Service Assurance Lead in Binfield

About the role

As the Service Assurance Lead you will provide assurance that all Service Management Centre outcomes are being delivered effectively across the Partnership. You will define the appropriate outcomes and then ensure key stakeholders in Technology Product and Platform teams are carrying out the required activities relating to Capacity, Disaster Recovery (DR), Business Continuity (BC), Risk and Service Design & Transition. You will ensure technology and security controls are effectively and proportionately monitored and managed across the Technology function.

You will own the decisions for:

• Defining and implementing the appropriate guardrails predominantly relating to Capacity Management and service continuity
• Ensuring Product and Platform teams are compliant with the above, providing subject matter expertise and intervening where required
• Drafting and ongoing management of assurance outcomes with third party suppliers and contracts

You will also have key input into decisions on DR/BC Testing, Risk Management, Audit, Business Capacity Planning – key business events and processes which feed into Operations (change management). You will work closely with the other Service Management areas and interface with the established Product & Platform teams to embed capability within areas. In the Technology Shared Capability, you will have the opportunity to develop and stretch personally and professionally to achieve your potential.

The Partnership supports agile and flexible working practices, such as when, where and how we work. We have several different ways to work flexibly, including part-time, flexible or compressed hours, and job sharing. Head office areas also support a blended working approach.

We celebrate diversity and inclusion in the John Lewis Partnership and we are committed to becoming the UK’s most inclusive business, reflecting and connecting with the diverse communities that we serve.

Contract type - This position is a permanent contract

Salary - The expected salary for this role is up to £75,000

Working pattern/flexible working - The Partnership has adopted a hybrid working approach, meaning you'll be able to work a mixture between the office and home based upon your personal needs whilst balancing the needs of the business. The team comes into the office once every week.

Location - This role is based at our Bracknell office.

Key Responsibilities:

• Accountable for ensuring that the future demand of Partnership for IT resources, where known, has been identified, required capacity requirements have been calculated and reported.
• Own and be accountable for the Capacity and Availability Management process, and take the lead role in setting and ensuring all capacity management standards and goals are applied and met, ensuring appropriate adherence by all new and changed services.
• Accountable for ensuring that the capacity and availability management process is clearly defined and understood and has the senior support required by the rest of IT and the wider business.
• Provide leadership and stakeholder management, including building and maintaining relationships with strategic operational 3rd parties.
• Accountable for ensuring that the overall plans in the event of any anticipated service continuity event have been adequately prepared and tested and be responsible for leading and managing that IT service continuity event if it should occur.
• Own and be accountable for the IT service continuity management process taking the lead role in setting and ensuring all IT service continuity standards and goals are applied and met, ensuring appropriate adherence by all new and changed services.
• Accountable for ensuring that the IT continuity and service management process is clearly defined, understood and has the senior support required by the rest of IT and the wider business.
• Responsible for supporting Continuous service improvement initiatives and metrics.
• Ensure Service Management is compliant with Audit at all times in close collaboration with the wider Assurance team.
• Engage with your function to embrace agile working principles by demonstrating a flexible approach to working, supporting colleagues to secure the success of the Technology Shared Capability.

Essential skills/experience you’ll need:

• Hold a similar role within the Partnership or an external organisation at a similar level.
• Recognised internally and externally for knowledge and expertise in areas of Capacity and Availability.
• Strong working knowledge of ITIL (3 or 4) or equivalent qualification.
• Demonstrates a broad outlook and ability to think on medium to long‑term horizons.
• Demonstrates ability to ‘think on feet’ anticipate complications and establish priorities.
• Thinks conceptually; recognises connections to larger frames of reference (the big picture) and translates between abstract ideas and practical use.
• Demonstrates clear leadership experience and the ability to influence and persuade.
• Ability to make sound decisions which influence the work of the Partnership’s objectives and financial performance.
• High impact leader and trusted advisor: has full confidence of peers and senior IT Leadership.
• Demonstrates consistent ability to work collaboratively and communicate effectively, formally and informally, with all stakeholders.
• Demonstrates understanding and knowledge of audience and tailors message and delivery method accordingly.

Desirable skills/experience you may have:

• Experience of working in a SIAM environment.
• Working knowledge of Agile methodologies eg Scrum, Kanban.
• Relevant qualification or relevant industry knowledge and experience.
• Experience with working with offshore managed service providers.

Important points to note:

It’s important to note that some of our roles are subject to pre‑employment vetting (which may include DBS checks for successful candidates). If required, you’ll be informed and provided with information about vetting during the recruitment process and we encourage you to complete any vetting documents quickly to avoid delays. Any DBS checks required will be carried out by a third‑party registered body and financial probity checks may also be required for some of our roles.

We occasionally close vacancies early in the event we receive a high volume of applications, and therefore, we recommend you apply early. If you require a reasonable adjustment due to a disability which means you may need longer to complete your application please contact us as soon as possible.

We want all of our Partners to have a good work‑life balance and we support flexible working. This might mean flexible or compressed hours, job sharing or shorter hour contracts, where possible. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.