Principal, Culture and Business Transformation

About the Client Advisory Services (CAS) Team

The Client Advisory Services team is building best-in-class advisory services to serve top management teams at companies and private equity firms on the strategy and execution of shared ownership programs. This includes helping companies to structure and implement optimal broad-based equity plans, develop a robust engagement and ownership culture, and increase employees’ financial wellbeing.

In 2025, the organization will work with over 35 private equity firms to support the implementation of shared ownership programs in their portfolio companies. The organization also supports public companies and family-owned businesses.

Ownership Works and its team members are:

• Results-oriented with a culture of humility and excellence.
• Pragmatic optimists who enjoy translating “big ideas” into actionable plans and results.
• Strategic, curious, diverse, and accountable.
• Incredibly fast-moving as we build and grow the organization.

About the Position

Ownership Works is seeking a mission-driven, people-centered leader to join our Client Advisory Services team as a Principal. In this role, you’ll serve as a strategic advisor and hands-on implementation partner to private equity investors and public and private companies undergoing cultural and business transformation through shared ownership. Experience in industries like retail, manufacturing, or service-based sectors is especially valuable, as is a familiarity with the day-to-day realities of frontline workforces. This leader should bring significant experience working with leadership teams and different functions/levels in the organization to drive change within organizations — ideally in a people, culture, or operations leadership role — and be skilled at client-facing project delivery, team leadership, and navigating complex stakeholder dynamics.

The Principal will drive the tempo of engagements, ensuring that companies are efficiently and effectively moving through the stages of structuring and implementing shared ownership programs. The successful candidate will have a passion for business and culture transformation, social enterprise, value creation, and teamwork and will bring significant experience managing cross-functional initiatives, strong executive presence, and exceptional interpersonal and project management skills.

Core Goal

Lead and project manage the day-to-day execution of client engagements, taking ownership of its end products. Help establish Ownership Works as a thoughtful, catalytic, value-added advisor to companies implementing shared ownership programs.

What this position offers you

• A unique opportunity to impact the lives of many hard-working individuals while developing valuable management consulting capabilities and experience.
• An exceptional opportunity to help investors, companies, and leaders transform businesses and maximize shared value creation and shared wealth.
• Work alongside leaders and pioneers in the employee ownership field.
• A collaborative and people-centered organization with a team of highly talented colleagues passionate about making a positive impact on society and creating great workplace places.
• Frequent feedback and coaching to help you achieve your career goals.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and manage key relationships within Ownership Works’ client portfolio.
• Lead and manage teams to support investors and companies with structuring and implementing transformational ownership programs, with a strong focus on building ownership cultures.
• Participate in developing and delivering the next generation of Client Advisory Services methodology, content, tools, and analytics to help companies build cultures where employees feel, think, and act like owners.
• Provide ongoing professional skills development and coaching for team members.
• Work in close collaboration with Ownership Works’ team of subject-matter experts and strategic partners.
• Significantly contribute to the development of our practice to achieve our ambitious mission and growth targets.

Preferred Skills & Qualifications

• Proven experience working with executive leadership and managing business, organizational culture transformation from within a company (e.g., People/Talent, L&D, HR, or Ops leadership roles).
• Experience designing and implementing enterprise-wide initiatives to drive employee engagement and alignment.
• Strong understanding of how organizations operate, including cross-functional decision-making, change readiness, and stakeholder alignment.
• Background working in high-growth, fast-paced environments, such as startups or companies undergoing major change or restructuring.
• Familiarity with industries like retail, restaurants, logistics, or services, and an understanding of frontline employee dynamics.
• Excellent project management and relationship-building skills; able to manage multiple engagements and communicate effectively with executives and frontline teams alike.
• Ability to diagnose and advise on dynamics that are helping and hindering organizations from making progress on their transformation journey.
• Exceptional writing and verbal communication skills.
• Strong creative thinking and conceptual problem-solving skills.
• Comfort with ambiguity.
• Strong executive presence and relationship management skills.
• Excellent presentation skills: ability to effectively articulate the O.W. value proposition to various stakeholders; skilled in adapting style and approach to disparate audiences.
• Comfortable with the realities of working at a startup nonprofit organization, including the need to be both strategic/planning-oriented and tactical/action-oriented to advance the mission in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent people manager; excels at inspiring their team and leading by example.
• Passion for social justice and the mission of Ownership Works; interest in becoming a subject matter expert in employee ownership.

Minimum Qualifications

• B.A./B.S. required.
• Advanced graduate degree (e.g., MBA, MPA, etc.) preferred.
• 12+ years of job experience with at least five years of practical in-house HR, people or operating experience, managing business transformation and culture change initiatives.

At Ownership Works, we are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, so if you’re excited about this position but your experience doesn’t precisely align with every qualification, we still encourage you to apply. 

Equal Opportunity Employer

Ownership Works is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Base Salary Compensation Range

The compensation available for the role considers a variety of factors, including but not limited to, work location, individual skill set, previous/applicable experience, and other business needs. The estimated salary range for individuals who work in New York City is $215,000 - $230,000 plus an annual discretionary performance-based bonus.

Benefits

Competitive compensation package commensurate with professional services sector experience. Benefits include excellent health, vision, and dental care benefits for you and your family, unlimited paid time off, 401(k) retirement plan with generous employer contributions, and 18 weeks fully paid parental leave.

Location

O.W. is building a New York City-based team. The team works from our brand-new Midtown Manhattan office space two days per week.

About Ownership Works

Founded in 2021, Ownership Works (O.W.) is a fast-growing nonprofit organization with a mission to increase prosperity through shared ownership at work. O.W. helps companies and investors implement shared ownership programs that make every employee an owner and honor the collective effort behind a company’s success. At scale, employee ownership can help millions of workers build savings and wealth, often for the first time, at businesses that are more dynamic, resilient, and successful.

O.W. has set an ambitious goal of creating at least $20 billion of wealth for workers by 2030 and, over the long term, making broad-based employee ownership the new norm at work. To achieve these goals, O.W. has two areas of focus:

Movement Building. Through partnerships, network-building, education, data, and storytelling, O.W. is building a movement to increase the adoption of shared ownership by private and public companies. Over 90 private equity firms, financial institutions, foundations, labor advocates, and pension funds have joined the O.W. consortium as Founding Partners and made unprecedented commitments to advance the shared ownership movement.

Hands-on Guidance. In collaboration with its Founding Partners, O.W. helps public and private companies implement broad-based employee ownership programs that improve corporate cultures, increase employee engagement and satisfaction, and create an alignment of interests between employees and employers, all of which can support better outcomes for companies and workers. Since O.W.’s founding, over 145 companies have implemented shared ownership programs, reaching over 236,000 workers.
 

Ownership Works is certified as a Great Place to Work.

For more about O.W.’s programs and impact, visit https://ownershipworks.org.