IT Service and Operations Manager/Head of IT Service and Operations in London

Chambers and Partners is seeking a dynamic IT Service and Operations Manager / Head of IT Service and Operations to lead and professionalise our IT service delivery. In this pivotal role, you'll manage end user support, infrastructure operations, and information security, ensuring the timely and effective provision of IT services across the business. You'll oversee a small in-house support team and work closely with third-party providers for infrastructure and cybersecurity. With a strategic mindset and hands-on approach, you'll define and drive the roadmap for service management and cyber security to support our evolving business needs.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

• SERVICE MANAGEMENT & IT OPERATIONS (c40%)
  • Accountable for the delivery of IT services to agreed Service Levels, namely: Service Desk, end user support and service request fulfilment.
  • Incident Management, Problem Management, Change Management.
  • Patch Management, Asset Management.
  • Monitoring of all infrastructure and applications, ensuring effective event management and response.
  • Lead and manage in-house End User support team and 3rd party service management supplier.
  • Monitor, review and report service levels monthly, initiating service improvement as required.
  • Own and triage request and incident backlogs.
  • Act as escalation point for key business stakeholders.
  • Lead incident management, effectively restoring services and stakeholder communications.
  • Identify opportunities to improve service availability.
  • Own the roadmap for scaling and enhancing service management.
  • Own and ensure effective disaster recovery and business continuity plans are in place.
  • Own and ensure IT policies are relevant, communicated and complied with.
• INFORMATION SECURITY (c30%)
  • Liaise with third-party vendor to ensure delivery of IT security to agreed levels, namely: Threat detection and response, Vulnerability management, Cyber awareness and Phishing management, Data Protection services.
  • Oversee and manage the Cyber security strategy, working with our third-party providers to maintain minimal risk to the business.
  • Drive and maintain a low-risk estate through proactive vulnerability and patch management.
  • Achieve Cyber security certifications including Cyber Essentials+ and drive ISO27001 certification.
  • Own and ensure IT security policies are relevant, communicated and complied with.
• INFRASTRUCTURE OPERATIONS (c30%)
  • Manage third party providers of IT infrastructure/cloud services, ensuring effective operations of: Azure cloud infrastructure (servers and data), Virtual Network infrastructure (Firewalls, VNets, Security policies), Core services (DC, Exchange, DHCP, O365, Telephony etc), Office and end user infrastructure.
  • Manage the optimisation of IT infrastructure and services (via 3rd parties), monitoring cost utilisation and attributing to service and product lines of business.
  • Manage and execute RBAC permissions across subscriptions and resources.
  • Firewall configuration management in Azure.
  • Entra ID Management including enterprise apps and security groups.
  • Contribute to the strategy and roadmap for infrastructure and environment improvements, reflecting Chambers future ambitions, engineering needs and cost optimisation.
• MANAGEMENT & CULTURE
  • Accountable for providing leadership and pastoral care to your team, mentoring, motivating and developing them to get the best results.
  • Drive a culture of customer and service-led improvement, measured by core KPIs.

Skills and Experience

• Experience managing or working in service management positions, with good knowledge of Cloud infrastructure.
• Experience of effectively managing third parties services.
• Able to plan and transform service delivery provision, taking appropriate sourcing decisions.
• In-depth knowledge of service delivery and ITIL processes, with knowledge of service KPIs, SLAs etc.
• Demonstrable experience leading Incident resolution in an incident manager capacity.
• Good knowledge of IT policies and processes, including security and DR.
• Significant experience in / managing the following service disciplines: Service Desk and end user support services, Incident Management, Problem Management, Change Management, Patch Management, Asset Management, Licence Management, Operational monitoring, Event Management & response, Disaster Recovery and business continuity.
• Experience in or good knowledge of a number of the following security disciplines: Threat detection and response, Vulnerability management, Cyber awareness and Phishing management, Mobile Device Management.
• Experience in or good knowledge of infrastructure/cloud operations, specifically: Azure cloud infrastructure (servers and data), Network infrastructure (Firewalls, VNets, Security policies and network security groups), including firewall configuration management across Azure, Core services (DC, Exchange, DHCP, O365, Telephony etc), End user services, such as telephony, Executing RBAC permissions, Entra ID Management including enterprise apps and security group.
• Experience managing and mentoring technology team.
• Experience building, developing and managing technology improvement programmes.
• Experience selecting and managing third party suppliers and solutions.
• Evidence of setting vision and direction, inspiring and engaging the team to deliver excellence.
• Technically astute, with in good knowledge of IT Operation and infrastructure.

Person Specification

• Passionate about technology infrastructure (Cloud), platforms and delivering exceptional service to customer and the business.
• Able to switch between visionary, strategic thinking and 'business as usual' operations.
• Prioritisation skills to handle fast-paced dynamic environment.
• Constructively challenges convention and seeks new ways of achieving better results.
• Regularly demonstrates sound and pragmatic judgement, balancing pace, risk and business value to reach decisions which are well informed and actionable.
• Proactive self-starter who continuously seeks ways to improve.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with ability to communicate complex subjects, 'sell' ideas, and influence business and technology stakeholders at all levels.
• Attention to detail, focused on the finer details that make the difference.
• Provides thought leadership in service and infrastructure domains.

Equal Opportunity Statement

We are committed to fostering and promoting an inclusive professional environment for all of our employees, and we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. Diversity and inclusion are integral values of Chambers and Partners and are key in our culture. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all qualified individuals regardless of age, disability, race, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital status, or pregnancy and maternity. This commitment applies across all of our employment policies and practices, from recruiting and hiring to training and career development. We support our employees through our internal INSPIRE committee with Executive Sponsors, Chairs and Ambassadors throughout the business promoting knowledge and effecting change. As a Disability Confident employer, we will ensure that a fair number of disabled applicants that meet the minimum criteria for this position will be offered an interview.