Job Description
Position Title:
Project Transition & Change Management Manager
Pay Rate:
$101,000 - $130,000
Multiple factors, including Individual experience, skills and abilities will determine where an employee is ultimately placed in the pay range.
Employment Type:
Full-time Contractor 9-12 months
Physical Location:
Atlanta, GA
Travel:
Estimated 20–40%, including on-site work at plant / manufacturing locations and vendor on-site
Procurement is executing a multi-phase transition of in-scope processes to a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) partner, while Procurement Innovation continues to build out and deploy a connected S2P. The Project Transition & Change Management Manager owns both: leading end-to-end BPO transition planning and execution to a smooth, low-risk migration and sustained service levels post go-live, and serving as the change management partner who pairs every platform release with a deliberate adoption plan (i.e. documentation, training, communications, and change management), so the organization always knows what changed, why, and how to do the job the new way. This individual will be the key accountable party for a successful transition for BPO and go-live adoption for S2P.
It is the connective tissue between the teams that build, configure, and transition procurement processes and systems, and the people who use them every day.
Key Responsibilities
1. BPO Transition & Program Management
- Own, manage, and execute end-to-end implementation plans for Gen 1 BPO scope consisting of Containerboard and Mexico Operations; and transition plans for Gen 2 Converting Business, including parallel run, cutover, and hypercare processes.
- Partner with process owners, SMEs, and BPO resources to capture, document, and validate SOPs and knowledge-transfer materials for in-scope processes, including shadowing and reverse-shadowing sessions between IP teams and BPO resources to confirm go-live readiness.
- Develop and maintain the transition governance model — steering committee reporting, RAID (risks, actions, issues, decisions) logs, milestone tracking, go-live readiness criteria, SLAs, transition KPIs, and financial impact — reported to Procurement Operations and Program leadership on a regular cadence.
- Manage multiple concurrent transition workstreams across processes and geographies, balancing scope, schedule, and budget; escalate and resolve risks or gaps that threaten timeline, scope, or quality.
- Manage the post-go-live hypercare period, monitoring SLA performance and driving issue resolution with the BPO provider and impacted business.
- Coordinate with Legal, HR, IT, Finance, and Security to ensure data security, system access, and compliance requirements are met throughout the transition.
2. Procurement Innovation Change Management
SOPs & Training
- Own the ongoing create, update, retire cycle for SOPs across the procurement platform landscape, maintaining a single source of truth with a review cadence tied to each system's release schedule.
- Act as primary contact and administrator for MyLearning; build and maintain role-based learning paths (onboarding, refresher, release-driven modules); run live sessions and office hours, track completion, and follow up on gaps.
Communications & Stakeholder Relationships
- Serve as the connective point of contact between IP stakeholders, the BPO provider, and internal leadership across the platform landscape and BPO transition alike, maintaining strong working relationships with each.
- Create communication plans for all major system and process rollouts (LevelPath, Sievo, Sirion, SAP/S4HANA); publish change notices ahead of go-live and sequence SOPs, training, and communications so they land before a change takes effect.
- Produce the Procurement Innovation Newsletter end to end; carry communication between corporate procurement and the enablement/execution teams in both directions.
Reporting & Continuous Improvement
- Collect and triage reporting ideas from the field, maintain the backlog, and hand off prioritized requests to the reporting owner.
- Identify and raise continuous improvement opportunities surfaced across the BPO transition and platform rollouts to strengthen the target operating model.
Qualifications
Required
- Proven experience leading large-scale transitions, BPO/outsourcing migrations, or enterprise change management and adoption initiatives.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with strong stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration; able to translate technical or methodological change into plain language for a non-technical audience.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills; able to manage multiple complex workstreams simultaneously across geographies.
- Working knowledge of change management principles; knowledge of procurement operations and sourcing, contracts and SLAs, and Global Procurement and Financial Policies and Procedures.
- Experience with project/transition management tools and methodologies (e.g., MS Project, Smartsheet, Visio).
- A BS/BA degree in Business, Supply Chain, Management, or a related field is required; equivalent related experience will be considered.
Preferred
- 5–10 years of project/program, transition, or process transformation management experience.
- PMP, Lean Six Sigma, or Change Management certification, and prior BPO/shared services transition experience.
- Experience with SAP or other ERP/procurement systems; familiarity with procurement platforms such as LevelPath (P2P) and Sirion (CLM).
- Experience with MyLearning or an equivalent enterprise LMS
Core Competencies
- Action Oriented
- Customer Focus
- Drive for Results
- Organizing
- Conflict Management
- Interpersonal Savvy
- Managerial Courage
- Learning on the Fly
- Functional/Technical Skills
- Dealing with Ambiguity
- Motivating Others
- Priority Setting
Measures of Success
- BPO transition (Containerboard, Mexico Operations, Converting Business) completes on schedule, with go-live readiness criteria and SLAs met at cutover and sustained through hypercare.
- Stakeholders are preinformed, trained, and prepared for each system rollout to achieve targeted adoption and satisfaction metrics for Procurement Innovation rollouts.
- SOPs for each platform are current, discoverable in one place, and reviewed on a defined cadence.
- Change notices are published ahead of go-live, with training and communications sequenced to match.
- Learning path completion rates meet targets for onboarding, refresher, and release-driven modules.
- Newsletter published on schedule with sustained or growing readership.
The Benefits You Will Enjoy:
International Paper offers a benefits package that includes health, welfare and retirement plans including Medical, Dental, Life insurance, Flexible Spending Accounts, Short-term and Long-term Disability, 401(k), Company-funded retirement contributions, Paid Time Off, Education & Development (including Tuition Reimbursement), Student Loan Repayment Assistance, and Voluntary Benefits including insurance for home, auto, vision and pets
The Career You Will Build:
Leadership training, promotional opportunities
The Impact You Will Make:
We continue to build a better future for people, the planet, and our company! IP has been a good steward of sustainable practices across communities around the world for more than 125 years. Join our team and you’ll see why our team members say they’re Proud to be IP.
The Culture You Will Experience:
International Paper promotes employee well-being by providing safe, caring and inclusive workplaces. We have team members all around the world with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. These are our strengths. We are committed to creating a culture where all individuals are respected, valued, engaged and have an opportunity to do their best work every day. We invite you to bring your uniqueness, creativity, talents, experiences, and safety mindset to be a part of our increasingly inclusive and diverse culture.
The Company You Will Join:
International Paper (NYSE: IP; LSE: IPC) creates sustainable packaging solutions that enable our customers, teammates and shareowners to thrive in an ever-changing world. We are a leader in corrugated packaging, partnering with customers across industries to protect what matters most, strengthen supply chains and create lasting value. Learn more at internationalpaper.com.
International Paper is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law. International Paper complies with federal and state disability laws and makes reasonable accommodations for applicants and employees with disabilities. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact reasonable.accommodations@ipaper.com or (877) 973-3919.
