Group IT Manager

Splendid Hospitality Group; Watford; On-site; GBP 75,000 - 80,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)

Hotel Room Discounts

Food & Beverage Discounts

Life Assurance

Salary Sacrifice - Car Scheme

Pension - Auto enrolment

Learning & Development

Job summary

Splendid Hospitality Group is seeking a Group IT Manager in Watford to lead day-to-day IT service performance, supplier governance and a small internal team. You will ensure service levels meet business needs and manage external partners across infrastructure, networks and security controls.

The role focuses on delivering reliable IT services, embedding ITSM and driving improvements while supporting a hybrid operating model.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in IT service leadership in a multi-site environment, hospitality experience advantageous.
• Proven supplier management and governance experience.
• Strong ITSM knowledge: SLAs, incident/problem management and continual improvement.
• Outsourced or hybrid IT experience with internal/external teams coordination.

Responsibilities

• Own IT service performance across Splendid to meet service levels and business needs.
• Govern MSP and supplier performance, manage contracts and escalations.
• Embed MSP-led ITSM into Splendid operations with clear processes.
• Lead major incidents and cross-supplier problem resolution.
• Maintain clear ownership, boundaries and escalation paths.
• Ensure accurate IT asset and service data with reporting for decisions.
• Coordinate resilience through backup, recovery and DR arrangements.
• Oversee infrastructure, networks and end-user technology delivery by suppliers.
• Coordinate readiness and transition for IT changes and acquisitions.
• Support managed service reviews, re-contracting and cost control.
• Build strong relationships with business leaders to drive IT improvements.
• Lead, develop and support the Group IT Engineers.

Skills

IT service leadership

Supplier management

ITSM expertise

Outsourced or hybrid IT experience

Broad technical knowledge

Resilience and risk focus

Commercial awareness

Data-driven mindset

Stakeholder skills

Pragmatic leadership

Technical qualifications

Education

ITIL certification desirable

Technical or service management qualification

Tools

Microsoft 365 / Azure

Job description

Group IT Manager

Department: IT & Data

Employment Type: Permanent

Location: Regal Way - Watford

Compensation: £75,000 - £80,000 / year

Description

At Splendid Hospitality Group, technology plays an increasingly important role in how our hotels, restaurants and care businesses operate. We’re looking for a Group IT Manager to help ensure our IT services are reliable, responsive and continually improving across the Group.

Reporting to the Group IT Director, you’ll take ownership of the day-to-day performance of our IT services, working across a diverse and fast-moving environment to make sure our people have the technology and support they need to do their best work.

You’ll be the key operational link between Splendid, our managed service provider and specialist technology suppliers, making sure service levels, responsibilities, escalation routes and improvement actions are clear and effective.

You’ll also lead our team of Group IT Engineers, bringing together internal technical expertise with our external partners to solve problems, coordinate activity and deliver targeted technical improvements.

This is an exciting time to join us. You’ll play a key role in stabilising and improving our current IT services while helping to embed our target hybrid IT operating model, supporting managed service reviews and re-contracting, improving resilience and ensuring changes are transitioned effectively into live service.

What You Will Do In This Splendid Role

• Own IT service performance - Take ownership of day-to-day IT service performance across Splendid, ensuring services consistently meet agreed service levels and business expectations.
• Lead supplier performance - Govern the performance of our MSP and technology suppliers, managing service levels, contract compliance, escalations and continuous improvement.
• Embed effective ITSM - Integrate MSP-led IT service management processes and tools into the way Splendid operates, ensuring clear, consistent and effective ways of working.
• Lead major incident and problem resolution - Coordinate service reviews and cross-supplier escalations, ensuring major incidents and recurring problems are addressed quickly and effectively.
• Create clear ownership - Maintain clear service ownership, support boundaries and escalation paths so everyone understands their responsibilities and issues reach the right people quickly.
• Keep our data working for us - Ensure IT asset and service data is accurate, reliable and supported by clear reporting to inform decision-making and service improvement.
• Strengthen resilience - Coordinate with suppliers to assure our backup, recovery and disaster recovery arrangements are robust, tested and fit for purpose.
• Drive supplier delivery - Oversee supplier delivery across infrastructure, networks, end-user technology and security controls, ensuring services are delivered effectively and to the required standards.
• Make change happen smoothly - Coordinate technical readiness and transition for IT changes, new properties and acquisitions, ensuring services are ready to operate successfully from day one.
• Support our IT operating model - Play a key role in managed service reviews, re-contracting, service transitions and cost control, helping ensure we have the right services, suppliers and value for the Group.
• Partner with the business - Build strong relationships with business leaders to understand priorities, tackle recurring service issues and ensure IT improvements have a meaningful impact on our people and operations.
• Lead our IT Engineers - Lead, develop and support the Group IT Engineers, focusing the team on problem management, supplier coordination and targeted hands-on technical support where it adds the most value.

What Makes You Splendid

You’ll bring a strong blend of IT service leadership, technical understanding and commercial awareness, with the confidence to work across our business, suppliers and technical teams.

We’re looking for someone who has:

• Strong IT service or operations experience - ideally 5+ years in a multi-site environment, with hospitality or hotels particularly advantageous.
• Supplier management experience - Proven experience managing MSPs and specialist technology suppliers, holding them accountable for service, performance and delivery.
• ITSM expertise - A strong understanding of service management, SLAs, escalation, incident/problem management and continual improvement.
• Outsourced or hybrid IT experience - Comfortable operating in an environment where responsibility is shared across internal teams, MSPs and specialist suppliers.
• Broad technical knowledge - A good understanding of infrastructure, networks, end-user technology and Microsoft cloud services, without needing to be the technical expert in everything.
• A focus on resilience and risk - Experience overseeing backup, recovery and disaster recovery, alongside a good understanding of cybersecurity controls, technology risk and remediation.
• Commercial awareness - Confident managing supplier contracts, service costs, performance and managed service reviews, with an eye on value as well as service.
• A data-driven mindset - Able to use service data and reporting to spot trends, identify recurring issues and turn insight into meaningful improvements.
• Strong stakeholder skills - Comfortable building relationships and influencing across business leaders, technical teams and external suppliers.
• A pragmatic leadership style - Someone who can lead, develop and get the best from a small technical team, while being prepared to get involved when needed.
• Relevant qualifications - A technical or service management qualification is desirable, with ITIL particularly useful.

Honest. Nimble. Brilliant. Open.

These values shape how we work, how we lead and how we treat one another. We’re looking for someone who brings these to life through their leadership, decisions and relationships every day

Our Splendid Benefits

When you join Splendid, you will enjoy a reward package to support your lifestyle, wellbeing and career. Here are just some of the benefits on offer:

• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) - confidential wellbeing support whenever you need it with 24/7 access to remote GP appointments.
• Hotel Room Discounts - stay with us or our partner hotels at special team rates including discounted rates for friends and family.
• Food & Beverage Discounts - enjoy meals and drinks at reduced prices across our hotels.
• Life Assurance - peace of mind for you and your loved ones.
• Salary Sacrifice - Car Scheme - Our team members can enjoy the ultimate benefit of driving a brand new, fully insured and maintained car for a fixed monthly amount taken from their salary.
• Stream - access your earned wages up to 50% whenever you need them giving you financial flexibility and Highstreet discounts available.
• Pension - Auto enrolment into the company pension scheme.
• Learning & Development - Opportunities available to progress your skills and career.