Implementation Lead

Queen Square Recruitment; Leeds; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

Queen Square Recruitment is looking for an experienced Implementation Lead to manage end-to-end delivery and operational readiness in complex managed services. In this role, you will collaborate across engineering, operations, and support teams, ensuring solutions are delivered successfully while managing compliance and stability.

The ideal candidate will have a strong background in Managed Services Operations, knowledge of ITIL frameworks, and experience with IT infrastructure and application lifecycle management. Skills in stakeholder management and troubleshooting are essential.

Qualifications

• Strong experience within Managed Services Operations (MSO) environments.
• Proven track record delivering complex IT and infrastructure programmes.
• Experience managing routes-to-live and operational readiness activities.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end delivery lifecycle from planning through to deployment.
• Drive routes-to-live, service readiness, and operational transition activities.
• Manage incident, problem, and change processes throughout delivery.

Skills

Delivery lifecycle management

Stakeholder management

ITIL knowledge

Troubleshooting skills

DevOps practices

Education

ITIL certification

Tools

ServiceNow

Jira

Job description

Implementation Lead (Managed Services Operations)

We are seeking an experienced Implementation Lead to drive end-to-end delivery and operational readiness across complex managed services and technology environments. As Implementation Lead, you will take ownership of delivery planning, service readiness, deployment activities, and operational transitions. You will work closely with engineering, operations, product, and support teams to ensure solutions are delivered successfully, risks are managed effectively, and services remain stable and compliant.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end delivery lifecycle from planning through to deployment
• Drive routes-to-live, service readiness, and operational transition activities
• Identify and mitigate delivery risks, dependencies, and bottlenecks
• Ensure deployment activities align with operational and compliance requirements
• Manage incident, problem, and change processes throughout delivery
• Lead resolution of critical technical issues across infrastructure, applications, and platforms
• Act as an escalation point for complex delivery and operational challenges
• Coordinate root cause analysis and drive permanent corrective actions
• Work closely with engineering teams on troubleshooting and integration challenges
• Collaborate with engineering, operations, product, and business stakeholders
• Provide clear reporting on progress, risks, dependencies, and delivery status
• Lead cross-functional teams to achieve delivery outcomes
• Foster accountability and continuous improvement across teams
• Ensure quality, security, and compliance requirements are met
• Support adoption of automation, monitoring, and performance optimisation
• Validate operational readiness before production deployment
• Identify opportunities to improve delivery processes and operational efficiency
• Promote DevOps, Agile, and SRE best practicesSupport knowledge sharing and standardisation initiatives
• Strong experience within Managed Services Operations (MSO) environments
• Proven track record delivering complex IT and infrastructure programmes
• Experience managing routes-to-live and operational readiness activities
• Strong understanding of cloud and on-prem infrastructure
• Knowledge of application lifecycle management and system integrations
• Experience with incident, problem, and change management
• Familiarity with ITSM frameworks (ITIL) and tools such as ServiceNow and Jira
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills
• Experience leading cross-functional technical teams
• Excellent troubleshooting and problem-solving capabilities
• DevOps and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) environments
• Automation and monitoring platforms
• Enterprise-scale managed services operations
• Financial services or highly regulated industries
• ITIL certification