IT Service Manager

IT Service Manager

Location: Watford (Hybrid: 3 days office / 2 days WFH)Salary: Up to £80,000 + bonus Benefits: Private healthcare, £500/month car allowance Hours: 37.5 per week (Mon–Fri)

My client is seeking an experienced IT Service Manager to take ownership of end-to-end IT service delivery across core infrastructure and enterprise technology platforms. This role is critical to ensuring the stability, performance, and scalability of foundational IT services that underpin the entire business.

Operating in a multi-vendor, outsourced environment, you will drive service excellence, governance, and continual improvement across hosting, networks, enterprise applications, cybersecurity tooling, and site infrastructure. You will work closely with internal teams and external partners, applying SIAM principles to coordinate cohesive, high-quality service delivery aligned with SLAs, compliance standards, and business goals.

Key Responsibilities

End-to-End Service Management

• Own the lifecycle of back office services—from design and transition through to operation and retirement.
• Maintain accurate Service Catalogue and CMDB data, ensuring clear service ownership and dependencies.
• Ensure services meet SLA, KPI and compliance commitments.

Service Value & Business Alignment

• Align service delivery to business outcomes such as stability, cost optimisation, and risk reduction.
• Conduct quarterly value reviews with stakeholders.
• Benchmark service performance and cost against industry standards.

Service Integration & Governance (SIAM)

• Coordinate internal teams, global IT, and outsourced suppliers under a unified governance model.
• Ensure consistent processes, standards, and performance across all partners.
• Collaborate with incident, problem, and major incident managers to ensure swift resolution.

Performance, Risk & Continuous Improvement

• Analyse service trends and lead improvement initiatives in stability, automation, and efficiency.
• Deliver structured service reviews and improvement roadmaps.
• Ensure adherence to IT policies, cybersecurity standards, and audit requirements.
• Oversee smooth transition of new or changed services into stable operations.

Collaboration & Leadership

• Work with Service Managers across other domains to deliver frictionless end-to-end IT services.
• Partner with Product Management, Architecture, and Vendor Management to ensure strategic alignment.
• Promote a culture of accountability, service ownership, and customer focus.

About You

Essential Experience:

• Strong background managing infrastructure services (servers, networks, hosting, storage, databases, AD, data centres).
• Experience in multi-vendor or outsourced delivery environments.
• Proficiency supporting enterprise applications including Microsoft 365.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Strong ITIL and SIAM expertise.
• Experience across incident, problem, and change management.
• Comfort with budget oversight and cost allocation.
• High-quality documentation and reporting skills.

Desirable:

• Experience leading teams within a matrix environment.
• Knowledge of back office business processes and systems.
• Strong analytical and process-improvement mindset.