Change Technical Lead in Gloucester

About Claranet

Founded at the beginning of the dot.com bubble in 1996, our CEO Charles Nasser had a light bulb moment to develop a truly customer-focused IT business. Since then, Claranet has grown from an Internet Service Provider (ISP) in the UK to being one of the leading business modernisation experts, who deliver solutions across 11+ countries.

At Claranet, we’re experienced in implementing progressive technology solutions which help our customers solve their epic business challenges. We’re committed to understanding their problems, delivering answers quickly, and making a lasting impact to their business.

We are agile, focused and experienced in business modernisation. Our approach helps customers make genuine, significant shifts in their business strategy, to deliver financial savings, boost innovation, and create a resilient business. We continually invest in our people and the latest technologies, so our customers get peace of mind knowing that they have access to the best talent and services.

In the UK we have over 500 staff working in London, Gloucester, Warrington, Leeds or as homeworkers.

Working For Claranet

Here at Claranet we pride ourselves on going the extra mile for and with our employees (yes, we really mean it).

We offer an extensive benefits package that you can tailor to your needs, inclusive of a matching contribution pension scheme, healthcare, insurance, dental, discounted gyms and app supported benefit access.

But what we think makes us different is "Team Claranet," our dedicated internal part of the business that supports you with matters close to your heart. We proudly support local charities in each of our office locations, support employees with paid charity leave, organise key charity fundraising event per year and have a dedicated committee responsible for supporting employee’s fundraising efforts.

Our Vision

Our vision is to become the most trusted technology solutions partner; renowned for being the best and brightest, having lasting impact with our customers and delivering exceptional returns to our stakeholders.

Position Summary

The Technical Solutions Change Team is responsible for the provision of in-life change to customers across the breadth of Claranet’s portfolio. This includes the management of technical configuration across customer solutions, as well as the development and implementation of change and governance processes relevant to Claranet customers.

In particular, the Technical Solutions Change Team Leader will be accountable for resourcing and prioritising workloads within the Technical Solutions Change Team, and for the enablement and enhancement of strong outcomes and KPI fulfilment across the team. c.6 Technical Solutions Change Engineers will report into this role.

Role Mission

Claranet’s strategy is to build long-term, trusted relationships with its customers by delivering market-leading, integrated managed services. We are seeking a Technical Solutions Change Team Leader to lead and manage the Technical Solutions Change team in delivering a seamless technical experience for our customers and ensuring that critical change and governance processes are developed and implemented with customer experience at their core.

Objectives & Key Results

• Understand and protect Claranet’s autonomous culture within the Technical Solutions Change Team, ensuring all Technical Solutions Change Engineers are empowered in their roles and encouraged to develop their skills
• Ensure that Technical Solutions Change Engineers can effectively prioritise their time and develop and implement a diverse range of change and governance processes
• Lead, mentor and manage the Technical Solutions team to ensure their skills and knowledge are up-to-date and aligned with the organisation's goals
• Ensure in-life KPI’s are delivered in line with customer contractual obligations

Duties and Responsibilities

• Manage, coordinate, lead and develop a team of Technical Solutions Change Engineers, being accountable for the high quality and timeliness of their outputs
• A player-coach role that leads by example with excellent technical expertise and soft skills
• Drive forward and progress Technical Solutions Change initiatives and technical configuration, using best practice change management methodologies and principles where relevant
• Develop and implement change management policies and procedures to ensure the effective resolution to all customer change requests
• Ensure that we are delivering change in the most effective manner that delivers our contractual outcomes
• Ensure the customer change framework allows for assessment of impact and success criteria and that requests are planned, approved, tested, and implemented in a controlled and standardised manner
• Design and implement automation where possible to reduce complexity and improve customer experience and effectiveness
• Provide resourcing for in-life managed services projects, including end-of-life and decommissioning activities
• Troubleshoot and rectify issues associated with the implementation of customer change and work with colleagues within the Technical Services department for escalation and consultation
• Manage the day-to-day performance and activity of the Technical Solutions Change team, ensuing all staff are sufficiently experienced, trained, and qualified, and can access relevant opportunities to upskill
• Lead, direct, coach, and develop direct reports, providing inspirational and forward-looking leadership
• Build trusted relationships with senior stakeholders across the business

Essential Roles & Responsibilities

• Manage, coordinate, lead and develop a team of Technical Solutions Change Engineers, being accountable for the high quality and timeliness of their outputs
• A player-coach role that leads by example with excellent technical expertise and soft skills
• Drive forward and progress Technical Solutions Change initiatives and technical configuration, using best practice change management methodologies and principles where relevant
• Develop and implement change management policies and procedures to ensure the effective resolution to all customer change requests
• Ensure that we are delivering change in the most effective manner that delivers our contractual outcomes
• Ensure the customer change framework allows for assessment of impact and success criteria and that requests are planned, approved, tested, and implemented in a controlled and standardised manner
• Design and implement automation where possible to reduce complexity and improve customer experience and effectiveness
• Provide resourcing for in-life managed services projects, including end-of-life and decommissioning activities
• Troubleshoot and rectify issues associated with the implementation of customer change and work with colleagues within the Technical Services department for escalation and consultation

People Leadership

• Manage the day-to-day performance and activity of the Technical Solutions Change team, ensuing all staff are sufficiently experienced, trained, and qualified, and can access relevant opportunities to upskill
• Lead, direct, coach, and develop direct reports, providing inspirational and forward-looking leadership
• Build trusted relationships with senior stakeholders across the business

Teams to Collaborate With

• Technical Solutions: Cloud, System, and Engineering – Work incredibly closely with colleagues in the Technical Solutions department and ensure that outputs delivered across the Claranet portfolio are aligned. Aid in the identification, design and implementation of automation, process improvement and smarter resourcing
• Business Development, Customer Growth, Customer Success, Sales Operations & Support – to ensure that interactions with and offerings to customers across the Customer Experience & Managed Service function reflect the latest Technical Solutions Change processes and activity

Position Specifications

• Flexible and creative to take considered risks
• Learn and adapt quickly to changing situations
• Self-motivated and able to work under pressure
• Manages conflict and challenges in an open and constructive manner

Behavioural Competencies – Organisational Behavioural Fit

• Flexible and creative to take considered risks
• Learn and adapt quickly to changing situations
• Self-motivated and able to work under pressure
• Manages conflict and challenges in an open and constructive manner

Critical Competencies – Technical Fit

• Strong organisational skills, including the delegation, prioritisation and management of multiple tasks simultaneously and effectively
• Strong knowledge and experience relevant to technical change management – in particular the delivery of in-life change to key customers – in order to perform complex tasks competently, confidently, and consistently
• Proven leadership capacity, with the ability to empower and motivate direct reports
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, in order to influence and engage stakeholders at all levels, and to synthesise technical change processes into their clear impacts and benefits
• Able to investigate, gather technical insight and data to resolve complex customer problems

Strong understanding of MSP, Cloud, Network and Communications products and services, which as a team, should broadly cover:

• Firewalls: Fortinet, Barracuda, Watchguard
• Networking: Cisco, DrayTek, Meraki – MPLS, WAN & SD-WAN concepts
• Traffic Management: F5, Netscaler, Azure Load Balancing
• Communications: IP Telephony, Teams Voice, O365, Exchange & Mail Security
• Hosting: Windows & Linux OS fundamentals
• Systems, Hyperscalars and Platforms: Azure, Meraki, DrayTek ACS, FortiManager, Ivanti Connect Secure

Additional Competency

• Good understanding of IT Service Management Principles