IT Service Assurance & Liaison Manager

Financial Ombudsman Service; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 71,000 - 77,000; Full time

Job summary

The Financial Ombudsman Service is seeking an IT Service Assurance & Liaison Manager to ensure the performance and health of IT services. This role involves stakeholder engagement, service level management, and continuous improvement initiatives in a hybrid work environment. The ideal candidate will possess strong communication skills and relevant ITIL certification, and will be responsible for maintaining service quality across the organization.

Benefits

25 days holiday entitlement

Generous pension

Private medical insurance

Employee Assistance Programme

Nationwide gym membership discounts

Qualifications

• Accountable for health and performance of IT portfolio.
• Experience in multi-source environments and cloud operations.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.

Responsibilities

• Oversee end-to-end performance and health of IT services.
• Liaise with stakeholders to ensure service quality.
• Implement and manage Service Level Management processes.

Skills

Stakeholder management

Communication

Emotional intelligence

Negotiation

Education

ITIL certification

Job description

Looking for a new challenge?

Take a look at our current vacancies. If you see a vacancy that is right for you, we encourage you to apply!

IT Service Assurance & Liaison Manager

Are you passionate about creating seamless IT experiences by coordinating teams and aligning IT with business goals?

Employment Type: Full-time

Working hours: 35 hours per week. Where possible, we are open to considering part time/flexible working patterns. Please let us know in your application your desired working pattern

Reporting to: Head of IT Service Delivery

Salary: London salary from £78,925 - £85,000 (dependent on experience), Manchester salary from £71,750 - £77,000 (dependent on experience).

Location: London docklands (Hybrid) or Manchester (Hybrid). Our permanent hybrid policy sees us all working at least four days across a fortnight in the office.

About Financial Ombudsman Services

The Financial Ombudsman Service has been resolving customer complaints since 2001. Our service is free for consumers to use and over 1 million people contact us every year. The last few years have seen the Financial Ombudsman Service embark on an organisation-wide transformation journey.

With the customer at the heart of everything we do, we have already delivered significant improvements in the service we offer and 2025 will see us continue with our ambitious transformation agenda.

Last year we welcomed our new CTO and this year will see him launch the new IT strategy for the department. With the move to cloud computing in 2023 and the ever-changing technology landscape, it is a very exciting time to be joining the Technology team here at the Financial Ombudsman Service.

As the IT Service Assurance & Liaison Manager you will be responsible for the high performance, oversight and overall health of end-to-end IT production services. You will be supporting the Ombudsman Service and all of its functions (from Casework through to enabling functions) to assure service quality and adherence to committed service levels (as documented in Service Level Agreements), for the entire IT service portfolio.

You will define, implement, own and manage the end-to-end service level management.

Working in close collaboration with other Service Management colleagues, you will keep a close eye on risks to service, intervening where necessary and leading on ‘major’ and high-impacting incidents.

Key responsibilities

• The end-to-end performance, risk and overall health of IT services so that they continually meet committed service levels.

• Serving as the principle point of contact, liaising directly and regularly with executive, senior and other stakeholders across the organisation to ensure clear communication, aligned service expectations and trusting relationships.

• The development, implementation and ongoing management of the Service Level Management process.

• Champion continual improvement of Service Management processes to maintain alignment with best practice (ITIL).

• Driving the sustained reduction in, and impact of Incidents through Problem Management ensuring effective Root Cause Investigation and the implementation of permanent fixes.

• Introducing and sustaining best practices for effective Service Level Management such as OLA’s, underpinning contracts, SLAs, service catalogue.

• Provide timely management information on service performance.

To be considered for this role, you’ll need to show us that you’ve got the skills and capabilities. You’ll have to meet the following minimum criteria:

Minimum Criteria

• You have been or are fully accountable for the health and performance of a production IT portfolio either in its entirety, or for a major business unit in a large organisation. You will have defined and implemented Service Level Management and other operational processes in medium to large scale organisations.

• You are accredited with industry standard certifications such as ITIL, or equivalent experience.

• Experience in operating in multi-source environments and working with on-shore and off-shore third parties.You will also have operated in the complexities of third-party cloud environments from IaaS through SaaS.

• Being able to lead through influence, strong communication and emotional intelligence in a matrix environment

• Skilled and experienced in stakeholder management including excellent communication, interpersonal, influencing, negotiation skills, and be able to converse with senior stakeholders at all levels

Why Financial Ombudsman Service?

We are a values led organisation. Our values define our culture, influence our decisions, and underpin our vision and strategy. They set out how we play our PART through Purpose, Ambition, Respect and Trust. You can learn more about our values here: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/who-we-are/aims-values

We also offer an attractive, competitive salary and flexible benefits to suit our people. Here’s a list of some of the many benefits and perks you can get for working with us:

• 25 days holiday entitlement (full time), with the option to buy extra or sell days

• Generous pension

• Various Family Friendly Policies, including enhanced maternity pay, carers and dependants leave

• Employer provided benefits such as Private medical insurance, virtual GP, Critical illness cover, Life assurance cover, to name a few

• Choice of voluntary benefits including Technology scheme, Cycle to work scheme, Will-writing service amongst others

• Employee Assistance Programme

• Extensive opportunities for personal and career development

• Nationwide gym membership discounts, and a fully equipped on-site gym open 24/7 in London

• Extensive Well-being resources including on-site therapists (London office only)

• Beautiful and bright London office looking over the Thames and near to mainline stations

• Our Coventry office is 2 minutes’ walk from the main station

• Our employee led networks (a couple of examples being our Women's Network, Carers network, and Neurodiverse Network) do fantastic work in educating and raising awareness across a range of experiences and support us in being an inclusive employer and a great place to work. You can get involved, too!

How do I apply?

• Please upload your CV, which should highlight relevant skills and experience and explain any gaps in your working life.

• Use the supporting statement box to demonstrate how you meet the minimum criteria.

A full job profile is available on request and will be provided to candidates shortlisted to the first stage of the assessment process.

We’re proud to be an inclusive employer

We view diversity as fundamental to our success and welcome applications from underrepresented groups across all communities.

We’re committed to being a great place to work– attracting and developing people from the widest possible range of backgrounds. We want everyone to perform at their best and feel able to be themselves. We understand that if we’re diverse and inclusive, we’ll better understand different perspectives, which is fundamental to our job resolving financial complaints.

We welcome applications from Black and other ethnic minority candidates, and female candidates, for all positions and particularly so for senior leader positions as they are under-represented within the Financial Ombudsman Service at this level.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. This means that we will put disabled candidates entering under the scheme through to the next stage of the recruitment process should they meet the minimum criteria for a role. A minimum criterion needs to be measurable from reviewing a candidate’s CV/supporting statement. Exceptions may apply if due to the volume of applications we are not able to interview all eligible candidates who qualify under the scheme. If you would like to speak to a member of our team about any reasonable adjustments you need, please email [e-mail] and let us know your preferred method of contact.

Find out more

Check out below channels to find out more about everyday life at the Financial Ombudsman Service – and don’t forget to follow us while you’re there!

• LinkedIn: Financial Ombudsman Service

• Our careers page: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/who-we-are/join-us

Good luck with your application!