr. Director, Talent Management
Location: San Francisco, CA
Application: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4405276071
This role connects talent management to workforce readiness, engagement, leadership development, succession planning, and continuity of care in a healthcare delivery model.
First Moves insight: This is a strong systems role. It controls important levers: performance, development, learning, and succession. The gap is that behavior change is still mostly indirect. Infectious Change Design would make the link between talent systems and changed behavior more explicit. - Make-A-Wish America
Role: Director, Learning and Organizational Development
Location: Remote, U.S.
Application: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4405635852
This role owns enterprise learning, leadership development, organizational design, succession, career growth, and leadership competency models.
First Moves insight:This role defines leadership capability and behavioral expectations, which matters. But defining behavior is not the same as changing behavior. Infectious Change Design would add practice, reinforcement, peer influence, and adjustment in the flow of work. - BetterUp
Role: Strategic Transformation & Change Management Partner
Location: Hybrid, hub-based
Application: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4372010891
This is a client-facing transformation role centered on change communications, stakeholder alignment, storytelling, champions, skeptics, and momentum.
First Moves insight: This role is sophisticated, but it leans heavily on narrative. The assumption is that a better story will move people to change. Infectious Change Design would agree that narrative matters, but would add the missing mechanism: how people practice new behaviors, influence one another, and sustain the change.
Insights
What organizations should do to make these roles more complete
Across these roles, organizations are investing in structure, systems, leadership, communication, and execution. Those are all necessary. What’s typically missing is a more explicit focus on behavior—not in theory, but in practice. To strengthen these roles, organizations should:
1. Define the few behaviors that matter most
Most roles talk about adoption, engagement, or leadership capability.
Fewer specify:
- What exactly should people do differently tomorrow?
- What would we see, hear, or measure if the change worked?
Without that clarity, everything else becomes harder to execute.
2. Use real work as the primary vehicle for change
Training, communication, and tools support change—but they don’t replace it.
Stronger designs:
- Build change into existing workflows
- Use actual projects and decisions as the testing ground
- Make behavior change part of the job, not an add-on
3. Create small, visible tests before scaling
Many roles assume the solution is known and needs to be rolled out.
A more effective approach:
- Test ideas in a few teams first
- Learn what works and what doesn’t
- Adjust before expanding
This reduces risk and improves credibility.
4. Leverage peer influence, not just leadership direction
Most roles emphasize leader communication and sponsorship.
What’s often underused:
- Peer-to-peer influence
- Early adopters who model new ways of working
- Informal networks that shape norms
Change spreads more reliably through people than through plans.
5. Track progress through behavior, not just activity
Common metrics include:
- Training completion
- Communication reach
- Project milestones
More informative signals include:
- Are people actually working differently?
- Where is the new approach sticking?
- Where is it reverting?
This shifts focus from rollout to results.
For applicants considering these roles
If you were to step into one of these positions, you would likely inherit strong tools:
- A defined methodology
- Established programs
- Leadership expectations
- Data and reporting
The opportunity is to build on that foundation.
A few ways to do that:
1. Translate broad goals into observable actions
When given objectives like “improve engagement” or “drive adoption,” ask:
- What should managers and employees do differently this week?
- How would we recognize progress in real time?
2. Work with a small group before going wide
Identify a few teams or leaders who are open to trying something new.
Use them to:
- Test ideas
- Refine approaches
- Build examples you can point to
3. Pay attention to how people influence each other
Look beyond formal hierarchy:
- Who do others listen to?
- Where do new practices catch on quickly?
- Where do they stall?
These patterns often matter more than formal plans.
4. Stay close to the work itself
It’s easy for these roles to become:
- Program-heavy
- Communication-heavy
- Meeting-heavy
The differentiator is staying connected to:
- How work is actually done
- Where friction exists
- What people do under pressure
5. Treat change as something to be shaped, not just delivered
Many roles are set up to “implement” change.
Stronger outcomes come from:
- Iterating as you go
- Adjusting based on what you observe
- Letting the approach evolve with the organization
Closing thought
These roles matter because they sit at critical points in the organization.
They influence:
- How work is structured
- How leaders operate
- How people develop
- How change is introduced
With a few adjustments, they can also influence:
How change actually takes hold.
That’s where the opportunity is—for both organizations and the people stepping into these roles.
More on the Rating Logic
🔥 Ready for Infectious Change
A role must clearly combine:
1. Employee Listening
- Owns or shapes how feedback is gathered (surveys, pulse, lifecycle, qualitative)
- Interprets data into insight (not just reporting)
2. Organizational Change
- Owns or drives execution of change
- Influences how leaders and teams actually operate differently
3. Signals of Real Behavior Change Design
(doesn’t need all, but should show several)
- Cross-functional influence without authority
- Focus on adoption, not just communication
- Iteration, measurement, and adjustment over time
- Leader behavior, team norms, or system changes
- Evidence of how change spreads, not just how it’s announced
👉 If all three are present → Ready
🟡 Not Yet Ready for Infectious Change
These roles have part of the equation, but not the full system:
- Strong listening but weak on execution
- Strong change management but disconnected from feedback
- Heavy on programs (L&D, engagement, HRBP) without ownership of behavior change
- Influence is indirect or optional, not required
👉 These are often good roles—but incomplete systems
⚠️ Proceed with Caution
Risk of being a cog, not a driver
Vague scope or staffing-driven roles
Transactional work (assessments, reporting, admin)
Little visibility into real influence or outcomes
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