Service Delivery Manager

Service Delivery Manager – Defence

Department: IT Location: North East Bristol – with parking Reports to: IT Operations Manager Salary: £54,102 to £67,056,

Contract: Permanent/Full-time

Are you an experienced Service Delivery Manager with a passion for leading teams, optimising IT services, and driving continual improvement?

Our client is looking for a proactive, people-focused leader to head up their General Operations Service Delivery team—someone who thrives in a dynamic environment, can make informed decisions, and is committed to delivering exceptional IT services across the organisation.

About the Role

As the Service Delivery Manager you will lead and manage our General Operations team within IT, ensuring that services meet the needs of the organisation and support strategic goals. Working closely with colleagues in Cyber Security, Solutions Architecture, Business Systems and Information Governance, you’ll play a key role in maintaining optimised, secure and compliant IT services.

You will build high-performing teams, refine and embed service delivery processes, and ensure that service levels and KPIs are consistently achieved. You’ll also champion our ITIL framework, take ownership of critical IT processes, and oversee service transition for new technologies and services.

Key Responsibilities

Service Delivery Leadership

• Lead, develop and motivate the IT Service Desk (General Operations) team.
• Ensure the delivery of high-quality IT support aligned with organisational priorities.
• Design and continuously improve service support processes in line with ITIL best practice.
• Define and adopt service design standards, SLAs and monitoring processes.

Operational Excellence

• Ensure service delivery meets agreed service levels and take ownership of service improvement initiatives.
• Lead on Problem Management, analysing trends and coordinating resolution teams.
• Produce detailed KPI reports for senior leadership.
• Support the design and improvement of the service catalogue and automation initiatives.

Incident, Change & Request Management

• Own Incident, Request, Change and Escalation processes, ensuring timely and accurate reporting.
• Lead major incident management, including coordination and communications.
• Chair the Change Advisory Board (CAB) when required.

Service Transition & Capacity Planning

• Manage service transition for all new services, ensuring seamless integration into operations.
• Oversee training delivery for new and existing technology services.
• Ensure future demand is understood and incorporated into capacity planning.

Supplier & Third-Party Oversight

• Conduct and manage internal and third-party service reviews.
• Monitor third-party performance against contractual obligations.
• Ensure high standards of security and compliance across services

Essential Experience & Skills

• Proven experience as a Service Delivery Manager (minimum 3 years).
• Strong communication, influencing and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience building, managing and developing technical teams.
• ITIL v4 Foundation qualification.
• Ability to bridge business, technical and security perspectives.
• Familiarity with best practice across Microsoft environments.
• Understanding of common compliance frameworks (e.g. ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials Plus).
• Vendor and supplier management experience.

If you are interested in this role please apply online or for more information please contact me on