Service Delivery & Standards Manager

Service Delivery & Standards Manager

Abingdon, UK

RM is a leading supplier of technology and resources to the education sector, supporting schools, teachers and pupils across the globe – from pre-school to higher education – including examination boards, central governments and other professional institutions.

Our mission is to grow through improving the life chances of people - worldwide – by delivering great education products and services that help teachers to teach and learners to learn.

The Service Delivery & Standards Manager is a critical role within Technology’s Extended Leadership Team, reporting to the Head of Service Operations. The Service Delivery & Standards Manager is a strategic leadership role responsible for leading our Delivery Operations Standards Office (DOSO) and our Service Management team. The DOSO defines and documents all operational practices and processes, ensures the adoption of same, and enforces proper compliance with and utilization of standard operations. Our Service Management team are responsible for day-to-day delivery of all activities on their portfolio of sites, ensuring service is delivered in line with contractual service level agreements to ensure contractual compliance, improved operational efficiency whilst maintaining maximising levels of customer satisfaction.

As Service Delivery & Standards Manager, you will be expected to take a “hands on” approach to leading your department, working with staff in the DOSO to develop and mature our ITIL practice, rolling this out across the Service Operations division to drive operational compliance and efficiencies and championing a continual improvement culture. You will manage the Service Management team to ensure day to day delivery of contracted services in line with contractual service level agreements, ensuring contractual compliance maintaining and maximising levels of employee and customer satisfaction.

The Service Delivery & Standards Manager will build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders, including other internal departments.

The role requires an experienced leader, with a proven track record of success in developing and implementing ITIL working practices and related documentation, supporting other business stakeholders in driving standardisation and improvement, and leading a team of Service Managers to deliver service excellence to our customers.

Responsibilities

Strategy & implementation

• Support the Head of Service Operations in developing and driving our conjoined Service Operations strategy (covering Service Desks, Infrastructure & Operations, On-site Services, DOSO and Service Delivery Management), with responsibility for developing aligned strategies, plans and priorities, and ensuring these connect to wider activities within the division and business.
• Drive the strategic direction of the Service Delivery function, which is responsible for and leads on the definition and documentation of operational practices and processes, (and adoption and standard application of same), and ensuring day-to-day delivery of all activities on contracted managed service sites, ensuring service is delivered in line with contractual service level agreements
• Oversee direction and execution within the Service Delivery department. Leading change across the operating model, driving the changes in capabilities, roles, systems, data, and other aspects that are required to deliver effective, efficient and integrated operations.
• Partner with the wider Service Operations teams to shape effective plans to enable increasing levels of activity to be delivered remotely ensuring appropriate practices and standards to achieve this.
• Develop and implement effective plans and processes to ensure the consistent and robust delivery of services to our customers.
• Develop and implement effective plans and strategies that drive increased efficiency and profitability for the Business.

Performance

• Develop effective metrics and standards to monitor and drive performance of Service Delivery, ensuring the smooth and efficient operation of the department.
• Manage Service Delivery resource and budget, tracking key financial metrics to inform commercial decision making and improved financial effectiveness.
• Track, analyse and influence effectiveness across the team.

Leadership

• Engage your people in the operating model reset and new direction for Service Operations and Service Delivery, developing their understanding and buy in to the new operating model, and mobilizing proactive implementation.
• Create and develop an effective function, including attracting, motivating and growing a high-performance team.
• Grasp responsibility for the success of your remit, holding your team and peers to account for the part they play in this success.
• Create clarity for your people through the alignment of goals, KPIs, recognition and reward, to drive and measure execution of our strategy.
• Provide a purpose-led, performance-driven environment for your people, in which they can thrive by understanding the future, feeling connected and being empowered. Instill the behaviors of our five to drive and commercial awareness within local team culture.
• Coach and challenge your team to continually increase their impact and develop their skills and capabilities; hold them to account for identifying and delivering opportunities within their remit and collaborating effectively across the business.
• Lead and drive engagement with Infrastructure and Operations goals within relevant areas of the wider business, ensuring cross-business communication, awareness, alignment and engagement with plans and activity.

Collaboration

• Work closely with cross business functions to ensure effective relationships across Technology’s operating processes and aligned direction for change.
• Develop close working relationships with the managers of Onsite Services, Infrastructure & Operations and Service Desk to support and drive standardisation and efficiencies in all areas while delivering service excellence.
• As a key member of the extended leadership team, you will contribute and support the development, implementation, and review of the wider RM Technology strategy, working in strong collaboration with the SLT & xLT

External Stakeholder Engagement

• Act as a senior point of escalation for the team in their engagements with customers, as and when required.

Experience

You will have proven experience of:

• Leading a service management function (or significant experience at a senior level in this area).
• The application and development of the ITIL V4 framework in a service operations environment ideally evidenced through appropriate certification.
• Building strong and high performing teams of service professionals
• Developing and implementing effective plans to drive improved business outcomes.
• Driving change, continuous improvement, and efficiency
• Managing reporting and budgets and taking commercial decisions around opportunities

You will be:

• A strong collaborative team player, able to work well with other leaders, to ensure all functions work in concert to deliver business strategy and outcomes.
• A strong problem solver with the ability to manage and resolve complex issues.
• An executor, able to translate strategy into delivery.
• A commercial operator and confident decision-maker, able to demonstrate sound judgment in a broad variety of complex business scenarios
• An experienced leader, who understands what it takes to engage and lead a team through change.

You will have:

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a solid technical background
• The ability to operate in a matrix environment, with skills in alignment, collaboration, and joint delivery.
• The ability to inspire, coach and develop your team.
• Drive, energy, and resilience with an appetite for leading improvement and change
• A strong alignment to RM's core behaviours: Be Brave, Win Together, Be Curious, Make it Simple and Consider it Done.

What’s in it for you?

As well as a competitive salary, you could earn a performance related bonus and you would receive our core benefits package which includes private medical healthcare, life assurance and a Group Personal Pension Plan with higher contribution levels available.

There are lots of voluntary benefits too. You could buy additional annual leave, join our dental plan, sign for a health assessment or take part in our cycle to work scheme. You could even earn yourself an extra bonus for successfully recommending a friend or family member for a position within RM.

At RM we recently introduced My Work Blend @RM which provides office based colleagues with multi location and hybrid working. As well as your office base you can spend a proportion of your time working at other locations that suit your role and your life, including home, other offices, customer sites, distribution centres or on the move. We encourage you to discuss arrangements for this role with your potential line manager during the recruitment process. We expect how we make best use of hybrid working may continue to adapt as we adjust to our new ways of working.

RM is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all permanent and temporary staff to share this commitment. This role is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and all successful candidates will be subject to Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks along with other relevant employment checks.