About the job

Summary

The first duty of the government is to keep citizens safe and the country secure. The Home Office has been at the front line of this effort since 1782. As such, we play a fundamental role in maintaining the security and economic prosperity of the UK.

The Home Office leads on immigration and passports, refugee protection, counter-terrorism, policing, fire services, and crime and drugs policy.

Digital Data and Technology (DDaT) enables the Home Office to keep the UK safe and secure. We design and build the services that help people apply for visas or passports; support policing and counter-terrorism operations; and protect the UK’s borders.

This is an exciting time to be at the Home Office. You’ll have a chance to shape the future and support our mission to deliver exceptional public services that work for everyone.

Our work is guided by these principles:

• we put user needs first

• we value delivery and outcomes over process

• we work in the open

Our flexible working policy ensures a healthy work-life balance. We also nurture talent and offer a broad range of learning and development opportunities that will help you flourish in your role.

We work hard to maintain a positive working culture and are committed to helping you fulfil your potential. We value diversity and provide an open, inclusive and supportive environment to help you do your best work.

You can keep up-to-date with our work on the Home Office DDaT blog.

This role offers you the opportunity to join an exciting, fast-paced environment working hard to deliver ministerial commitments for the benefit of the public.

Job description

As a Senior Service Manager, you will liaise with senior internal and 3rd party stakeholders who are involved in some of the most cutting-edge skills and topics within information technology.

As a Senior Service Manager, you will have a strong background and level of experience in IT Service Management, enjoy working in a fast-paced environment and be proactive and adaptable. Using your strong knowledge and expertise of Service Management, you will effectively influence change within one of the largest government organisations and have the opportunity to manage national critical services.

You will interface with Service Architecture & Transition, Service Operations & Programme Portfolio colleagues to assure the delivery of the service/s you are responsible for. You will also work closely with both internal and external technical teams to ensure the quality of the service being delivered meets the business needs.

Recruitment and Retention Allowance (RRA)

This post is eligible for DDaT RRA. Successful candidates with exceptional skills and experience may apply for a Recruitment Retention Allowance £3000 and £6250. This allowance is subject to an initial review within six months of taking up the post and thereafter an annual review in line with departmental priorities and could be reduced or withdrawn at any time.

Working Pattern

Applications for part-time working will be considered, subject to the needs of the business.

Responsibilities

Your main day to day responsibilities will include (but not limited to):

• Ensuring that the customer receives the highest level of service from the Internal teams and managed suppliers.

• Managing internal and external supplier performance in the interest of the customer.

• Using your experience of stakeholder management to effectively communicate and collaborate with non-technical and technical stakeholders, 3rd party and internal suppliers across government teams to ensure alignment.

• Identifying and leading initiatives to drive continuous improvement across customer services, whilst protecting the integrity of existing services.

• Reviewing supplier financial performance including invoice validation to identify cost reduction opportunities.

• Identifying, managing and escalating service risks appropriately.

You will also be expected to carry out the following day to day activities:

• Maintaining a working knowledge of projects and change programs both in the pipeline and in delivery with respect to the specific customer organisation.

• Working effectively with stakeholders at all levels both internally & externally, managing stakeholder expectations and showing flexibility to adapt in order to reach consensus.

• Building effective partnerships with peers across the technology organisation.

• Ensuring that all suppliers carry out processes to ITIL standards, or those that are defined by DDaT.

• Representing customers in Service Readiness reviews and assessments.

• Promoting a culture of customer satisfaction.

• Mentoring members of the Service Management community, and taking on line management responsibilities if required.

• Participating, contributing to and supporting collaboration initiatives and career development within the IT Operations community, building in-house capability via a professional community of practice.

Essential Criteria

You’ll have a demonstrable passion for Service Management, with the following skills or strong experience in:

• Understanding Service Management and agile methodologies and models.

• Using your understanding of the different communication channels and formats to effectively engage with various audiences, adapting your approach where required.

• Understanding how your current work fits into broader Enterprise Services contexts and Home Office strategies so that deeper underlying problems and opportunities can be identified.

• Using commercial agreements to manage suppliers and ensure that we get the most out of the contract in order to deliver value.

• Ensuring actual costs of running a service are within budget, highlighting any financial risk due to overspend or opportunities due to underspend.

The skills listed above are reflective of the Home Office DDaT Profession Skills and Competency Model (based on the industry standard SFIA framework). Please see below for the relevant skills required for your role:

Strategy and Architecture

• Advice and Guidance

o Specialist Advice (TECH) – level 3

• Business Strategy and Planning

o Financial Management (FMIT) – level 3

o Business Risk Management (BURM) - level 3

Delivery and Operation

• Service Design

o Service Level Management (SLMO) – level 3

Relationships and Engagement

• Stakeholder Management

o Supplier Management (SUPP) - level 3

o Relationship Management (RLMT) – level 3

Desirable Criteria

Ideally you will also have the following skills or some experience in:

• Working in a SIAM model.

• Working in an Agile project delivery environment.

• Driving continual service improvements through the measurement and challenge of services and processes, tools and capability.

• Managing suppliers to SLAs where they are in place.

• Working independently and being self-motivated and organised.

• Leading and directing teams to enable the day-to-day delivery of products/services.

• Understanding of Lean, Agile and DevOps principles within a Product-centric delivery model.

Please note: if you are currently an agency member of staff working within the Home Office, you can only apply for roles that are advertised externally, i.e. outside the civil service. If you are eligible to apply for a role, you are required to select yourself as an external applicant and not internal when submitting your application on Civil Service jobs. This will prevent any delays in pre-employment checks should you become successful in being made an offer of employment after the Interview stage.

Qualifications

ITIL foundation

Behaviours

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

• Making Effective Decisions
• Managing a Quality Service

Technical skills

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

• SFIA skills - Financial Management (FMIT) – level 3
• SFIA skills - Relationship Management (RLMT) – level 3
• SFIA skills - Service Level Management (SLMO) – level 3