Senior IT Service Manager
Department: SBSS IT
Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time
Location: Bristol
Compensation: Competitive package
Description
The Senior IT Service Manager is responsible for the end-to-end delivery, stability, and continuous improvement of Technology Services across the Group. The role ensures platforms, applications, and end user services operate reliably, securely, and in line with business priorities, regulatory requirements, and operational resilience standards.
Providing senior leadership across IT service management, you will oversee operational support teams and act as the key authority for service performance, major incident management (including BCP), executive reporting, and technology resilience.
What you'll be responsible for: Service Desk & End-User Support
- Lead the Group Service Desk, ensuring consistent, high-quality support across all locations.
- Define and monitor SLAs, KPIs, and customer satisfaction, driving continuous improvement and automation.
- Oversee effective incident management, including triage, escalation, and communication.
Application & Platform Support
- Own support for business-critical applications, ensuring performance and availability targets are met.
- Establish clear support models, governance, and escalation paths with teams and suppliers.
- Oversee platforms including Unified Communications and Microsoft 365, ensuring reliability, performance, and adoption.
Major Incident & Service Performance
- Act as senior escalation point for major incidents, leading response, communications, and recovery.
- Own service performance reporting, delivering clear insights and trends to senior leadership.
- Drive continual improvement through data, service reviews, and performance analysis.
Problem & Change Management
- Lead problem management to reduce recurring incidents, ensuring root cause analysis and action tracking.
- Oversee change governance, ensuring changes are assessed, controlled, and aligned to risk and business priorities.
- Set service acceptance standards for new or changed services.
Business Resilience (BCP / DR)
- Provide leadership for IT resilience through oversight of BCP and DR capabilities.
- Ensure critical services have robust, tested plans and that risks, gaps, and test outcomes are addressed.
ITSM Framework & Service Management
- Own the ITSM operating model, aligned to ITIL and integrated with risk and security.
- Drive improvements across service catalogue, request fulfilment, knowledge management, and asset/configuration management.
- Lead service level management maturity, including service reviews and experience-led measures.
People Leadership
- Lead and develop multidisciplinary teams across Service Desk, Application Support, Platforms, and Resilience.
- Build a strong service-focused culture with clear objectives, accountability, and continuous development.
Governance, Risk & Compliance
- Ensure alignment with risk appetite, security standards, and regulatory requirements.
- Support audits and proactively identify and manage operational and resilience risks.
What you'll need: Essential
- Proven senior IT Service Management or Technology Operations experience.
- Strong knowledge of ITIL-aligned service management practices.
- Experience leading major incident and crisis management.
- Track record managing large-scale service desk and application support functions.
- Excellent stakeholder management and executive communication skills.
- Experience working within regulated or risk-focused environments.
Desirable
- Experience with Microsoft 365 and Unified Communications platforms.
- Exposure to Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery, or operational resilience.
- Familiarity with FCA/PRA requirements or ISO 22301.
- Experience producing senior or Board-level service and risk reporting.
Our Benefits
- Hybrid working - 2 days in the office and 3 days working from home
- 25 days annual leave, rising to 27 days over 2 years' service and 30 days after 5 years' service. Plus bank holidays!
- Discretionary annual bonus
- Pension scheme - 5% employee, 6% employer
- Flexible working - we will always consider applications for those who require less than the advertised hours
- Flexi-time
- Healthcare Cash Plan - claim cashback on a variety of everyday healthcare costs
- Electric vehicle - salary sacrifice scheme
- 100's of exclusive retailer discounts
- Professional wellbeing, health & fitness app - Wrkit
- Enhanced parental leave, including time off for IVF appointments
- Religious bank holidays - if you don't celebrate Christmas and Easter, you can use these annual leave days on other occasions throughout the year.
- Life Assurance - 4 times your salary
- 25% Car Insurance Discount
- 20% Travel Insurance Discount
- Cycle to Work Scheme
- Employee Referral Scheme
- Community support day