IT Service Manager

Job summary

Looking for a role where you can genuinely shape service performance, influence senior stakeholders and drive meaningful improvement across a complex technology landscape? This is an opportunity to take ownership of critical IT services, ensuring they consistently deliver value to the business while continually evolving to meet changing needs.

As an IT Service Manager, you'll sit at the heart of Technology Operations, acting as the key link between customers, technical teams and suppliers. You'll lead service reviews, oversee service level performance, manage escalations, and ensure new services are successfully transitioned into business-as-usual support. Just as importantly, you'll use insight, data and customer feedback to identify trends, solve underlying issues and champion continuous service improvement.

This is a highly visible role with significant autonomy, offering the chance to influence decision-making across the organisation. You'll work closely with service owners, senior leaders and delivery teams, representing customer needs while driving improvements that enhance service quality, reliability and user satisfaction

Ideal for an experienced IT Service Management professional, this position combines operational leadership with strategic thinking. If you enjoy building strong relationships, improving service outcomes and making a tangible impact across a large and complex technology environment, you'll find plenty of challenge, variety and opportunity here.

Hybrid working

This job role can be worked on a hybrid basis, which is an informal, non-contractual and voluntary arrangement, working between the office in Taunton and remotely within the UK.

Office attendance is expected 60% of the time.

Job description

• Own the end-to-end performance of IT services, ensuring they are reliable, well-supported and delivering against agreed business expectations.
• Act as the key point of contact between business stakeholders, technology teams and suppliers, building trusted relationships and ensuring customer needs remain central to service delivery.
• Lead regular service reviews, analyse performance trends and provide clear insight into service health, risks, issues and opportunities.
• Manage service escalations and customer concerns, taking accountability for driving issues through to a successful resolution.
• Champion continual service improvement, identifying opportunities to enhance service quality, resilience, efficiency and customer satisfaction.
• Collaborate with technical teams to reduce recurring incidents, improve operational performance and address underlying causes rather than symptoms.
• Ensure new and changed services transition smoothly into live support, with appropriate service ownership, support models and operational readiness in place.
• Support the management of major incidents and service disruptions, coordinating communications, assessing business impact and helping to restore normal service as quickly as possible.

Person specification

• Significant experience in IT Service Management, preferably within a large and complex technology environment.
• Demonstrable experience of managing, monitoring and improving service performance against agreed SLAs.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build effective relationships across business, technical and supplier teams.
• Proven experience managing service escalations, customer issues and operational challenges through to resolution.
• Ability to drive continual service improvement using data, insight, root cause analysis and customer feedback.
• Strong analytical skills with experience producing and interpreting service reports, metrics and performance trends.Power BI experience is essential
• Excellent communication and influencing skills, capable of engaging confidently with both technical and non-technical stakeholders at all levels.
• ITIL v4 Foundation qualification, with a solid understanding of service management best practice and operational support processes.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Managing a Quality Service

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £48,746, UK Hydrographic Office contributes £14,121 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

At the UK Hydrographic Office, it's very important to us that our people feel valued.

We offer a huge range of benefits such as training and development, well-being support, flexible/ homeworking, a fantastic state of the art building, high spec equipment, and so much more.

See our attached Candidate Information Pack for more details.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

How to Apply:

When you click 'Apply now' you will be asked to anonymise and upload your CV and 500 word statement on the shortlist criteria listed below.

Timeline:

• Advert Closes for applications: 30th August 2026

• Shortlisting: week commencing: w/c 7th September 2026

• Interviews: week commencing: w/c 21st September 2026

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates change. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates.

Pre-sift criteria:

• Do you hold an ITIL V4 Foundation certificate? Y/N

This will be assessed from your CV. If you do not meet this pre-sift criteria, your application will not be taken through to be scored on the Sift/Shortlist Criteria below.

Sift/Shortlist Criteria:

All applications are processed anonymously. You will be short-listed against the following criteria:

Experience:

• Significant experience in IT Service Management, preferably within a large and complex technology environment.
• Strong analytical skills with experience producing and interpreting service reports, metrics and performance trends. Power BI and Microsoft experience is essential (lead criteria)
• Demonstrable experience of managing, monitoring and improving service performance against agreed SLAs

We will use both your CV and supporting statement to assess against the above criteria.

In the event of a high volume of applications, the panel will score against the lead criteria initially and then will sift against the other criteria.

Interview Criteria:

You will be interviewed against the following criteria:

Experience:

• Strong analytical skills with experience producing and interpreting service reports, metrics and performance trends. Power BI and Microsoft experience is essential
• Significant experience in IT Service Management, preferably within a large and complex technology environment (lead criteria).

Civil Service Behaviours (SEO level) :

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Managing a Quality Service - assessed against the presentation

See here for further information: Success Profiles: Civil Service behaviours - GOV.UK

Process:

• Single Stage TEAMS interview. You will be contacted to book a suitable slot if you are shortlisted (see our Candidate Pack for further information)
• Interview will be with a panel of no more than 3 people and we expect it to last approx.60 mins
• There will be a 10 minute presentation to prepare. More details to follow in the invitation to interview.

Onboarding Checks:

In the event you are offered a role with us, you will be required to go through Basic Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) checks which will include Employment and Right to Work Checks. You will also need to apply for SC (Security Clearance), but you may be able to start your role before gaining this. Please see our attached Candidate Pack for further details and Terms.

Please note, we are unable to offer visa sponsorship.

Nationality requirements:

SC – reserved
This is a Ministry of Defence reserved post and open to sole UK nationals only. Successful applicants will require a security clearance (SC) and therefore need to have resided in the UK for a minimum of 12 consecutive months within the last 5 years.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

Open to UK nationals only.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : recruitment.queries@ukho.gov.uk
• Email : recruitment.queries@ukho.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment.queries@ukho.gov.uk

Further information

Further Information

The Department’s recruitment processes are underpinned by the requirement of selection for appointment based on merit, open and fair competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles, details of which can be found at http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should in the first instance contact recruitment.queries@ukho.gov.uk If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can further contact the Civil Service Commission at: civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk or view more details at http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk

Attachments

UKHO Candidate Information Pack - Tech Opens in new window (pdf, 5887kB)Additional Pay Information Opens in new window (pdf, 163kB)