Head of Service Delivery and Operations

Victoria and Albert Museum; England; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

29 days of holiday + public holidays

5.5% employee pension contribution, 10% employer contribution

Life assurance scheme

Family-friendly policies

Free entrance to major museums and exhibitions

Job summary

A renowned cultural institution in the United Kingdom is seeking an experienced Head of Service Delivery & Operations to lead day-to-day technology services across multiple locations. The ideal candidate will drive ITIL process maturity and optimize service delivery using ServiceNow, managing a £3.5m Opex budget. With proven leadership skills and extensive experience in IT Service Delivery, you will enhance stakeholder relationships and oversee a high-performing team to deliver exceptional service.

Qualifications

• 8–10 years in IT Service Delivery roles.
• 3 years in a senior leadership position.
• Experience managing outsourced contracts and multi-site operations.
• Track record leading teams through technology change.

Responsibilities

• Provide leadership for Technology Service Delivery & Operations team.
• Build a high-performing team with strong technical and service management skills.
• Drive maturity of ITSM processes using ServiceNow.
• Develop and monitor SLAs and KPIs.
• Manage financial operations within a £3.5m Opex budget.

Skills

ServiceNow

Networking (WAN/LAN) HP Aruba

VMWare

ITIL v4 framework

Stakeholder engagement

Tools

ServiceNow

VMware

HP Aruba

WAN/LAN networking

ITIL v4

Job description

Victoria and Albert Museum provided pay range

This range is provided by Victoria and Albert Museum. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more.

Base pay range

The Role

We are seeking an experienced Head of Service Delivery & Operations to lead the day-to-day running of technology services across the V&A Museum Group.

You will oversee Service Desk, End User Compute, Infrastructure & Platform Support, Visitor Technology (AV and interactive systems) and core ITLT capabilities.

This is a pivotal leadership role ensuring operational excellence while supporting an ongoing technology transformation. You will drive ITIL v4 process maturity, optimize ServiceNow usage, and lead a high‑performing team to deliver exceptional service across a multi‑site operation.

What will you be doing?

• Leadership: Provide leadership, ownership, and accountability for the Technology Service Delivery & Operations team ensuring that we deliver consistently high standards of operational services and exceptional user experience across Service Desk, Infrastructure and Platform and Visitor Technology Services
• People: Build and develop a high‑performing team with strong technical, service management and customer service capabilities aligned to the overall Technology Strategy and objectives. Ensure that we have active development plans place to upskill staff for new technologies and capabilities
• Service Maturity & Transformation: Drive rapid maturity of ITSM processes using ServiceNow
• Governance & Reporting: Develop and monitor SLAs, KPIs, and service performance metrics and provide regular reporting to senior leadership to drive service improvement and accountability
• Stakeholder management: Develop and maintain strong working relationships with key stakeholders across the organisation and across all V&A locations
• Supplier and contract management: build and maintain strong vendor relationships to ensure that we are delivering best value to the V&A and holding suppliers to account for excellent service delivery
• Financial and resource management: Responsible for circa £3.5m Opex budget. Forecast and operate within agreed budgets and resources whilst ensuring we are delivering best value for the V&A
• Service Transition: Ensure that SD&O is factored into the evaluation, selection, installation, configuration, and supportability of all new initiatives and that operational teams are upskilled and ready to take on day‑to‑day support of new technologies/platforms as they transition into live
• Senior Team leadership: As part of the Technology senior management team, actively participate in the management and success of the Technology and Data Department as a whole, working collaboratively with your peers to improve operation and quality of the service delivered to the organisation

Who are we looking for?

• ServiceNow; Networking (WAN/LAN) HP Aruba; VMWare
• Excellent knowledge of ITIL v4 framework; highly skilled in ITLT processes
• Experience in rapid service maturity programs
• Proven ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams; capability development & upskilling; stakeholder engagement
• Experience in cultural change initiatives
• Managing BAU operations in multi‑site environments; 8am–6pm, 7‑day support coverage; Outsourced support coordination
• Experience in museum / visitor‑focused environments / retail environments
• Supporting new technology adoption balancing BAU with project demands
• Experience in large‑scale IT transformation

Experience

• Minimum 8–10 years in IT Service Delivery roles, with at least 3 years in a senior leadership position.
• Demonstrated success in maturing ITSM processes and frameworks.
• Experience managing outsourced contracts and multi‑site operations.
• Proven track record in leading teams through technology change.

What’s in it for you?

• 29 days of holiday + public holidays each year
• 5.5% employee pension contribution, 10% employer pension contribution (post‑probation)
• Life assurance scheme (to value of 4 x annual salary)
• Family‑friendly policies e.g. enhanced maternity + paid carers leave
• Free sanitary products for all employees across our sites
• Free entrance to many major museums and exhibitions
• Benefits platform offering discounts at major retailers
• and many more

Full job description and list of benefits on our website.

When do applications close?

9 January 2025 @ 23:59

Seniority level

Mid‑Senior level

Employment type

Full‑time

Job function

Information Technology

Industries

Museums, Historical Sites, and Zoos, Museums, and Non‑profit Organizations