IT Problem Lead

Compass Group PLC; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Compass Group UK & Ireland is seeking a senior Problem Management Leader to own governance, investigations and corrective actions for recurring and major incidents. You will work across Incident Management, SRE, Engineering, Infrastructure, Change, Product and Service Ownership to drive proactive problem management and measurable improvements.

You will oversee root cause analysis, maintain known error records and produce executive-level reporting, with a strong focus on prevention,

Qualifications

• ITIL 4 problem management experience in a complex technology or service environment.
• Structured root cause analysis and causal factor analysis expertise.
• Experience investigating recurring incidents and major incident outcomes.
• Strong analytical mindset with ability to interpret incident and performance data.
• Excellent stakeholder management across Engineering, Infrastructure, Product and Service Operations.

Responsibilities

• Own the problem management process, governance, backlog, prioritisation and reporting rhythm.
• Lead structured investigations, root cause analysis and corrective action planning for recurring and major incidents.
• Ensure problem records capture root causes, contributing factors, impact, actions, owners and closure evidence.
• Use incident, monitoring and performance data to identify trends and prevention opportunities.
• Chair problem review forums and drive accountability for corrective action across resolver teams.
• Maintain known error records, workarounds and links to knowledge management.
• Partner with SRE and Engineering to convert reliability issues into prioritised improvements.
• Produce executive-ready management information covering themes, risks, actions and outcomes.
• Drive continuous improvement across problem management processes and ways of working.

Skills

ITIL 4

Problem management

Root cause analysis

Stakeholder management

Data-driven decisions

Tools

CMDB

Monitoring tools

Reporting tools

Job description

This is a key leadership role within Service Operations, focused on preventing recurring incidents, reducing business impact and improving service reliability. You will turn incident trends, major incident findings and known errors into structured, evidence-based corrective action. Working across Incident Management, SRE, Engineering, Infrastructure & Cloud, Change, Product and Service Ownership, you will establish a proactive problem management approach that identifies underlying causes, strengthens accountability and delivers measurable improvements. What you'll be doing

• Owning the problem management process, governance framework, backlog, prioritisation and reporting rhythm.
• Leading structured problem investigations, root cause analysis and corrective action planning for recurring and major incidents.
• Ensuring problem records clearly capture root causes, contributing factors, business impact, actions, owners, deadlines and closure evidence.
• Using incident, monitoring, CMDB and service performance data to identify trends, risks and prevention opportunities.
• Chairing problem review forums and driving accountability for corrective action completion across resolver teams.
• Maintaining accurate known error records, workarounds and links to knowledge management.
• Partnering with SRE and Engineering teams to convert reliability issues into prioritised engineering improvements.
• Producing executive-ready management information covering problem themes, risks, actions and prevention outcomes.
• Driving continuous improvement across problem management processes, standards and ways of working., You will strengthen the maturity and effectiveness of problem management by:
• Reducing the age and risk of the problem backlog.
• Improving the completion of corrective actions.
• Reducing repeat incidents and major incident recurrence.
• Strengthening the quality of root cause analysis.
• Ensuring completed problems have clear and complete closure evidence.
• Maintaining accurate and current known error information.
• Contributing to improved service restoration and reliability outcomes.
• Establishing meaningful performance reporting and trend analysis.

Your first 90 days

Your initial focus will be to assess the existing problem backlog, recurring incident themes and outputs from major incidents. You will establish an effective problem review cadence, introduce consistent investigation and closure standards, and prioritise the most significant recurring issues according to business impact and risk. You will also create clear tracking and escalation routes for overdue corrective actions and introduce monthly reporting that demonstrates prevention outcomes and emerging trends.

Why join Compass Group UK & Ireland?

This is an opportunity to shape a critical technology practice within a large, complex and evolving organisation. You will work at the heart of Digital & Technology, influencing teams across Service Operations, Engineering, Infrastructure and Product. Your work will help prevent recurring disruption, improve service reliability and ensure that lessons from incidents lead to meaningful and lasting change.

• Strong experience of ITIL 4 problem management within a complex technology or service environment.
• Proven capability in structured root cause analysis and causal factor analysis.
• Experience investigating recurring incidents and major incident outcomes.
• A strong analytical mindset, with the ability to interpret incident, service performance and monitoring data.
• The confidence to constructively challenge technical and operational teams on evidence, accountability and action ownership.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills across Engineering, Infrastructure, Product and Service Operations.
• Clear written communication, with experience producing reports for senior operational and governance forums.
• A strong focus on prevention, measurable outcomes and continuous improvement., If you are an experienced problem management professional who combines technical understanding, analytical thinking and strong stakeholder leadership, we would love to hear from you.