Head of IT

Role: Head of IT

Location: Derbyshire-based on a hybrid basis (primary site + travel to other UK locations)

Direct Reports: Three capability leads + individual contributors (circa 18–20 people)

Salary: £ + Various other benefits

My client is a leading UK-based provider in its sector, operating a nationwide service network with a large field-based workforce and multiple operational sites. It forms part of a wider European group backed by private equity.

The business delivers a high volume of customer jobs annually across multiple channels, including insurance, fleet, and private customers.

The company is on a strong growth trajectory, with an ambitious commercial plan targeting significant revenue and profitability growth over the next several years. IT is a critical enabler of this strategy, particularly in improving operational efficiency, automating workflows, and supporting commercial delivery.

This is a newly created position to provide operational IT leadership across the UK business. The Head of IT will hold full accountability for the day-to-day running of the IT function, including infrastructure, applications, service desk, and security execution.

The role reports to the IT Director, who retains overall strategic and group-level accountability.

The IT function currently consists of approximately 20 people across development, infrastructure, support, and compliance. While technically capable, the team has operated with limited structure for a period of time. The successful candidate will assess capability, structure, and performance within the first 90 days and implement improvements as required.

• Own the day-to-day operation of the IT function across:
• Delivery & applications
• Infrastructure & security
• End-user support
• Establish and maintain a clear operating rhythm (weekly delivery cadence, monthly executive reporting, quarterly planning cycles)
• Own vendor and contract management, procurement coordination, and IT budget/cost control
• Maintain oversight of IT estate, including lifecycle and end-of-life planning
• Lead the people agenda: objectives, one-to-ones, development plans, and performance management
• Review and optimise development team structure, including allocation of technical authority and delivery ownership
• Work with delivery leadership to prioritise work based on business value
• Build and maintain asset and contract registers with forward visibility of renewals and risks
• Manage the interface with Group IT, ensuring alignment without dependency on external timelines
• Drive documentation and knowledge sharing to remove single points of failure
• Own the service desk function, including SLA definition, demand reduction, and onboarding/offboarding processes

• Complete a full audit of infrastructure, systems, and contracts
• Establish structured team management (objectives, one-to-ones, performance expectations)
• Assess and recommend optimal development team structure
• Evaluate all roles against the target operating model and identify gaps or development needs
• Initiate documentation and knowledge transfer across critical systems
• Implement a consistent delivery and reporting cadence with key stakeholders

Essential:

• Proven experience leading an IT function (approx. 15–25 people) across development, infrastructure, and support
• Strong people leadership and performance management capability
• Commercial mindset with the ability to link IT activity to business outcomes
• Experience managing vendors, contracts, and IT budgets
• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, private equity-backed or high-change environment
• Sufficient technical depth to understand architecture without being hands-on in all areas
• Experience with cloud platforms (e.g. AWS and/or Azure) and legacy environments

Desirable:

• Experience in a multi-site operational business (e.g. logistics, field service, distribution)
• Familiarity with ITIL / ITSM frameworks
• Experience managing organisational change or restructuring
• Awareness of information security standards (e.g. ISO 27001) and regulatory/compliance environments