IT Service Delivery Manager

Service Delivery Manager Location: Hybrid at Newcastle (3 days/week) Employment Type Full-Time Role Overview We are seeking an experienced and proactive Service Manager to oversee the performance, stability, and continuous improvement of business-critical applications and services within the Service Group.

The successful candidate will be responsible for ensuring effective incident and problem resolution, managing service performance against agreed SLAs, and acting as a key liaison between technical support teams, delivery teams, and client stakeholders.

The Service Manager will play a pivotal role in maintaining operational excellence, leading major incident management activities, driving service improvements, and ensuring a seamless transition of new services into production.

Key Responsibilities Service Operations &amp; Incident Management<br />Own and drive incident and problem management activities across the Service Group.<br />Monitor service performance, application availability, and operational stability in production environments.<br />Lead the resolution of Priority 1 (P1) and Priority 2 (P2) incidents, coordinating technical teams to restore services within SLA targets.<br />Actively participate in and lead major incident bridge calls, providing timely updates to stakeholders and clients.<br />Ensure production incidents are managed effectively and escalated appropriately based on business impact and priority.Service Performance &amp; Reporting<br />Track, analyse, and report on service performance metrics, trends, and KPIs.<br />Produce weekly and monthly service reports, including Monthly Service Reviews (MSRs) for client presentation.<br />Identify service risks and recommend actions to improve performance and reliability.<br />Ensure compliance with contractual SLAs and operational objectives.Team Leadership &amp; Stakeholder Management<br />Coordinate and direct support teams to prioritise work effectively and address critical issues.<br />Collaborate with technical, delivery, and business stakeholders to ensure alignment on service priorities.<br />Build and maintain strong relationships with clients, providing clear communication on operational performance and ongoing initiatives.<br />Deputise for the Service Lead when required.Continuous Service Improvement<br />Identify opportunities to improve service quality, operational efficiency, monitoring, and alerting capabilities.<br />Drive Continuous Service Improvement (CSI) initiatives to reduce incident volumes and improve customer experience.<br />Support the implementation of process enhancements, automation, and best practice service management methodologies.Change &amp; Transition Management<br />Partner with delivery and project teams to understand upcoming releases and business changes.<br />Support the successful transition of new services and applications into live operations.<br />Ensure service readiness processes are followed and operational support requirements are clearly defined.Required Skills &amp; Experience<br />Proven experience in a Service Manager, IT Service Delivery Manager, Application Support Manager, or similar role.<br />Strong understanding of ITIL Service Management principles and practices.<br />Demonstrated experience managing major incidents, problem management, and service operations.<br />Experience producing service performance reports, KPIs, and client-facing dashboards.<br />Strong stakeholder management and communication skills with the ability to engage at all levels.<br />Experience managing support teams and coordinating cross-functional technical resources.<br />Ability to work effectively in high-pressure environments and make decisions during critical incidents.<br />Knowledge of SLA management and operational governance.Preferred Qualifications<br />ITIL Foundation or higher certification.<br />Experience within enterprise application support environments.<br />Familiarity with monitoring and observability tools such as Splunk, Dynatrace, AppDynamics, SolarWinds, or similar.<br />Experience working within large-scale managed services or consulting environments.Key Competencies<br />Leadership &amp; Team Management<br />Incident &amp; Problem Management<br />Client &amp; Stakeholder Engagement<br />Service Delivery Excellence<br />Analytical &amp; Data-Driven Decision Making<br />Continuous Improvement Mindset<br />Communication &amp; Influencing Skills<br />Risk &amp; Escalation Management