Director of Service Management & Operations

ITV; City Of London; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading UK media company seeks a Director of Service Management & Operations to oversee technology applications across its content supply chain. The role involves establishing operational processes, leading teams, and managing complex technology systems within a dynamic media environment. Candidates should have a strong background in service management, financial oversight, and incident management, ideally in media or broadcasting. The position offers a chance to drive innovation in a renowned media organization.

Qualifications

• Extensive technology operations leadership experience within media and broadcasting.
• Proven director-level service management experience in dynamic environments.
• Strong financial management skills with multi-million-pound budgets.

Responsibilities

• Establish and lead the operations of technology platforms in content supply.
• Maximise uptime and minimise disruptions of Content Supply systems.
• Develop service management roadmap aligned with technology strategy.

Skills

Technology operations leadership

Service management function experience

Incident management

Financial management

Stakeholder management

Education

Degree level qualification or equivalent

Tools

Service management frameworks (e.g., ITIL)

Job description

Workplace: Leeds or London, White City. Expectation is a minimum 1-2 days in the office per week.

FTC - 18 months

The Team

Content Supply and Distribution (CS&D) is a key group within ITV’s Media & Entertainment business that is responsible for managing ITV’s content and data from source to screen across linear and VoD supply chains. The Content Supply Technology (CST) group develops, integrates and maintains the underpinning technology platforms, as well as the supporting functions of business analysis, architecture and project management. All this enables us to deliver ITVs famous and popular content from its multiple sources to our online platforms, to our B2B partners and to ITV’s family of linear TV channels.

As a department we work closely with our colleagues in the ITV business teams and with our closely related operational teams who are responsible for delivering our channels and content reliably, just in time, day in-day out.

Our teams build the technology that brings great content into ITV ready for broadcast, streaming and partner distribution. From handling video files and sourcing metadata for content to scheduling and checking compliance, our systems ensure millions of views get to enjoy their favourite shows.

The Role

The Director of Service Management & Operations is a senior leadership role accountable for the service management and operations of all technology applications and services across the Content Supply Chain & Distribution portfolio.

The main purpose of this role is to establish, mature and lead the operational heartbeat of the technology that powers ITV's content supply chain.

You will be the ultimate guardian of critical technology platforms, ensuring the seamless, reliable delivery of content from production to millions of viewers across our linear and on-demand services. This is a strategic, technical leadership role focused on achieving operational excellence, driving efficiency, and building a world-class service culture that anticipates the needs of our business.

Key Responsibilities

As a Director of Service Management & Operations you will:

Develop and execute a service management roadmap that aligns with the wider ITV technology strategy, focusing on enhancing the stability, scalability, and cost-effectiveness of our entire content supply and distribution ecosystem.

Own the end-to-end operational responsibility of all technology platforms, including Scheduling, Metadata, Asset Ingest and Management, Content Encoding/Transcoding and Content Delivery.

Your primary goal is to maximise uptime and minimise disruption to all our Content Supply and Distribution systems.

Act as the key operational partner to business stakeholders across our Content Operations, Streaming, and Ad-Tech teams. Translate their business outcomes into clear service level agreements (SLAs) and operational key performance indicators (KPIs).

Develop and lead our incident management capability for all content supply technology systems. You will be expected to command incidents with authority, ensure swift resolution, and provide clear, concise communication to stakeholders and executive leadership.

Working with the Director of Delivery to ensure we are maximising value from our 3rd party partners, owning accountability for the operational budgets of our systems, identifying and delivering cost-saving opportunities through process optimisation, automation, and strategic supplier management.

Build and mentor a high-performing team of operations and service management professionals. Foster a proactive, data-driven, and continuous improvement culture that moves beyond reactive support to predictive and preventative operations.

Skills You’ll Need (Minimum Criteria)

• Degree level qualification or equivalent professional experience.
• Extensive experience leading a technology operations and service management function within the media, broadcast, or streaming industry.
• Proven experience in a director level service management and operations role, successfully managing complex technology systems in a complex and dynamic environment. Ideally within a broadcast, media, or content supply chain environment.
• Deep understanding of the components of a modern content supply chain, from ingest and asset management to playout and OTT/VOD distribution.
• Proven track record of managing critical incidents and implementing robust problem management frameworks to prevent recurrence.
• Strong financial management skills, with experience managing multi-million-pound operational budgets and delivering cost efficiencies.
• Expertise in service management frameworks (e.g., ITIL) but with a pragmatic approach focused on applying them within a modern, agile/DevOps environment.
• Proven leadership and line management experience.
• Exceptional interpersonal and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence and persuade at all levels of an organisation.
• An enthusiasm and willingness to embrace changes in technology and workflows as we transform our content supply chains.