Lead IT Change Manager

About the role

OpenLoop is actively building its first formal IT change management practice from the ground up to support a scalable and compliant future state. The successful hire will own the design, implementation, and progressive governance of a lightweight, ITIL-aligned change enablement model across all technology and business operations. This individual will act as the central architect for standard, normal, and emergency change categories, establishing clear risk-based approval paths and defining a delegated authority model for low-risk activities. You will partner closely with fast-moving engineering and IT teams to introduce the change process as an advisory service, earning trust through demonstrated value rather than mandate in the initial phases. A core responsibility includes building the business case for adoption by quantifying benefits such as increased change success rates, reduced failed deployments, and streamlined audit readiness. Over time, this role will evolve into a key control function ensuring the organization is prepared to meet ITIL best practices and SOX ITGC change-management expectations. The position will directly support the company's long-term goal of establishing an enterprise-level structure that satisfies SOC 2 readiness requirements while maintaining the agility necessary for a high-growth environment.

Key facts

What you'll do

Define a comprehensive change management model aligned with ITIL 4 principles, including the configuration of standard, normal, and emergency change types and associated risk-based approval pathways.

Design a clear RACI matrix that delinees responsibilities for requesting, reviewing, approving, implementing, and closing changes across Engineering, IT Operations, and Security functions.

Create a phased adoption roadmap that begins with an advisory and opt-in framework in year one and evolves toward a more structured and mandatory process as the enterprise structure matures.

Act as an internal consultant and change champion, articulating the business value of structured change management and persuading engineering teams to voluntarily adopt new practices.

Collaborate with engineering leaders to identify pilot teams, run controlled experiments, gather qualitative and quantitative feedback, and iterate on the change process based on real-world results.

Present data-driven recommendations to executive leadership, highlighting reductions in change failure rates, improved cycle times, and increased compliance with emerging enterprise standards.

Select, configure, and administer a workflow platform such as Jira Service Management, Monday.com, or a similar tool to manage change requests, approvals, risk assessments, and implementation documentation.

Develop and deploy automated workflows that handle routing, stakeholder notifications, approval gates, status transitions, and escalation procedures to minimize manual overhead.

Implement AI-assisted automation to generate structured, auditable change logs capturing who initiated a change, what was modified, when it occurred, and which approvals were granted.

Establish a change calendar that provides visibility into planned updates, defines freeze windows, and detects potential scheduling conflicts before they impact production environments.

Define and monitor key performance indicators such as change success rate, rollback frequency, emergency change percentage, average cycle time, and audit findings to measure process effectiveness.

Conduct lightweight change advisory reviews for high-risk changes while maintaining a fast, automated path for low-risk, standard changes to preserve operational agility.

Collaborate with Security, Compliance, and Internal Audit teams to ensure that change management practices satisfy SOX ITGC controls and support future SOC 2 audit objectives.

Continuously refine processes by analyzing incident post-mortems, incorporating audit feedback, and integrating suggestions from stakeholders to improve usability and compliance.

Champion a culture of accountability and transparency by ensuring every modification is documented with clear rationale, authorization, and implementation evidence.

Requirements

Bring a minimum of 7 years of professional experience in IT service management or IT change management roles with a proven track record of building change processes from scratch in scaling organizations.

Hold a working knowledge of ITIL 4 change enablement concepts, including the distinctions between standard, normal, and emergency changes and the application of risk-based approval logic.

Possess hands-on experience configuring and administering ITSM or work management platforms such as Jira Service Management or Monday.com, building custom fields, workflows, and automation rules rather than relying solely on default configurations.

Demonstrate comfort with low-code and no-code automation tools such as Jira Automation, Workato, or Zapier, and show the ability to connect systems and enforce governance through automated workflows.

Have familiarity with SOX IT general controls, particularly change management, and understand the types of audit evidence required to demonstrate compliance during a SOC 2 assessment.

Show a proven ability to drive adoption of new processes using influence, communication, and relationship-building rather than positional authority.

Possess strong analytical skills to measure process effectiveness, interpret KPIs, and translate data into actionable insights for leadership and technical teams.

Commit to a consultative and collaborative working style that engages stakeholders at all levels and builds trust across engineering, security, and executive leadership.

Nice to have

Experience with AI tools or agents that can assist in generating documentation, summaries, or audit trails related to change management activities.

Prior involvement in preparing a company for SOC 2 audits or experience working within regulated environments that require strict change governance.

Practical notes

This is a full-time position based in the United States with remote work eligibility.

Hours: Full-time (40 hours per week).

Travel: None required.

Visa: OpenLoop sponsors work authorization for roles that require it.

Deadline: None specified.