JC1322 - Service Transition Lead in Manchester

Service Transition Lead

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

Introduction

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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• Collaborate 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
• Use the register to track transition status and support prioritisation and planning across the Enterprise Technology portfolio
• Maintain the Share Point 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
• 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
• What We Are Looking For
• 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
• 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
• What’s in It for You
• 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.

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, 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, focusing on controlled, consistent, secure and supportable transitions.

The Service Transition Lead also contributes to the ongoing development and maturity of the service function, supporting continuous improvement aligned with AQA’s strategic goals.

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)
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