Senior Service Assurance Manager in Salisbury

On behalf of the DSTL, we are looking for a Senior Service Assurance Manager (Inside IR35) for a 12 Month contract based Remote with occasional travel to Salisbury. DSTL is the Ministry of Defence (MOD)'s science and technology organisation, providing unique expertise, crucial insights and delivering battle-winning solutions for the benefit of the nation and allies. DSTL is one of the principal government organisations dedicated to science and technology in the defence and security field. DSTL supplies specialist and sensitive services to MOD and wider government, working collaboratively with external partners in industry and academia and worldwide, providing expert research, specialist advice and invaluable operational support.

SC Clearance is an essential requirement for this role, as a minimum you must be willing & eligible to undergo checks. Please note, due to the exceptional requirements of this position (short-term nature of this role and speed at which we require a postholder in situ) preference may be given to candidates who meet all of the essential criteria and hold active security clearance.

• Be accountable for the management and maintenance of the configuration process for Dstl services, applications, and infrastructure.
• Provide assurance that data is accurate, complete, and compliant with established processes and policies.
• Lead and support other CMDB users, including suppliers, to maintain high standards of data quality and consistency.
• Develop, implement, and monitor principles and policies for the secure and effective management of Dstl's CMDB and configuration data.
• Enable automation and operational efficiency by integrating configuration data with service management processes.
• Drive the adoption of the CMDB across divisions as the single source of truth for IT assets and configuration data.

• Proven experience managing or administering a Configuration Management Database (CMDB) within a complex or multi-supplier environment.
• Strong understanding of IT service management (ITSM) principles and configuration management best practices (ITIL v4 desirable).
• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate across technical and business teams.
• Experience developing and maintaining data governance frameworks, ensuring integrity, security, and compliance.
• Ability to identify risks, provide assurance, and elevate issues to senior leadership.
• Demonstrated experience in driving continuous service improvements and cross‑functional collaboration to enhance process maturity.

Please be aware that this role can only be worked within the UK and not Overseas. Our work in defence, security and intelligence requires our employees to be UK Nationals who are able to gain a high level of security clearance to undertake the projects we are involved in to protect us from security threats. For this reason, only UK Nationals will be able to apply for this role. If you are an international or dual‑national candidate, and you think you have the skills we need, please consider applying to any of our government, security or defence partners.

As a member of the Disability Confident Scheme, DSTL guarantees to interview all candidates who have a disability and who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of candidates who have a disability who meet all the essential criteria, we will interview the best candidates from within that group. This scheme encourages candidates with a disability and/or neurodivergence to apply. In exceptional circumstances, we may also to apply the desirable criteria in our shortlisting process which may include holding active security clearance.

DSTL guarantees to interview veterans or spouses / partners of military personnel who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of ex‑military candidates / military spouses or partners, who meet all of the essential criteria, we will interview the best candidates from within that group. In exceptional circumstances, we may also need to apply the desirable criteria in our shortlisting process which may include holding active security clearance.