Head of Service Management

The Head of Service Management is a pivotal leadership role at GSTT, responsible for driving excellence across ITSM and IT Training. You will be responsible for shaping strategy, improving service performance, and modernising how digital services are delivered across one of the UK's most complex healthcare environments. To succeed, you'll need to bring deep service management expertise, strong commercial acumen, and the ability to lead transformation at scale. You'll be a cultural leader as much as a strategic one—building high-performing teams, influencing senior stakeholders, and embedding innovation, automation, and continuous improvement into every layer of service delivery.

This role offers the freedom to shape strategy, deliver real impact, and set a national benchmark for operational excellence. If you want a role where you can build, transform, and leave a legacy—this is it. This is more than a job. It's a mandate to modernise, to innovate, and to lead. Are you ready to set a new national benchmark for digital service excellence?

Main duties of the job

• Lead the development, implementation, and maintenance of the service management strategy.
• Oversee IT Training and all Service Management disciplines.
• Manage large and complex third-party and outsourcing arrangements.
• Act as Senior Responsible Officer for major technology-led programmes.
• Drive operational performance, ensuring services are fit for purpose and aligned with Trust requirements.
• Develop and embed benchmarks and metrics for continuous improvement.
• Build and maintain strategic relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Lead, motivate, and develop high-performing teams, fostering a culture of excellence and inclusivity.

Key skills and qualities sought:

• Extensive senior leadership experience in large, complex environments.
• Deep expertise in service management, strategic planning, and transformation.
• Strong commercial acumen and negotiation skills.
• Highly developed communication, influencing, and leadership abilities.
• Ability to analyse complex data, drive performance, and deliver innovation.
• Commitment to Trust values: Caring, Ambitious, Inclusive.

About us

You’ll join a dynamic, forward-thinking team within the DT&I Directorate, working alongside technical and service delivery experts who are passionate about enabling patient-facing colleagues and delivering outstanding digital services. The team culture is collaborative, supportive, and driven by a shared commitment to continuous improvement and innovation. You’ll benefit from a positive, inclusive atmosphere where professional development is encouraged, and your contributions are valued. The Trust is committed to flexible working, equality, diversity, and supporting staff wellbeing. You’ll have the opportunity to work across multiple sites and with partner organisations, contributing to a culture that puts patients first and values every team member’s input.

Job responsibilities

• Deputising for the Director of Information Technology as required.
• Developing and delivering the Service Management strategy, aligned with Enterprise Technology Strategy.
• Leading Trust-wide strategic programmes and initiatives.
• Overseeing policy development, governance, and performance reporting.
• Managing budgets (circa £810m revenue, 70 WTE staff) and capital investment for service improvement.
• Building effective relationships with Clinical Directors, General Managers, Heads of Nursing, and corporate leads.
• Representing the Trust at national and sector-wide forums.
• Driving cultural and process change, embedding continuous improvement.
• Ensuring robust financial management and delivering value for money.
• Promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion across the directorate.

Key relationships:

• Internal: Director of Information Technology, Clinical Directors, General Managers, Heads of Nursing, Corporate leads, DT&I senior leadership, and Trust Senior Leadership.
• External: NHS Digital, NHS England, partner Trusts, professional networks, third-party suppliers, and clinical influencing networks.

Person Specification

Qualifications/ Education

• Master’s degree, and additional in-depth professional training and knowledge of financial management, performance management, transformation and service improvement, to doctorate or equivalent level, acquired through training and experienced over an extended period.
• Formal qualification in a Technology or Services discipline.
• Evidence of continued professional and managerial development.
• MBA qualification, or equivalent professional qualification or experience.

Knowledge and Experience

• Extensive experience of leadership and achievement at a senior level in a relevant field in a large, complex environment.
• Extensive, in-depth experience of formulating long term, organisation-wide strategic plans and development of projects resulting in positive value for money outcomes, adjusting plans and strategies in anticipation of complex environmental and political changes.
• Extensive experience of delivering successful transformation in operational services and implementing innovation in practice.
• Excellent in-depth understanding and specialist knowledge of improvement methodology, tools and techniques.
• Highly developed communication skills, with ability to communicate highly complex and sensitive information where barriers to understanding and acceptance exist and exceptional influencing skills are required.
• Highly developed leadership skills with the ability to enthuse, motivate and involve individuals and teams, and have them understand the Trust-wide and local performance expectations.

Skills & abilities

• Track record of effective engagement and partnership working with senior internal and external stakeholders.
• Highly developed negotiating skills within complex, challenging and at times antagonistic environments.
• Ability to analyse, synthesise and interpret highly complex data, filtering and interpreting often conflicting information to develop Trust-wide policy.
• Intellectual flexibility with the ability to cut through ambiguity and complexity and to shape and implement a vision that looks beyond existing structures, ways of working, boundaries and organisations to produce more effective and innovative service delivery models.
• Independent self-starter, able to work with a very high level of autonomy.
• Flexible and resilient approach, able to work under pressure.
• Team player, able to motivate and inspire.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.