IT Service Design & Introduction Lead (VP)

My Banking client is seeking to recruit an IT Service Design & Introduction Lead (VP) on an initial 6-month contract based in London. It is hybrid and will require 2/3x days onsite per week.

The Service Design and Introduction Lead role is to ensure that all new or changed IT and business services are effectively designed, governed, and introduced into the live environment in a way that meets regulatory, operational, and business requirements. It acts as a bridge between project delivery and operational teams, ensuring services are production-ready, resilient, and aligned with internal and external standards. The role will also support the Service Management Lead in developing and embedding a formal Service Design and Introduction process across the organisation, helping to establish consistent practices, reduce risk, and ensure operational readiness.

Service Design & Transition

• Lead the end-to-end service design and introduction lifecycle for all ECB programme deliverables.
• Define and implement service design packages (SDPs) for new or changed services, ensuring alignment with regulatory requirements and internal standards.
• Collaborate with architecture, engineering, and operations teams to ensure services are designed for resilience, scalability, and supportability.
• Ensure all service components (SLAs, OLAs, support models, runbooks, monitoring, etc.) are in place before go-live.

Programme Support

• Act as the service readiness lead for the ECB regulatory deliverables, ensuring all services are compliant
• Support the delivery of the mandated capabilities such as enhanced reporting, operational resilience, and service continuity.
• Ensure traceability of service design decisions to ECB regulatory requirements and internal audit standards.

Service Management Process Development

• Support the Service Management Lead in the design, documentation, and implementation of the Service Design and Introduction process
• Help define governance, templates, and workflows to standardise service onboarding and transition.
• Contribute to training and awareness sessions to embed the process within delivery and operational teams.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Engage with senior stakeholders across Technology, Risk, Compliance, and Business to ensure service readiness aligns with strategic objectives.
• Facilitate service readiness reviews and go/no-go decisions for programme milestones.
• Provide regular updates to programme governance forums and readiness steering committees.

Operational Readiness

• Ensure all operational teams are trained and equipped to support new services.
• Oversee the creation and validation of support documentation, knowledge articles, and escalation procedures.
• Drive the implementation of service monitoring, alerting, and reporting aligned with expectations.

Continuous Improvement

• Identify and implement improvements to the service introduction process
• Contribute to the development of service management frameworks and tooling enhancements.

Skills required:

Knowledge & Skills

• Proven experience in Service Design and Transition within a regulated financial services environment.
• An understanding of ECB regulatory frameworks, particularly in the context of operational resilience and service management.
• Experience supporting large-scale transformation programmes
• Deep knowledge of ITIL v4 service management frameworks.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to influence at all levels.
• Strong documentation and process design capabilities.
• Experience with the service management tool ServiceNow.

Preferred Qualifications

• ITIL v4.
• Project management certification.
• Proficiency in tools like Visio & SharePoint for service documentation and process mapping.
• Background in enterprise architecture or solution design.

Regulatory Knowledge

• Knowledge of ECB SSM (Single Supervisory Mechanism) expectations and DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act) is advantageous.