IT Operations & Service Management Lead

VMD; Addlestone; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 39,000; Full time

Job summary

VMD, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, is seeking an IT Operations and Service Management Lead to join the IT Operations team in a hands-on operational role with service management responsibility. The role supports reliable delivery of IT services underpinning regulatory, scientific, and business activities.

You will focus on modern computing, end-user services, and live service support, providing senior technical judgement, prioritisation, and escalation support across the team.

Qualifications

• Experience in IT operations, service desk or live service support environments.
• Experience using ticketing or service management tools to manage work.
• Experience supporting end users with workplace tech (365, Teams, SharePoint, Outlook).
• Experience collaborating with suppliers and technical teams for service delivery.
• Ability to monitor service information and identify risks for improvements.
• Solid understanding of IT service management, ITIL-based approaches.
• Ability to assess impact and urgency of IT issues and escalate when needed.

Responsibilities

• Support day-to-day IT services underpinning regulatory, scientific, and business activities.
• Focus on end-user services, service desk operations, and live service support.
• Provide capacity within IT Operations, coordinating and prioritising tasks.
• Participate in incident, request, change, and problem handling.
• Offer service desk support, triage, and escalation of live service issues.
• Collaborate with EO IT Operations Support colleagues for escalation and judgment.
• Contribute to hands-on operational tasks and monitor service information.

Skills

IT operations

Service desk

End-user support

Incident management

Prioritisation

Communication

Tools

Jira Service Management

Microsoft 365

Teams

SharePoint

Outlook

Intune

Autopilot

Job description

Salary: £35,000 - 35,000 per year

Requirements:

• Experience working in an IT operations, service desk, technical support, or live service support environment.
• Experience using a ticketing or service management tool, such as Jira Service Management or similar, to record, manage, prioritise, progress, and report on operational work.
• Experience supporting users with workplace technology, including laptops, Microsoft 365, Teams, SharePoint, Outlook, user accounts, access requests, mobile devices, laptop builds, device provisioning, Autopilot, Intune, or similar end-user services.
• Experience working with colleagues, suppliers, and technical teams to support reliable day-to-day IT service delivery, including effective handover, documentation, knowledge sharing, and continuous service improvement.
• Experience monitoring operational service information, including ticket trends, service desk performance, recurring incidents, operational metrics, alerts, and security-related issues, and using this information to identify risks, support proactive service improvement, and coordinate appropriate escalation.
• Good understanding of IT service management practices, including incident, request, change, and problem management, using ITIL-based or equivalent service management approaches.
• Ability to assess the impact and urgency of IT issues, prioritise work effectively, identify trends or recurring issues, and elevate risks, service issues, or complex technical matters when needed.

Responsibilities:

• Support the reliable day-to-day running of IT services that underpin our regulatory, scientific, and business activities.
• Focus on modern computing, end user services, service desk operations, and live service support.
• Provide HEO-level capacity within our IT Operations team, ensuring operational work is delivered, coordinated, prioritised, and managed effectively.
• Take an active role in incident, request, change, and problem handling.
• Provide service desk support, user support, technical triage, and escalation of live service issues.
• Work closely with EO IT Operations Support colleagues, providing senior technical judgement, day-to-day prioritisation, and escalation support.
• Contribute directly to hands-on operational tasks.
• Monitor service information such as ticket trends, service desk performance, recurring incidents, operational metrics, alerts, and security-related issues.
• Use service information to identify risks, support proactive service improvement, and coordinate escalation to suppliers, technical specialists, or SOC/security monitoring functions where required.

Technologies:

• Support
• ITIL
• JIRA
• Microsoft 365
• Mobile
• Security
• SharePoint
• Office 365

More:

We are the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD), an Executive Agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), responsible for ensuring the safety, quality, and efficacy of veterinary medicines in the UK. We are seeking an IT Operations and Service Management Lead to join our IT Operations team in a hands‑on operational role with service management responsibility. This role supports the reliable delivery of the IT services that underpin our work and offers an opportunity to work closely with colleagues across the team. We are an Equal Opportunity employer.