Head of IT Operations (0680)

Mills & Reeve; Manchester; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Mills & Reeve in Manchester seeks an experienced Head of IT Operations to lead our operational technology strategy across the UK firm. You will oversee the Service Desk and Technical Services, ensuring secure, reliable and scalable IT services that support growth, regulatory compliance and client needs.

Reporting to the Chief Technology Officer, you’ll drive service excellence, vendor management and budget oversight while collaborating with senior stakeholders across multiple offices.

Qualifications

• Significant IT Operations experience, ideally within a law firm.
• Excellent communicator with ability to explain complex tech to non-technical stakeholders.
• Willingness to travel between offices and work additional hours when required.

Responsibilities

• Lead IT Operations strategy, teams and resources, driving performance and service excellence.
• Own operational IT services and ensure SLAs meet business needs.
• Lead the Service Desk across UK offices to provide a consistent customer-focused experience.
• Oversee Technical Services and the firm’s infrastructure for security, resilience and efficiency.
• Ensure consistent technology services across offices and support moves, growth and refurbishments.
• Maintain resilience of critical IT services and lead incident response and recovery.
• Manage technology suppliers, contracts and purchasing with a focus on value for money and compliance.
• Oversee IT Operations budget, forecasting and resource planning to improve efficiency and control costs.
• Provide clear operational reporting to senior stakeholders and act as escalation point for critical IT issues.

Skills

IT Operations

Service Desk Leadership

Technical Services

Security & Compliance

Vendor Management

Budget & Finance

Stakeholder Engagement

IT Strategy

Tools

ITIL

Job description

We are looking for an experienced Head of IT Operations to lead our operational technology strategy and shape the services that support our growing firm.

The role

This is an exciting opportunity to join the firm as Head of IT Operations, taking a leading role in shaping and delivering secure, reliable and responsive technology services across our growing, multi-office UK business.

Reporting to the Chief Technology Officer, you'll lead our Service Desk and Technical Services functions, ensuring our technology estate provides an excellent experience for colleagues across the firm. You'll be responsible for the delivery, availability, security and continual improvement of our operational IT services, helping us respond to evolving business needs, increasing international activity and our continued focus on key industry sectors.

As a senior IT leader, you'll set the operational strategy, champion service excellence and oversee key third-party technology partners. You'll ensure our IT services support the firm's wider business objectives while meeting regulatory requirements and the expectations of our clients.

The person

You will bring significant IT Operations experience gained within a law firm.

• Strong IT operations expertise, with significant experience across IT support and Technical Services, alongside good IT literacy, accurate record keeping and a commitment to continued professional development.
• An excellent communicator and relationship builder, confident engaging with senior stakeholders and able to explain complex technical matters in a clear, straightforward way.
• A collaborative, flexible and proactive approach, with strong attention to detail, logical thinking, energy and enthusiasm. You'll also be willing to travel between our offices and work additional hours when the role requires.

The activities

• IT Operations Leadership: Lead the IT Operations strategy, teams and resources, driving high performance, continuous improvement and service excellence.
• Service Management: Take ownership of operational IT services, ensuring they meet agreed service levels and business needs.
• Service Desk Leadership: Lead the Service Desk across our UK offices, delivering a consistent, responsive and customer-focused experience.
• Technical Services & Infrastructure: Oversee Technical Services and the firm's technology infrastructure, ensuring services remain secure, resilient, scalable and efficient.
• Multi-Office Technology Operations: Ensure consistent technology services across our offices and support technology requirements for office moves, growth and refurbishment.
• Operational Resilience: Maintain the resilience of critical IT services and lead the response to major incidents, outages and recovery activities.
• Vendor & Supplier Management: Manage key technology suppliers, contracts and purchasing, ensuring strong performance, compliance and value for money.
• Financial Management: Manage the IT Operations budget, forecasting and resources, identifying opportunities to improve efficiency and control costs.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Build strong relationships with senior stakeholders, provide clear operational reporting and act as an escalation point for critical IT issues.

Please ensure you read the job description below for the full list of responsibilities & requirements for this role.

The Benefits

As you'd expect, we offer a competitive salary and a wide range of benefits.

Pre employment screening

If we offer you a role, we will conduct comprehensive pre-employment screening. This screening will include, but is not limited to, a basic DBS, verification of your right to work, a three year employment history and a self-declaration to assess your character and suitability for the role. Full details of our pre-screening employment process are available upon request.

Use of AI during the recruitment process

Technology is changing rapidly and we are all increasingly using AI software in our day to day lives, as well as using it to support our learning and professional development.

Here at Mills & Reeve, we embrace the use of technology and AI and we recognise that candidates may use AI tools to support their applications. As a regulated industry, we expect candidates to use such tools responsibly, honestly and in a manner that allows us to make a fair and accurate assessment of their individual skills, experience and suitability for the role.

Please ensure you have thoroughly read the document attached below to understand what we deem acceptable uses of AI.

The firm

At Mills & Reeve, our 1,450 plus people and over 850 lawyers share one vision – achieve more together. It's a state of mind in every client relationship we start and every choice we make. And it's what clients consistently say distinguishes us from your average law firm.

You can expect a close and attentive working relationship with a team that's responsive when you need them. You'll receive advice tailored to your individual needs. Wherever in the world you or your business needs support, we'll draw on our network to give recommendations.

We're driven by our values – we're ambitious, we're open, we care and we collaborate. We embrace new ideas, communicate honestly and are easy to work with. We're committed to you, our planet, our communities and each other.

We've been listed in The Sunday Times Best Places to Work list as one of the best big organisations, and we've recently been reaccredited Platinum Investors in People status – a standard achieved by only 8% of assessed organisations.

And finally

Everyone at Mills & Reeve brings a unique perspective and ideas to the team and we do everything we can to help each person to thrive. We're committed to providing an inclusive and supportive working environment, are happy to consider flexible working arrangements, and want to achieve the right balance for both our people and the firm. We encourage everyone to ask if they feel they need any workplace adjustments, and will do our best to support with these.

To find out more about our diversity and inclusion work, visit our website .