Activation & Change Manager

Company:Mercer

Description:

We are seeking an Activation & Change Manager to join our Team at Mercer. You will be joining us in building Oliver Wyman’s new hub in Lisbon.

This is a hybrid role that has a requirement of working at least three days a week in the office.

About the Role:

Oliver Wyman is undertaking a firmwide transformation to embed advanced digital and technology-enabled capabilities into the day-to-day work of our consultants and support professionals.

We are seeking an Activation & Change Manager to lead global change and adoption efforts for this transformation. This role is critical to ensuring that new tools, workflows, and capabilities translate into real, sustained changes in how colleagues work across consulting and support populations.

You will design and orchestrate activation strategies that span central initiatives and localized regional efforts, working closely with product teams, program leadership, communications, and regional stakeholders. The role requires strong change management expertise, senior stakeholder engagement, and the ability to operate effectively across cultures, regions, and levels of seniority.

In a typical week, you might translate a product roadmap into a clear, practical activation plan that resonates with consultants on the ground, or work with regional leaders to adapt global initiatives to local realities. Success in this role means seeing new capabilities become everyday ways of working.

This position offers the opportunity to lead change at global scale, with direct exposure to senior leadership and meaningful influence on how a top-tier consulting firm evolves its ways of working. Unlike traditional change roles, you will be embedded in a fast-moving, product-driven environment, working on tangible capabilities that are already live and continuously evolving.

We will count on you to:

• Own the global activation and change strategy, aligned with product releases and major transformation milestones

• Design and coordinate activation waves, including timing, sequencing, and rollout phasing, balancing global consistency with regional flexibility and ownership

• Partner closely with regional leaders and business teams to embed new tools and ways of working into local operating rhythms

• Anticipate and manage change impacts, risks, and resistance, exercising sound judgment on when to intervene directly and when to escalate or involve leadership

• Work closely with product and program management teams to ensure activation timing, messaging, and readiness are aligned

• Act as a senior integrator across activation, communications, and delivery efforts, ensuring alignment on priorities, timing, and messaging from launch through sustained adoption

What makes you stand out?

• 5+ years of experience in change management, transformation, or large-scale enablement roles

• Proven track record of driving behavior change and adoption in complex organizations, such as leading the rollout of new tools, processes, or ways of working across multiple teams or regions

• Strong stakeholder management skills, including experience working with senior leaders

• Experience operating across regions and cultures in a global organization, tailoring initiatives to local contexts while maintaining global alignment

• Excellent communication, facilitation, and problem-solving skills, including the ability to engage both senior leaders and end users

• Comfort operating in ambiguous, fast-evolving environments (e.g., digital, technology, or innovation-driven change)

• Skills and Attributes:

• End-to-end change and activation leadership

• Demonstrated experience leading change initiatives from design through sustained adoption in large, matrixed organizations. Ability to balance pace and momentum with organizational readiness, ensuring lasting behavior change rather than one-off launches

• Ability to translate strategy and technology into practical, user-centric adoption

• Experience turning complex initiatives (e.g., digital, operating model, or process changes) into clear, practical actions for non-technical audiences, helping users understand both what is changing and why it improves their work

• Senior stakeholder influence without formal authority

• Proven ability to influence senior leaders and diverse stakeholder groups, align competing priorities, and resolve tensions across product, communications, delivery, and regional teams

• Operating effectively across regions and cultures

• Experience leading or coordinating initiatives across multiple regions, adapting global plans to local realities while maintaining consistency of intent and outcomes. Other foundational skills at Oliver Wyman — including analytical problem-solving, facilitation, digital fluency, attention to detail, adaptability, and collaboration — will be assessed through interviews and practical discussions.

Why join our team:

• We help you be your best through professional development opportunities, interesting work and supportive leaders.

• We foster a vibrant and inclusive culture where you can work with talented colleagues to create new solutions and have impact for colleagues, clients and communities.

• Our scale enables us to provide a range of career opportunities, as well as benefits and rewards to enhance your well-being.

• As of November 7, 2024, the Business Group Global Boilerplate Language, Country Specific Regulatory Language (Ex. US EEO Statement) OR Global Diversity Statement, and Global Hybrid Work Policy Statement have been automated except for:

• Marsh McLennan Agency

• Mercer Marsh Benefits

Oliver Wyman is a business of Marsh (NYSE: MRSH), a global leader in risk, reinsurance and capital, people and investments, and management consulting, advising clients in 130 countries. With annual revenue of over $24 billion and more than 90,000 colleagues, Marsh helps build the confidence to thrive through the power of perspective. For more information, visit oliverwyman.com, or follow us on LinkedIn and X. 

Marsh is committed to creating a diverse, inclusive and flexible work environment. We aim to attract and retain the best people and embrace diversity of age, background, disability, ethnic origin, family duties, gender orientation or expression, marital status, nationality, parental status, personal or social status, political affiliation, race, religion and beliefs, sex/gender, sexual orientation or expression, skin color, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Marsh is committed to hybrid work, which includes the flexibility of working remotely and the collaboration, connections and professional development benefits of working together in the office. All Marsh colleagues are expected to be in their local office or working onsite with clients at least three days per week. Office-based teams will identify at least one “anchor day” per week on which their full team will be together in person.