At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead a team to ensure tech services are reliable and meet business goals.
- Company: Join Allstate, a leader in protecting families for over 90 years.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, career growth, and a collaborative work environment.
- Other info: Dynamic role with opportunities for professional development and innovation.
- Why this job: Make a real impact on service reliability and customer satisfaction.
- Qualifications: 4+ years in tech services and 2+ years in leadership roles required.
The predicted salary is between 63000 - 77000 £ per year.
At Allstate, great things happen when our people work together to protect families and their belongings from life’s uncertainties. For more than 90 years, our innovative drive has kept us a step ahead of our customers’ evolving needs.
Your role in the team
The Service Manager - Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) is responsible for ensuring the reliability, availability, observability, and operational excellence of technology services while maintaining strong alignment with business objectives. This role serves as the primary owner of service health, incident and problem management, operational governance, continuous service improvement, and stakeholder engagement. The Service Manager partners closely with engineering, platform, infrastructure, security, and business teams to deliver stable, resilient, and high-performing services that align with business objectives and customer expectations. The role drives proactive risk management, operational maturity, automation, and service improvements while ensuring adherence to established operational processes and governance standards. The role also provides leadership across incident, problem, change, release, and service management disciplines for a team of Service Analysts to deliver resilient, secure, and customer-focused services that meet organizational goals.
Key responsibilities:
- Own the overall health, reliability, availability, and observability of critical business applications and technology services, ensuring alignment with established service commitments and customer expectations.
- Establish, monitor, and report on Service Level Agreements (SLAs), Service Level Objectives (SLOs), Error Budgets, availability, performance, and operational KPIs to drive service excellence.
- Lead Major Incident Management activities, coordinating cross-functional teams during outages, ensuring effective communication, rapid service restoration, and completion of Root Cause Analysis (RCA) for critical incidents.
- Drive Problem Management practices by identifying recurring issues, analyzing systemic failures, implementing permanent corrective actions, and reducing operational risk through preventive measures.
- Govern Change and Release Management processes by assessing operational risk, improving change success rates, supporting production readiness reviews, and coordinating maintenance and deployment activities.
- Ensure effective observability across services through monitoring, alerting, logging, dashboards, and operational reporting that provide actionable insights into service health and performance.
- Promote automation and operational efficiency by reducing manual processes, eliminating repetitive tasks, and advancing Infrastructure as Code (IaC), DevOps, self-healing, and auto-remediation capabilities.
- Partner with engineering, platform, infrastructure, security, and business teams to proactively improve service resilience, scalability, stability, and customer experience.
- Serve as the primary operational liaison for business stakeholders and vendors, providing regular service reviews, communicating risks, managing escalations, and ensuring alignment with business objectives.
- Ensure adherence to ITIL-based operational processes, governance standards, compliance requirements, audit obligations, and the maintenance of operational documentation, runbooks, recovery procedures, and service support artifacts.
- Lead continuous service improvement initiatives focused on reducing Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR), increasing service stability, improving customer satisfaction, and enhancing operational maturity.
- Foster a culture of operational excellence, accountability, proactive risk management, customer focus, and continuous improvement across the service organization.
- Own, lead, and facilitate operational governance ceremonies, including service reviews, incident and problem management reviews, change governance forums, operational readiness assessments, stakeholder communications, and executive service reporting.
- Create, maintain, review, and ensure compliance with operational documentation, runbooks, standard operating procedures (SOPs), knowledge articles, audit evidence, disaster recovery procedures, and certification-related artifacts.
- Provide leadership and oversight across incident, problem, change, release, and service management disciplines while ensuring consistent execution of operational processes and governance standards.
- Lead, mentor, coach, and develop a team of Service Analysts, fostering technical growth, accountability, collaboration, and operational excellence.
- Provide training for team members and users while assisting in building organizational bench strength through knowledge sharing, cross-training, and professional development initiatives.
- Support operational risk management activities by identifying service vulnerabilities, assessing impacts, developing mitigation plans, and improving overall service resilience.
- Collaborate with engineering and platform teams to improve service reliability, scalability, security, and production readiness while supporting modernization and transformation initiatives.
- Drive strategic operational improvements that enhance service quality, customer experience, business alignment, and long-term operational sustainability.
Essential Skills:
- All applicants must demonstrate they have a legal right to work in the UK for employment at Allstate. Allstate is not providing sponsorship for this vacancy.
- A minimum of 4 years of experience supporting, or improving enterprise technology services, infrastructure environments, platform operations, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), IT Operations, or Service Management disciplines. (Or Equivalent).
- A minimum of 2 years leading and mentoring teams within service reliability, availability, performance, and/or operational governance within a large enterprise environment.
- Experience leading Major Incident response activities, coordinating cross-functional teams, and driving RCA efforts and corrective actions.
- Experience implementing operational improvements, automation initiatives, risk-reduction measures, and continuous service improvement programs.
- Strong understanding of observability practices, including monitoring, alerting, logging, dashboards, and operational reporting.
- Knowledge of ITIL principles and IT Service Management (ITSM) processes.
- Experience developing and maintaining operational documentation, runbooks, support procedures, recovery documentation, and knowledge articles.
Desirable Skills:
- Experience working within a SRE, DevOps, Cloud Operations, Platform Engineering, Enterprise Operations, or production support environment.
- Experience supporting Identity and Access Management platforms, including IAM, ISAM, IBM Verify, SailPoint, or related identity technologies.
- Experience managing Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and operational Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). (Or Equivalent)
- Knowledge of networking technologies, firewalls, DNS, load balancing, and enterprise infrastructure concepts.
- Experience leading or mentoring a team of engineers. (Or Equivalent)
- Experience with Infrastructure as Code, automation frameworks, cloud-native operational practices, self-healing systems, or auto-remediation.
- Familiarity with API management platforms and enterprise service-integration technologies.
- Experience supporting messaging or event-streaming platforms such as Kafka.
- Knowledge of middleware or integration technologies such as TIBCO or comparable enterprise platforms.
- Experience supporting cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, or Google Cloud Platform.
- Experience using ServiceNow or a comparable ITSM platform.
- Knowledge of compliance, risk management, audit controls, operational resilience, business continuity, and disaster recovery practices.
- Relevant professional certifications, such as ITIL, SRE, cloud, Kubernetes, security, ServiceNow, or comparable technology certifications.
- Experience leading operational maturity assessments, service governance programs, or production readiness reviews.
Job Posting End Date: Monday 21st September 2026 (11:59pm)
Service Manager, Site Reliability Engineering employer: Allstate Northern Ireland Limited
Allstate Northern Ireland Limited is an exceptional employer that fosters a collaborative and innovative work culture, perfect for those passionate about Infrastructure as Code (IaC). With a strong focus on employee growth, you will have access to continuous learning opportunities and the chance to work with cutting-edge technology in a cloud-first environment. Located in Northern Ireland, the company offers a supportive atmosphere where your contributions directly impact scalable automation across enterprise platforms.
Contact Details:
Allstate Northern Ireland Limited Recruitment Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Service Manager, Site Reliability Engineering
✨Join the IT Consultancy Buzz
Get involved in local or virtual IT consultancy meetups and forums. This is where we can rub shoulders with industry professionals, get insights into what Allstate Northern Ireland Limited values, and even spot unadvertised opportunities. Don't miss out on these chances to make a name for ourselves in the IT world!
✨Show Off Your Skills
Create a personal project or case study relevant to the challenges Allstate Northern Ireland Limited might face. Use platforms like GitHub or Medium to share your findings. This not only demonstrates our consulting skills but shows a proactive attitude, making us stand out from the crowd when applying for that full-time gig.
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Follow and engage with the relevant thought leaders and influencers in IT consultancy on LinkedIn. Share insightful content and join discussions to gain visibility. A well-placed comment or shared article could catch the attention of someone at Allstate Northern Ireland Limited!
✨Direct Apply to Allstate Northern Ireland Limited
Let's not forget to apply directly through the Allstate Northern Ireland Limited website! Tailor your application to showcase our understanding of their consulting style and how we can contribute to their projects. A personalised approach can make a huge difference in landing that full-time position!
We think you need these skills to ace Service Manager, Site Reliability Engineering
Some tips for your application 🫡
Showcase Your Problem-Solving Skills:In IT consulting, it's all about problem-solving, so make sure your CV highlights your analytical skills and any relevant projects you've tackled. Mention specific technologies or methodologies you've used to resolve issues or improve processes; this shows you can think critically and deliver results, which is vital for us at Allstate Northern Ireland Limited.
Highlight Relevant Certifications:Certifications like ITIL, PMP, or even specific tech stack qualifications can really make you stand out. Make sure to include these in your CV, as they not only demonstrate your expertise but also your commitment to staying current in the field. We love seeing candidates who are proactive about their professional development!
Tailor Your Cover Letter:Your cover letter is your chance to connect personally with us at Allstate Northern Ireland Limited. Share stories about your experiences in IT consulting, and how they shaped your desire to join our team. Mention why you’re excited about this particular role, and how you see yourself contributing to our projects.
Keep It Clear and Concise:We're all busy, so make sure your application is easy to read. Use bullet points for key achievements, and don’t overload us with jargon. A clean, professional layout goes a long way. Remember, the clearer your application, the more likely we are to invite you in for an interview!
How to prepare for a job interview at Allstate Northern Ireland Limited
✨Brush Up on Your Technical Skills
For an IT consulting role, be ready to demonstrate your technical prowess. You might face questions on systems integration, cloud technologies, or even troubleshooting specific software. If you have experience with tools like AWS, Azure, or even specific programming languages, make sure you can talk about them fluently.
✨Showcase Your Problem-Solving Approach
IT consulting is all about solving problems for clients. Think about how you can illustrate your approach to a past challenge using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result). It's a great way to show how you tackle complex issues and come up with effective solutions.
✨Know the Business Impact of IT Solutions
When discussing your experiences, focus not just on the tech solutions you implemented, but also on their business impact. Employers want to see that you can connect IT with organisational goals. Prep examples that highlight how your tech contributions improved efficiency or reduced costs for past clients or projects.
✨Prepare for Behavioural Questions
Since IT consulting often involves teamwork and client interactions, expect behavioural questions that assess your interpersonal skills. Be prepared with examples that demonstrate your adaptability, communication skills, and how you handle client feedback. Before the interview, think of situations where you worked closely with clients to create effective IT strategies or changes.
