IT Service Lead, Financial Services

A well-regarded financial services firm is looking for an experienced IT Service Manager to take ownership of international support operations across London, Europe, the Middle East, and APAC. This is a genuinely hands-on role, split evenly across two areas: leading day-to-day support operations and owning the ITSM governance framework for the international organisation. You will be the senior escalation point for major incidents, manage a direct team and MSP partner, and drive the maturity of ITIL-aligned processes across the region. The environment is fast-paced and senior-stakeholder-heavy. You will regularly interact with Partners and senior leadership, so clear communication under pressure matters as much as technical capability.

Operational Support

• Owning day-to-day performance of the international support team across all regions, with accountability for SLAs and service quality.
• Acting as the escalation point for P1/P2 incidents, coordinating with infrastructure, network, and vendor teams to drive resolution.
• Managing and developing a direct team through regular outcome-based 1:1s and clear performance expectations.
• Overseeing the managed service partner across the region, holding regular service reviews and addressing delivery gaps.
• Ensuring out-of-hours and follow-the-sun coverage operates effectively with clear escalation paths.
• Producing and presenting regional operational reporting to the Global Support Head and local technology leadership.
• Providing technical support to senior leaders directly, when required.

ITSM Governance

• Maintaining and maturing Incident, Problem, Change, and Asset Management processes in line with an ITIL-aligned framework and audit controls.
• Administering and continuously improving ServiceNow workflows, including automation, routing rules, and reporting configuration.
• Actively participating in CAB meetings to assess risk and coordinate scheduling; leading end user communications ahead of impactful changes.
• Overseeing asset management across international offices, ensuring configuration items and inventory records are accurate and current.
• Driving Problem Management activity, ensuring root cause analysis is completed and recurring issues are closed out.
• Defining and governing the Knowledge Management framework, including article creation, approval, and retirement cycles.
• Supporting the transition of new systems and services into production as the operational acceptance owner.
• Identifying and driving continuous improvement through trend data, post-incident reviews, and stakeholder feedback.

What They Are Looking For

• Experience in IT support operations, including leadership of international or multi-site teams.
• Financial services background is essential: investment banking, asset management, or professional services.
• Technically capable and still close to the work, not purely a manager.
• Strong ITIL v4 knowledge across Incident, Problem, Change, and Configuration; certification preferred.
• Hands-on ServiceNow experience including workflow configuration, automation, and reporting.
• Comfortable running CAB meetings, managing MSP relationships, and owning operational reporting.
• Clear and confident communicator at Partner and senior leadership level.
• PowerBI or equivalent for dashboards and performance reporting is a plus.

This is a London-based permanent role reporting into both local and New York-based technology leadership. If this sounds like the right move, get in touch.