We’re 1st Central, a market-leading insurance company utilising smart data and technology at pace. Rapid growth has been based on giving our 1.4 million customers exactly what they want: great value insurance with an excellent service. And that’s the same for our colleagues too; we won Insurance Employer of the Year at the British Insurance Awards 2024 and our Glassdoor score is pretty mega too!
We're on the hunt for a Service Delivery Manager within the Digital Workspace pillar who will be responsible for ensuring the effective delivery of IT services across the Digital Workspace pillar, the wider non-focus business services, and the Core enterprise Azure platform stack. As a member of the senior team, you'll work closely with the Digital Workspace Director, Heads of department, business and technical stakeholders to ensure services align with First Central’s goals, managing escalated incidents, problems, and changes.
You’ll support operational change, champion continuous improvement, and contribute to the development of this growing function. Operating within a DevOps environment, you’ll collaborate with product owners, developers, architects, and business teams to deliver reliable, value-driven services—leveraging automation and Azure technologies to reduce risk and enhance performance.
As part of the wider Service Management community of practice, you'll also help shape shared service processes, lead on SLA management, Operational change and reporting, and support ongoing service improvement across the Technology pillar.
We value flexible working arrangements, so you can choose to work remotely or maybe you live within a commutable distance from one of our offices in Salford Quays, Manchester, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, or Guernsey, and want to work in the office occasionally.
Core skills were looking for to succeed in the role:
- Good communication skills, both verbal and written
- Good time management and organisation skills
- Excellent leadership and communication skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate with technical and business stakeholders.
- Strong analytical skills, with a focus on identifying opportunities for service improvements and automation.
- A passion for driving business value through technology and service delivery excellence.
- Ability to manage multiple priorities and projects, ensuring the successful delivery of service outcomes.
- Ability to align IT service delivery with business objectives and long-term strategies.
- Strong leadership abilities, with experience in leading service delivery teams and influencing organizational change.
- Excellent interpersonal skills, able to work with cross-functional teams and communicate effectively with both technical and business audiences.
- Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to manage complex service delivery issues.
- Focused on delivering value to the business through high-quality IT services and continuous improvement.
- Proven experience in managing and driving change, ensuring alignment with business priorities.
What’s involved:
- You’ll lead the day-to-day management of service delivery across the Digital Workspace pillar, business, ensuring seamless operations and alignment with business priorities.
- You’ll manage the escalation of IT incidents, problems, and changes, ensuring that service disruptions are minimised and issues are resolved within agreed SLAs.
- You’ll collaborate with cross-functional teams, including Development teams, Architecture, Operations, and business stakeholders, to drive the successful delivery of services and improvements.
- You’ll facilitate prioritisation and coordination of IT services, ensuring that business needs are met effectively and efficiently.
- You’ll monitor and report on service performance, ensuring KPIs and SLAs are met and exceeded, and provide regular updates to IT and business leadership.
- You’ll oversee the management and implementation of operational change assurance, ensuring that changes to services and platforms are aligned with business needs and are conducted within established IT processes.
- You’ll ensure a robust risk management process is in place to mitigate potential service disruptions and enhance business continuity.
- You’ll participate in and support the planning, coordination, and execution of IT business planning, prioritising initiatives and managing associated risks.
- You’ll work as part of a community of practice with other Service Delivery Managers to share best practices, improve processes, and align on cross-functional service delivery goals.
- You’ll lead initiatives that drive operational improvements, enhancing the quality and value of Digital Workspace delivered across the organisation.
- You’ll collaborate closely with internal teams and third-party providers to ensure that service delivery objectives are met and continuously improved.
- You’ll champion a culture of continuous improvement across service delivery teams, actively identifying areas for optimisation and driving initiatives that enhance operational efficiency.
- You’ll promote the use of automation and self-healing processes to improve service reliability, reduce manual interventions, and enhance overall service delivery performance.
- You’ll drive automation initiatives to support service delivery processes, leveraging Azure automation tools, PowerShell, and other technologies to streamline operations and reduce overhead.
- You’ll define, manage, and review IT Service Level Agreements (SLAs), ensuring alignment with business expectations and contractual obligations.
- You’ll regularly assess service delivery performance against SLAs and take corrective actions where necessary to ensure that service levels are met.
- You’ll conduct periodic reviews with business stakeholders to ensure that services are meeting the evolving needs of the business and to drive service improvements.
- You’ll provide leadership to the Service Delivery team, setting clear objectives, and supporting professional growth and development within the team.
- You’ll act as the primary point of contact for escalated IT requests from the business, ensuring swift resolution of critical issues and fostering strong relationships with business stakeholders.
- You’ll report on service delivery performance and improvements to IT and business executives on a monthly basis, ensuring transparency and accountability.
- You'll lead risk management processes and systems to ensure resilience and business continuity in service delivery.
- You’ll manage escalations related to incidents and problems, ensuring timely resolution and maintaining service quality.
- You'll oversee post-incident reviews and the implementation of corrective actions to prevent recurrence of issues.
- You’ll comply with the requirements, and act in accordance with, the Group Code of Conduct and Fitness and Propriety policies at all times
- You’ll ensure compliance with Company Policies, Values and guidelines and other relevant standards/ regulations at all times.
- You’ll be part of a 365/24/7 oncall rota supporting the business on major incidents and other service delivery managers
- You'll deputise for the Digital Workspace Director as required
Experience & knowledge
- Knowledge of FCA requirements (including individual responsibilities in relation to Consumer Duty)
- Proven experience working within a senior IT role, preferably in a high-paced and empowered organization.
- Strong experience in service delivery management, including the coordination of cross-functional teams, managing escalations, and overseeing change processes.
- Detailed experience working within a DevOps organisation, collaborating with Development teams, Architecture, Devops teams, and business teams.
- Experience working with Azure cloud services and related platforms (Azure Active Directory, Azure Automation, Azure DevOps, etc.).
- A solid technical background with strong understanding of IT service management processes (incident, problem, change management), especially in cloud and hybrid environments.
- Experience working with and managing Service Level Agreements (SLAs), reporting on performance, and driving service improvements.
- Familiarity with Azure stack, cloud platforms, and infrastructure, with practical experience in managing Azure services and automation.
- Hands-on experience with Azure Automation, PowerShell, or similar tools for automating processes and workflows.
- Knowledge of DevOps practices and Agile software development, with a focus on driving operational efficiencies and aligning with business goals.
- Understanding of incident management tools and processes, with the ability to lead complex incidents an problem resolutions
Skills
- Good communication skills, both verbal and written
- Good time management and organisation skills
- Excellent leadership and communication skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate with technical and business stakeholders.
- Strong analytical skills, with a focus on identifying opportunities for service improvements and automation.
- A passion for driving business value through technology and service delivery excellence.
- Ability to manage multiple priorities and projects, ensuring the successful delivery of service outcomes.
- Ability to align IT service delivery with business objectives and long-term strategies.
- Strong leadership abilities, with experience in leading service delivery teams and influencing organizational change.
- Excellent interpersonal skills, able to work with cross-functional teams and communicate effectively with both technical and business audiences.
- Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to manage complex service delivery issues.
- Focused on delivering value to the business through high-quality IT services and continuous improvement.
- Proven experience in managing and driving change, ensuring alignment with business priorities.
Qualifications
Maintain certifications and expertise in Azure technologies (Desirable), including but not limited to:
- Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals
- Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate
- Microsoft Certified: Azure DevOps Engineer Expert
- ITIL Foundation Certification
- Agile Ways of working
Behaviours
- Self-motivated and enthusiastic
- An organised and proactive approach
- Ability to work on own initiative and as part of a team
- A flexible approach and positive attitude
- Strives to drive business improvements to contribute to the success of the business
- Stay up to date with emerging technologies and trends in cloud architecture, automation, and platform management.
So, if you’re up for the challenge and would like to join our vibrant and busy team, we want to hear from you today.
What can we do for you?
People first. Always. We’re passionate about our colleagues and know the best people deserve an extraordinary working environment. We owe it to them so that’s what we offer. Our workplaces are energetic, inspirational, supportive. To get a taste of the advantages you’ll enjoy, take a look at all our perks in full here.
Intrigued? Our Talent team can tell you everything you need to know about what we want and what we’re offering, so feel free to get in touch.
