Sr Manager, Culture Activation (Change Management- Product to Market Transformation)

About the Role

Gap Inc. is seeking a strategic and people-centered Senior Manager of Culture Activation to lead change strategy and execution within the Product-to-Market (P2M) transformation. This role sits at the intersection of organizational change, communications, and capability building, driving the conditions that enable teams across brands and functions to adopt new ways of working and thrive in a transformed operating model.

As a senior practitioner and people manager, you will own the design and delivery of culture activation plans across one or more pillars of the transformation program, managing a team of change practitioners while operating as a strategic partner to program leadership, cross-functional partners, and senior stakeholders. You will set the tone for how change lands, ensuring it is human-centered, brand-relevant, and connected to the broader transformation vision.

This is a high-complexity role operating within one of Gap Inc.'s most consequential transformation programs. The program will touch virtually every function across all four brands, and the change impacts are significant. The Senior Manager of Culture Activation will navigate a wide and demanding stakeholder landscape spanning program leadership, brand presidents, SVPs, cross-functional leads, and frontline practitioners, often simultaneously. Success requires someone who can hold that complexity without losing the thread, build trust across levels and functions, and keep the human dimension of change at the center, even when the program is moving fast. This role requires someone who can operate at altitude and in the details simultaneously, shaping strategy with program leaders one moment and rolling up their sleeves to craft the communication or tool that makes change real for a merchant on the floor the next.

What You'll Do

• Lead the design and end-to-end execution of culture activation strategies across assigned transformation pillars, owning the full arc from change impact assessment through go-live and sustainment.
• Manage and develop a team of Culture Activation practitioners, providing coaching, clear direction, and the conditions for high performance.
• Serve as a senior change advisor to pillar leads, functional heads, and cross-functional partners, translating program milestones into activation plans that account for brand nuance, functional readiness, and audience-specific needs.
• Own the change narrative for your pillar, ensuring messaging is consistent, additive, and connected to the broader transformation vision across all touchpoints and audiences.
• Build and maintain robust change infrastructure: stakeholder maps, change impact assessments, readiness trackers, communication plans, and RACI frameworks that scale across brands and functions.
• Drive a top-down cascade approach, ensuring VP and Director-level leaders are equipped with talking points, pre-drafted communications, and the context they need to lead change effectively within their teams.
• Develop high-quality communications, cascade materials, and enablement tools tailored to each audience tier, from senior leaders to front-line practitioners, with the creativity and intentionality to make information land and stick.
• Partner with Learning & Development to align training strategy with change milestones, ensuring readiness is built before go-live and reinforced through sustainment.
• Track adoption health, change readiness, and resistance signals, synthesizing insights into recommendations that sharpen strategy and inform program leadership decisions.
• Build and steward a change network and community of practice across the program, driving connection, shared learning, and consistent activation across brands and functions.
• Represent Culture Activation in program leadership updates, executive forums, and cross-pillar coordination, communicating progress, risks, and asks with clarity and confidence.

Who You Are

• Seasoned change management practitioner with significant experience leading organizational change in complex, matrixed environments, ideally within retail, consumer goods, or enterprise transformation programs.
• People manager with a track record of developing practitioners and building high-performing teams through periods of ambiguity and scale.
• Strategic thinker who can design the activation plan and write the email, equally comfortable at the leadership table and in the execution details.
• Deep expertise in culture activation and change management methodologies (Prosci or equivalent); certification strongly preferred.
• Exceptional communicator with the ability to craft and tailor messaging across audiences, from frontline teams to SVP and VP stakeholders.
• Skilled at building trust and alignment across cross-functional teams, with a bias toward collaboration and co-authorship over top-down direction.
• Highly organized with the ability to manage multiple workstreams, shifting priorities, and tight timelines without losing sight of the human dimension of change.
• Comfortable operating in a program environment where not everything is defined, able to create structure, navigate ambiguity, and keep momentum going.
• AI-fluent and able to apply emerging tools practically, from content development and stakeholder analysis to communication design. Comfortable helping teams build AI literacy as part of the change journey.
• Creative and resourceful in stakeholder engagement, brings fresh thinking to how people absorb, retain, and act on information. Goes beyond standard formats to design experiences that make change memorable, relevant, and stick.
• Genuine passion for helping people navigate change, with empathy, clarity, and follow-through as non-negotiables.