Change Manager

Focus Group; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 45,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working options

Holiday entitlement: 24 days + bank &

Enhanced parental leave

Volunteer day & wider benefits

Job summary

Focus Group in Birmingham is hiring a Change Manager to own Change Enablement for a set of valued customers. You will ensure changes are risk assessed, authorized, scheduled and reviewed, delivering changes quickly and safely with minimal disruption.

This ITIL 4 role focuses on IT services, not business change management. You will chair Change Advisory Boards, coordinate Emergency Changes during incidents, and manage the Forward Schedule of Change while seeking automation opportunities.

Qualifications

• Experience running ITIL-aligned Change Enablement processes, including CABs and approvals.
• Ability to assess risk and impact for IT changes and communicate decisions clearly.
• Familiarity with IT infrastructure and IT service management tools.

Responsibilities

• Act as the main point of contact for change on assigned customers and attend reviews.
• Manage Normal, Standard and Emergency changes with risk and readiness assessment.
• Chair CABs and ensure changes are ready or required actions are taken.
• Coordinate Emergency Changes during incidents while maintaining control.
• Maintain Forward Schedule of Change to avoid conflicts and protect continuity.
• Lead PIRs for failed changes and drive root-cause actions.
• Create Standard Changes for repeatable, low-risk work and identify automation.
• Produce KPI reporting and train engineers on Change Enablement and ServiceNow.

Skills

ITIL Change Enablement

CAB chairing

Risk assessment

Stakeholder comms

Multi-customer prioritization

Education

ITIL 4 Foundation certification

Tools

ServiceNow

Job description

Change Manager

Department: Service Operations

Employment Type: Permanent

Location: Birmingham

Compensation: £40,000 - £45,000 / year

Description

Change Manager

Location: Birmingham (hybrid)

Salary: £45,000 to £50,000

Introduction

Focus Group is a £300m-revenue, 1,500-person technology services company backed by Hg Capital. Following our $1bn valuation in 2024, we're scaling rapidly and investing in AI (artificial intelligence) to transform how we operate and how we serve our 30,000 small and medium-sized business customers. As we continue to expand through strategic acquisitions, we're committed to setting new industry standards in managed service excellence.

As Change Manager in our Proactive Service Operations team, you'll own Change Enablement for a set of valued customers. That means making sure every change to their IT services is risk assessed, authorised, scheduled and reviewed, so we deliver change quickly and safely without causing disruption. You'll be the go-to person on change for your customers and the engineers who support them. This is an ITIL 4 (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) role focused on IT services, not business change management.

Key Responsibilities

• Act as the main point of contact for change on your assigned customers, building strong relationships and representing Focus Group at customer meetings and service reviews.
• Manage the full lifecycle of Normal, Standard and Emergency changes, assessing risk, impact and readiness and authorising changes in line with our approval process.
• Chair internal and customer-facing Change Advisory Boards (CABs), making clear decisions and saying no constructively when a change isn’t ready.
• Coordinate Emergency Changes during high-priority incidents, balancing fast restoration of service with the right level of control.
• Manage your customers’ changes within the Forward Schedule of Change, spotting conflicts and protecting business continuity.
• Lead Post Implementation Reviews (PIRs) for failed or problematic changes, finding root causes and agreeing actions.
• Create and maintain Standard Changes for repeatable, low-risk work, and use change data to identify automation opportunities.
• Produce KPI (key performance indicator) reporting for your customers and train engineers on the Change Enablement process and ServiceNow.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

Essential

• Proven experience running an ITIL-aligned Change Enablement process, including chairing CABs and authorising changes.
• ITIL 4 Foundation certification.
• Hands-on change management experience in ServiceNow or a comparable IT service management tool.
• Good working knowledge of IT infrastructure, including Windows Server and desktop, networking, Microsoft 365, cloud services and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) telephony.
• Strong risk and impact assessment skills, with sound judgement on when to apply control and when to allow flexibility.
• A confident communicator who can explain technical risk to non-technical stakeholders and challenge constructively.
• Well organised, with the ability to manage competing priorities across several customers.

Desirable

• Change Enablement experience in a managed service provider or IT and telecoms service provider.
• ITIL 4 Practitioner: Change Enablement, or another ITIL 4 intermediate certification.
• Experience building Standard Changes and leading PIRs and root cause analysis.
• Experience producing KPI reports and dashboards for management and customers.
• Working knowledge of Incident, Problem and Release Management.
• Experience guiding or mentoring junior colleagues.

Internal Job Level Reference: Specialist / Team Leader

Benefits

• Holiday Allowance - 24 days + bank holidays + birthday leave.
• Hybrid working options - performance depending.
• Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption leave.
• Paid volunteering day * regular charity events.
• Wider company benefits across health, financial wellbeing, Pension etc.