Are you passionate about being part of a team that delivers extraordinary care to help individuals and businesses prepare for and protect their retirement? If so, then Nationwide Financial could be the place for you! At Nationwide®, “on your side” goes beyond just words. Our customers are at the center of everything we do and we’re looking for associates who are passionate about delivering extraordinary care.

We are looking for a results-driven Consultant to design and execute innovative, high-impact programs. Candidates must be self-starters with an entrepreneurial mindset, adept at both high-level strategy and detailed execution. This role requires sharp analytical skills, agile management, and strong communication to drive alignment, overcome ambiguity, and achieve measurable outcomes.

Preference: 3-5 years’ experience in external or internal consulting, program management, or business transformation roles.

Technical Skills

• Program Design in Dynamic Environments: Design adaptable program structures that can evolve with shifting needs and constraints with defined goals, milestones, and KPIs.
• Execution Under Uncertainty: Translates broad goals into actionable work plans, adjusting timelines, deliverables, and scopes as new information emerges.
• Data-Informed Judgment: Applies monitoring and feedback loops to course-correct and improve program performance and guide decision-making under uncertainty

Programmatic Skills

• Agile Project Management: Manages evolving priorities and timelines, adjusting plans responsively while maintaining momentum.
• Consulting Toolkit: Crafts structured deliverables (e.g., decks, briefs, models) that bring clarity to ambiguity and align stakeholders.

Interpersonal Skills

• Communication & Storytelling in Ambiguity: Clearly articulates evolving program plans and decisions, translating complexity into accessible narratives.
• Stakeholder Alignment Through Change: Ability to build trusted relationships and influence without authority across all levels, facilitating collaboration among stakeholders with competing or evolving interests.
• Resilient Team Collaboration: Maintains productivity and optimism within teams navigating change, risk, or ambiguous information.

This role will be required to work a hybrid schedule 2-3 days per week in the Columbus, OH office.

This is a G3 band role.

#LI-COLE

Job Description Summary

Are you a change agent who is process focused and detail oriented? Do you thrive in a busy, engaging work environment? If so, we want to know more about you!

As a Consultant, you'll lead design, planning and implementation of change strategies. This work includes implementation of program management, business readiness, and business release management capability projects to increase engagement, performance, and capacity for change. You’ll be responsible for multiple simultaneous medium and large-scale projects across channels, businesses and functions.

Job Description

Key Responsibilities:

• Manages program management and change management activities in alignment with Nationwide’s change strategy, methods, tools and program plans. Creates project plans, implementation strategy and consults with business and program leaders to ensure plans meet business need. Drives implementation of change enablement plans for successful completion of assigned projects.

• Assists in building program and change enablement methods, frameworks, tools and learning modules to evolve the enterprise change portfolio management capability into well-managed Business Releases, or improve the delivery of strategic programs, or increase operations capacity for change, engagement and performance.

• Consults with program leaders and executives from assigned program or business units to identify and addresses critical gaps that if not removed or reduced may prevent the sustainable adoption of change or the benefits realization of strategic investments including decision-making, risk and issue escalation, role clarity, change communication, business readiness, and other enabling competencies.

• Partners with program leaders to identify opportunities to strengthen sponsorship and key constituent support to drive the change work with the assigned program or business unit. This includes focus on building capacity for change within the program or business unit.

• Proactively supports and participates in program and change enablement Community of Practice networks to encourage capability uplift and proliferation of program and change competency and community. This includes identification and implementation of common development needs across program and change leaders. Networks include individuals and groups inside and outside of the organization who can provide quick advice or solutions; influence internal and external leaders, and share program and change enabling methods, tools and expertise.

• Responsible for developing in program and business unit leaders working knowledge and pragmatic application of program and change management methods and tools to deliver program results and business unit objectives.

• Contributes to the integration of change management strategies within broader business model to build growth and profitability.

• Contributes to the development of department and project budgets.

• Assists and coaches the internal staff; provides functional advice or training to less experienced team members; facilitates planning activities.

May perform other responsibilities as assigned.

Reporting Relationships: Reports to Director or Officer.

Typical Skills and Experiences:

Education: Undergraduate studies in business, applied management, or related field. Related graduate work (Organizational Development, Organizational Performance Improvement, MBA) preferred.

License/Certification/Designation: Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified Performance Technologist (CPT), or similar certification a plus.

Experience: Ten years of business experience with five years of experience in program and organizational change management, preferably in an Insurance or Financial services environment, delivering strategic programs and/or building organizational capability at the work group level. Two years management experience is preferred.

Knowledge, Abilities and Skills: Knowledge of strategic planning, program/project management, organizational development, and process management. Ability to consult with program leaders and lead program teams including developing plans, objectives and resource requirements within budgetary limitations. Negotiation and group facilitation skills; ability to evaluate and apply problem-solving methodology including needs assessment, data acquisition and root cause analysis, and interpretive/strategic planning analysis; verbal and written communication skills for contact with all levels of company personnel in direct and indirect reporting relationships, and other external parties; ability to direct and motivate associates in all aspects of work. Ability to understand how the business is leveraging core competencies for growth and profitability; understands the value proposition to external customers.

Other criteria, including leadership skills, competencies and experiences may take precedence.

Staffing exceptions to the above must be approved by the hiring manager’s leader and HR Business Partner.

Values: Regularly and consistently demonstrates Nationwide Values.

Job Conditions:

Overtime Eligibility: Not Eligible (Exempt)

Working Conditions: Normal office environment. Occasional travel. Nonstandard or extended work may be required based on project needs.

ADA: The above statements cover what are generally believed to be principal and essential functions of this job. Specific circumstances may allow or require some people assigned to the job to perform a somewhat different combination of duties. Regularly and consistently demonstrates the Nationwide Values.

Benefits

We have an array of benefits to fit your needs, including: medical/dental/vision, life insurance, short and long term disability coverage, paid time off with newly hired associates receiving a minimum of 18 days paid time off each full calendar year pro-rated quarterly based on hire date, nine paid holidays, 8 hours of Lifetime paid time off, 8 hours of Unity Day paid time off, 401(k) with company match, company-paid pension plan, business casual attire, and more. To learn more about the benefits we offer, click here.

Nationwide is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive culture where everyone feels challenged, appreciated, respected and engaged. Nationwide prohibits discrimination and harassment and affords equal employment opportunities to employees and applicants without regard to any characteristic (or classification) protected by applicable law.

NOTE TO EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES:

We value the partnerships we have built with our preferred vendors. Nationwide does not accept unsolicited resumes from employment agencies. All resumes submitted by employment agencies directly to any Nationwide employee or hiring manager in any form without a signed Nationwide Client Services Agreement on file and search engagement for that position will be deemed unsolicited in nature. No fee will be paid in the event the candidate is subsequently hired as a result of the referral or through other means.