Csdrhrt

I am eight months into my first full-time job. I have a specialized skill set post-graduation, and have been working in a mid-sized R&D company. A recent reorganization relocated my team from our current place in the company. As part of this reorg, we changed managers, job descriptions, and job responsibilities.

Instead of working across groups within the company, we now report to the highest level of the company directly. It has been strongly implied that this indicates increased trust and responsibility, which is supported by the reality of our changing work requirements.

However, the reorg has substantively altered our job functions by removing the portion of the work I was enjoying, and has instead focused me on labor I dislike & feel is relatively uninteresting to me personally. I am no longer learning from my work, despite the fact that I can do it well. Additionally, my skill set is now extremely underutilized. One side-effect is an order-of-magnitude uptick in stress.

I want to talk with my manager about this, but talking with him carries some risk. Our previous jobs - and our previous work - functionally no longer exist, period end. There is no "moving back," and even aside, we were moved because we were needed. I also don't have a good solution to offer, and expressing dislike with my current position will sound aimless and dejected.

I could potentially ask to be moved to a different project area, but no matter which way it's cut, it would also cause a major headache for me to leave. We've subsumed an important corporate function, and I'd rather not be a headache this early in my career.

How can I balance these needs? I obviously need to talk about this with my manager, but can I do it without jeopardizing my job security, and without compromising on my own enjoyment of my work? What kind of risk does this situation put me in?

(As an aside, finding a new job at a different company is a costly option for me. I have nothing negative professionally, but I am transgender, and it often takes us far more time to find a job anywhere in skilled labor, a situation which is often worse in STEM industry.)