Our Wilmslow office will be relocating to Manchester city centre from 28 September 2026. Once the move takes place your contracted office will be Circle Square, Manchester. Through hybrid working we offer flexible home and office-based working opportunities and there will be times when you will be expected to attend the office to collaborate with colleagues or travel due to business need.

Why work for the ICO?

Pay progression scheme.

Hybrid and flexible working options.

25 days paid holiday per year, plus privilege and public holidays.

Flexi leave (up to 26 additional days leave per year).

Pension (employer contribution around 28.9%).

Online discount scheme to save money at major supermarkets, retailers, gyms, restaurants, insurance providers and many more.

Health Cash Plan.

Fantastic development opportunities to learn and progress.

Job description

This role is a strategic leadership position accountable for developing, implementing and managing a robust service introduction process for the DDaT directorate. This role is responsible for assuring the operational readiness of new projects and services prior to their going live. You will own the end-to-end readiness process and be responsible for ensuring a successful and smooth transition into live service

Reporting to the Head of IT Operations, this role requires a broad understanding of the various specialisms across the DDaT directorate, as you will be accountable for assuring the successful introduction of new or changed IT services into live operation.

This role works closely with Project Managers, Delivery Managers, and Product/Service Owners providing advice, guidance and direction to ensure seamless transition and support for new services in the operational teams within DDaT.

You will need a strong customer-focus, to be resilient and adept influencing senior stakeholders, and be an expert at coordinating service transition activities across multiple teams.

Key Responsibilities

Acts as the authority and primary point of contact for all service introduction and transition activities across the DDaT directorate – including all new products, services and projects delivering a solution into the live environment

Design, implement, and continuously improve the Service Introduction processes as part of a broader IT governance framework

Provide advice and guidance to project and product teams to assure that their service readiness

Coordinate and manage service acceptance activities including testing, training, handover and go/no go decisions

Review and revise existing service operational documentation (Service Definition Documents) in conjunction with wider organisation

Oversee the development and maintenance of support documentation sets: including runbook templates, support model templates, and escalation procedures

Facilitate workshops and meetings to gather requirements and feedback

Lead the establishment of KPIs and metrics to measure service introduction success

Identify and manage risks associated with new services.

Acts as the single point of contract for senior stakeholders, building strong relationships and ensuring effective engagement to support service delivery to live services

Evaluate and ensure current and future needs are met

Ensure compliance with internal governance and audit requirements

Person specification

Essential criteria assessed at application stage

Experience working in IT Operational / Service team with multiple stakeholders

Proven experience in IT Service Management, ideally within a Service Introduction Transition or Delivery role.

Experience with liaising with external third-party support partners

Strong understanding of IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) practices, particularly Service Transition and Service Operation.

A demonstrable systematic, disciplined and analytical approach to work

Essential criteria assessed during interview:

Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to form effective working relationships at all levels

Excellent standard of literacy and effective written communication skills for writing documentation and reports and meeting notes

Good intellectual and analytical ability in order to assimilate often complex data or technical information and apply it to the operational activities of the ICO

Strong time management, organised and delivery focused, good planning skills and process driven

Ability to step up when needed and offer support even when outside normal hours if required