Head of IT Corporate Operations

This is a critical role within the Senior Technology Leadership team, reporting to the Chief Digital and Technology Officer.

The technology division comprises approximately 250 colleagues (of which, approximately 70 are contingent contractors) and works with several strategic third party suppliers to deliver the strategic objectives for the division and wider organisation.

The technology estate is complex, and the organisation is undergoing considerable transformation. The technology division is pivotal to these changes.

The primary responsibility of the Head of IT Corporate Operations is to lead and manage the delivery of high-quality, reliable, and secure IT services across the UKHO (approximately 1,000 employees working on a predominately hybrid basis).

The Head of IT Corporate Operations is responsible for ensuring operational excellence and readiness, continuous improvement, and alignment with strategic business objectives.

The role is accountable for designing and delivering first-in-class service and requires engagement with senior colleagues, the Executive Leadership team within the UKHO, as well as senior stakeholders across MoD.

The role is responsible for overseeing service desk operations, corporate IT provision including first and second line support, incident and problem management, change control, service performance monitoring, contract management and business relationship management.

As part of the Technology Senior Leadership team this role will provide overarching leadership and be a role model for technology managers and specialists to create a high-performing, customer-centric division with continuous improvement and service at the heart of the culture.

Given this is a senior leadership role there is the expectation to be on site 3 days a week.

Job description

• The technology estate is hybrid and highly complex and this role will lead multi-disciplinary teams that are accountable for diverse and challenging tasks.
• The estate has a significant proportion of legacy and technical debt.
• This role will be accountable to supporting the teams in setting the bar high for robust root cause and resolution – driving an environment and culture of continuous improvement and service excellence.
• Diagnosing complex service disruptions and coordinating rapid resolution.
• Balancing competing priorities across multiple service areas.
• Designing and implementing service improvements in a live operational environment.
• Fact-finding and analysis of service performance data to identify root causes.
• Creative input into service transformation and automation initiatives.
• Managing a complex legacy estate whilst transitioning to new transformative solutions.
• Ensure the UKHO is seen as a strategic partner in all vendor relationships.
• Driving evidence-led customer and service focussed, high-performing and engagement culture.
• Ensuring solutions and services are comprehensively documented and knowledge is centrally and consistently managed.
• Ensuring corporate IT services are cost effective and drive value for money from the investments made.
• Driving innovation and continuous service improvements across the corporate systems.
• Providing leadership and guidance to teams, especially at times of complex change and service impacting incidents.
• The teams require a leader that is accessible and visible to them providing the guidance they require whilst role modelling the desired behaviours and values of the organisation.
• This role needs to set the bar for a high performing technology teams, and provide support and direction to the team managers and specialists to drive the desired behaviours and values in achieving a high-performing, customer-centric, high-value culture.

This role requires DV clearance and SC clearance at the start.

Person specification

• Proven experience in IT service management, operating at a senior level within a complex and technology driven organisation.
• Proven experience of turnaround performance and service delivery.
• Experience with service desk tools monitoring platforms and reporting dashboards

Experience:

• The technology estate is hybrid and highly complex and this role will lead multi-disciplinary teams that are accountable for diverse and challenging tasks.
• The estate has a significant proportion of legacy and technical debt.
• This role will be accountable to supporting the teams in setting the bar high for robust root cause and resolution – driving an environment and culture of continuous improvement and service excellence.
• Diagnosing complex service disruptions and coordinating rapid resolution.
• Balancing competing priorities across multiple service areas.
• Designing and implementing service improvements in a live operational environment.
• Fact-finding and analysis of service performance data to identify root causes.
• Creative input into service transformation and automation initiatives.
• Managing a complex legacy estate whilst transitioning to new transformative solutions.
• Ensure the UKHO is seen as a strategic partner in all vendor relationships.
• Driving evidence-led customer and service focussed, high-performing and engagement culture.
• Ensuring solutions and services are comprehensively documented and knowledge is centrally and consistently managed.
• Ensuring corporate IT services are cost effective and drive value for money from the investments made.
• Driving innovation and continuous service improvements across the corporate systems.
• Providing leadership and guidance to teams, especially at times of complex change and service impacting incidents.
• The teams require a leader that is accessible and visible to them providing the guidance they require whilst role modelling the desired behaviours and values of the organisation.
• This role needs to set the bar for a high performing technology teams, and provide support and direction to the team managers and specialists to drive the desired behaviours and values in achieving a high-performing, customer-centric, high-value culture.