IT Service Management Manager

The Service Management Manager is a leadership role responsible for driving service excellence, operational maturity, and consistent delivery across the entire IT organisation. Acting as the Director’s deputy, the role provides strategic oversight of service operations, ensures alignment with governance and compliance frameworks, and leads the evolution of ITSM capabilities to support a scalable, resilient and customer- centric IT function.

This role owns the IT service management roadmap, champions best practice (ITIL, ISO, NIS2), and ensures that processes, tooling, and behaviours across Infrastructure, Service Desk, Cyber Security and Applications are cohesive, measurable and continuously improving. The postholder will represent IT in cross-functional forums, lead incident, problem and change Governance and serve as the escalation point for service performance and operational risk.

• Significant experience in IT Service Management leadership within a medium or large organisation.
• English is essential, both written and verbal. Fluency in both German is preferred.

• Proven track record of maturing ITSM processes and driving operational excellence.
• Experience acting as a deputy or second-in-command to senior IT leadership.
• Strong background in incident, problem, change, and service performance
management.
• Demonstrable experience leading cross-functional teams and influencing senior
stakeholders.
• Experience working within regulated or compliance-driven environments (ISO27001,
NIS2, GDPR).
• Hands-on experience with modern ITSM platforms (Ivanti, ServiceNow, Jira Service
Management, Freshservice, etc.).
• Strong understanding of infrastructure, service desk operations, and cyber security
interdependencies.
• ITIL v3/4/5 Managing Professional or Strategic Leader certification.
• ISO27001 Lead Implementer or Auditor (advantageous).
• Experience with NIS2-aligned operational governance.
• Project or programme management certification (PRINCE2, Agile PM, PMP).
• Experience implementing service automation, self-service portals, and workflow
optimisation.
• Strong analytical skills with experience using service metrics, dashboards, and
reporting tools.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and leadership capability.

Deputy Leadership
o Act as deputy to the Director of IT & Cyber Security, providing leadership
coverage, decision-making support, and operational oversight when required.
o Able to represent and support IT & Cyber in senior leadership meetings,
steering groups, and governance boards.
o Provide coaching and direction on Service Management to team leads across
IT.

Service Management Ownership
o Own and evolve the IT Service Management strategy, ensuring alignment
with organisational goals and compliance requirements.
o Lead the maturity uplift of ITSM processes including Incident, Request,
Problem, Change, Release, Knowledge, Asset, and Configuration
Management.
o Maintain and improve the ITSM framework, ensuring processes are
documented, adopted, and continuously improved.

Operational Excellence
o Oversee service performance, SLAs, KPIs, and customer satisfaction metrics
across all IT functions.
o Chair major incident reviews, problem management forums, and service
review meetings and others in the service of Service Management.
o Ensure consistent root cause analysis, trend identification, and proactive
service improvement initiatives

Governance & Compliance
o Ensure ITSM processes support ISO27001, NIS2, GDPR/UK GDPR, and
internal audit requirements.
o Maintain service-related risk registers, operational controls, and evidence for
audits.
o Work closely with Cyber Security to ensure operational processes support
secure-by-design principles.

Tooling & Automation
o Own the roadmap for ITSM tooling (e.g., Ivanti, ServiceNow, Jira Service
Management), ensuring effective use, automation, and integration.
o Drive adoption of self-service, knowledge management, and workflow
automation.

Stakeholder & Customer Engagement
o Act as the senior point of contact for service performance, customer
experience, and operational escalations.
o Build strong relationships with business stakeholders, ensuring IT services
are aligned with business needs and expectations.

Continuous Improvement & Culture
o Champion a culture of accountability, transparency, and service excellence.
o Lead service improvement programmes, maturity assessments, and
capability uplift across IT Foundations.
o Mentor team members and promote professional development in ITSM disciplines