JC1322 - Service Transition Lead in Manchester

At AQA, we’re committed to advancing education and we’re committed to our people. As the largest provider of academic qualifications in the UK, we mark over 10 million exam papers each year and it’s our people who make this happen.

Fixed term (24 months) Manchester Salary: £54,300 - £60,700 Hybrid (minimum 2 days per week in the office)

If you enjoy bringing order to complexity and making things work seamlessly behind the scenes, this could be a great fit. As a Service Transition Lead, you’ll play a key role in ensuring new IT services don’t just go live—but land well. You’ll be at the centre of change, helping shape how services transition into real-world use across AQA.

Purpose of the Role

You’ll make sure new and changing services are introduced in a way that is controlled, secure and fully supportable. Working closely with projects and programmes, you’ll ensure everything is in place before go-live—from support models and documentation through to stakeholder readiness.

This is an opportunity to join a growing function at AQA. Service Transition is now embedded into the wider project delivery framework, meaning every project flows through it. With major programmes on the horizon—including digital transformation, AI-driven initiatives and the move toward digital exams—you’ll be part of shaping how these services land and operate successfully for colleagues and learners alike.

Key Responsibilities

• Leading service transition across projects, ensuring services are ready, supportable and aligned at go-live
• Working with project teams to define and secure service acceptance criteria, including running readiness checkpoints
• Connecting teams across Enterprise Technology to ensure support teams and stakeholders are prepared for live service

What We Are Looking For

You’ll suit this role if you’re confident working across teams, comfortable challenging where needed and focused on outcomes.

• Experience in service transition, service management or IT project delivery, or a similar governance role
• Understanding of ITIL principles (certification helpful but not essential)
• Ability to influence and guide stakeholders, including handling challenging conversations
• Experience working across multiple teams or suppliers in an IT environment
• Strong communication, with a calm and pragmatic approach

What’s in It for You

• This is a role where your work has real impact—making sure critical systems are ready and reliable from day one.
• Opportunity to build expertise in service transition and IT service management
• A 35‑hour working week with flexible, hybrid working
• Exposure to high‑profile, business‑critical programmes.
• 25 days’ annual leave (rising to 30), plus Christmas closure days
• Excellent pension (up to 11.5% employer contribution)

Diversity and Inclusion Statement

At AQA, we are committed to fostering a workplace that celebrates diversity and promotes equity and inclusion. We believe that a diverse team brings richer perspectives and drives better outcomes. Our ED&I strategy ensures that everyone—regardless of religion, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, age, disability, sexual orientation, or background—is valued, respected, and empowered to thrive. We actively promote inclusive language, avoid stereotypes, and strive for representation across all dimensions of diversity. We welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds and lived experiences.

Application Process

To apply, please submit your CV along with a short cover statement outlining your interest. Application deadline: Sunday 31 May 2026

Interview process:

• Stage 1: Microsoft Teams interview
• Stage 2: Face-to-face interview at our Manchester office

Recruitment Agencies

We have a preferred supplier list (PSL) in place. Unsolicited CVs will be treated as a gift. We will not be subject to or liable under your terms and conditions for agency fees.

Full Job Description Summary

Purpose: The Enterprise Technology department delivers IT services across AQA. The Service Transition Lead ensures that new, changed or retired services are effectively transitioned into or out of live operation. This includes assessing service readiness against agreed acceptance criteria, coordinating with delivery teams and ensuring that support functions are fully prepared to manage and sustain the service.

Reporting to the Service Transition Manager, the role requires strong collaboration across delivery and operational teams, with a focus on ensuring that services are introduced in a controlled, consistent, secure and supportable manner. The Service Transition Lead also contributes to the ongoing development and maturity of the Service Transition function, supporting continuous improvement and alignment with AQA’s strategic goals.

As a Service Transition Lead, you will:

• Collaborate closely with Business Change Hubs including Programme and Project Management and the PMO, to ensure timely delivery of service-related documentation.
• Engage early with programmes, projects, and initiatives to assess service transition requirements and estimate the effort needed for successful implementation.
• Provide recommendations on go-live readiness, early-life support and service acceptance.
• Ensure service acceptance criteria are clearly defined, communicated and understood across IT Operations and relevant business areas.
• Confirm service acceptance criteria and secure sign-off at appropriate stages of the delivery lifecycle.
• Ensure service transition activities are aligned with IT Operations and business expectations, enabling a smooth transition into live service and handover of support.

Landscape: The Enterprise Technology Department, part of the Global Corporate Services Division, enables the centralised delivery of core corporate services and works closely with Assessment Technology and Programme Management to deliver the full IT service portfolio. Enterprise Technology comprises the following functions:

• Service Delivery (including Service Desk)
• Enterprise IT Services (Desktop, Systems & Infrastructure)
• Enterprise Applications
• Enterprise Architecture
• Security, Risk & Data Protection

Service Transition Leads will play a pivotal role in ensuring that new, changing, or retiring services are transitioned effectively and in alignment with established processes. Working closely with projects and programmes to monitor transition progress, escalate issues where necessary and ensure service readiness.

Activities:

• Ensure services are transitioned according to defined processes, escalating risks or issues as needed.
• Drive delivery of transition activities, ensuring appropriate resourcing and alignment with service plans.
• Conduct weekly, monthly, and ad hoc reviews of programmes and projects to assess the state of service transition and identify risks or gaps.
• Act as a key liaison for Enterprise Technology, supporting complex portfolio activities with clear service transition planning.
• Confirm service acceptance criteria, securing sign-off at appropriate stages.
• Schedule and chair Go Live Readiness and Acceptance into Service checkpoints to confirm Enterprise Tech requirements met and obtain approvals.
• Collaborate with internal teams and suppliers to execute transitions and hand over services for ongoing management.
• Ensure knowledge transfer and documentation updates are completed as part of transition.
• Engage with business stakeholders, including Business Owners, Product Owners & Service Owners to ensure service transition aligns with operational expectations and readiness.
• Engage with Enterprise and Assessment Architecture teams to ensure alignment between service transition planning and architectural direction.
• Support strategic planning for future support models and organisational design, ensuring prioritisation and scheduling of service impacts.
• Review and feed into project risk logs, working with workstream leads to identify and mitigate service-related risks and ensure appropriate handover of residual or ongoing risks to the operational risk register as part of Acceptance into Support.
• Prepare RAG status reports and other stakeholder communications to ensure visibility of progress and issues.
• Align project plans with capacity planning across Enterprise Technology and ensure resource availability.
• Maintain strong relationships with governance groups and stakeholders, ensuring clear and timely communication.
• Collaborate with Change Management to align transitions with change enablement processes.
• Contribute to the continual development of the project delivery framework, with a focus on service-oriented documentation.
• Ensure that Enterprise Technology low-level Projects/Initiatives not governed by the wider AQA Project Governance Framework still adhere to service transition principles.
• Provide guidance and oversight to ensure non-framework initiatives meet minimum service transition requirements and are appropriately tracked and reported.
• Feed into and collaboratively maintain the Enterprise Technology Project Register to ensure visibility of Service Transition involvement and engagement across all levels of projects and initiatives, including those outside the formal AQA governance framework.
• Use the register to track transition status and support prioritisation and planning across the Enterprise Technology portfolio.
• Maintain the SharePoint repository and associated Teams site for service transition artefacts, ensuring updates to key resources such as templates, checklists and Checkpoint Countdown trackers.
• Report directly to the Service Transition Manager, providing regular updates on transition progress.
• Escalate issues, risks, or blockers that may impact service readiness, go-live decisions or operational support to the Service Transition Manager in a timely and structured manner. Escalations may also inform weekly and monthly reporting to the Senior Leadership Team.
• Provide reasonable cover for Service Transition Manager tasks during periods of leave, ensuring continuity of transition oversight and stakeholder engagement.
• Report on KPIs and success metrics.
• Collaborate with the Service Transition Manager to align transition activities with strategic priorities and ensure consistency across programmes, projects, and Level 3 initiatives.
• Maintain a pragmatic, outcome-focused approach to service delivery, balancing process adherence with flexibility to meet business needs.
• Actively contribute to the maturity and evolution of the Service Transition function by identifying opportunities for continual service improvement, including process enhancements, tooling updates and documentation refinements.
• Support the development and implementation of improvement initiatives, ensuring lessons learned from transitions are captured and used to inform future practices.

To be successful in this role, you will need to demonstrate:

• Broad understanding of the education sector and AQA’s operations.
• Strong understanding of project delivery methodologies and service transition principles.
• Commercial awareness and familiarity with budgetary considerations.
• Strong people management and coordination skills to motivate and guide colleagues.
• Excellent communication, with the ability to influence, negotiate and provide constructive challenge.
• Effective use of project and portfolio management tools to support delivery.
• Pragmatic, outcome-focused approach; calm and resilient under pressure.
• Problem-solving skills to unblock challenges that may hinder progress.

Essential Criteria

• ITIL Foundation certification (ITIL Practitioner or higher preferred).
• Proven experience in service transition, service management and/or IT project delivery.
• Good understanding of ITSM frameworks and best practices (e.g., ITIL).
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Demonstrable experience leading transition and organisational design activity for managed service implementations.
• Experience managing cross-functional teams and complex transitions.
• Experience operating within ITIL-based environments and processes.

Desirable Criteria

• PRINCE2, Agile or other recognised project management certification.
• Experience in large-scale IT environments or regulated sectors (e.g., public sector, finance).