Managed Services Delivery Manager

thales; Al Khobar; On-site; SAR 391,000 - 614,000; Full time

Job summary

Thales Khobar seeks a Service Delivery Manager (Team Manager) to lead a group of 8+ engineers, ensure 24x7 service availability, and drive ITIL-aligned operations. The role requires strong stakeholder management, English and Arabic fluency, and 10+ years in software/services delivery.

You will oversee incident management, automation initiatives, and collaboration with Product Owners and cross-functional teams to align with business goals and ensure service profitability.

Qualifications

• Must have 10+ years in software and services delivery.
• At least 3 years of experience managing engineering teams (≥5 members).
• Fluent in English and Arabic; strong communication and stakeholder management skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of 8+ engineers, ensuring resource planning and performance.
• Serve as escalation point and manage major incidents with cross-functional teams.
• Meet CSAT and NPS targets and drive improvement plans.
• Implement ITIL service management practices (change, release, incident, problem).
• Collaborate with Product Owners and Delivery Managers to ensure 24x7 service availability.
• Contribute hands-on to troubleshooting, code reviews, and reliability improvements.
• Design scalable, high-availability solutions and optimize infrastructure.
• Own project financial management and ensure margins.

Skills

Stakeholder mgmt

ITIL

ITSM

Project management

English & Arabic

Education

Engineering degree (Computer/Electrical/Telecommunications)

Tools

ITIL Practitioner

Job description

Location: Khobar, Saudi Arabia

Thales people architect identity management and data protection solutions at the heart of digital security. Business and governments rely on us to bring trust to the billions of digital interactions they have with people. Our technologies and services help banks exchange funds, people cross borders, energy become smarter and much more. More than 30,000 organizations already rely on us to verify the identities of people and things, grant access to digital services, analyze vast quantities of information and encrypt data to make the connected world more secure.

For over 50 years, Thales has been a trusted partner of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As a local industrial partner, Thales provides advanced solutions in Defence, Public Security, Civil Aviation, Space, Enterprise, and Cybersecurity across four sites throughout the country. The Saudi Vision 2030 is at the heart of Thales' strategy in the Kingdom, driving the localisation of defence technologies and systems, strengthening local capabilities, developing local talent, and supporting national sovereignty through strategic collaborations. To reinforce its commitment to localising its defence activities and to build a future we can trust in the Kingdom, Thales established SAMI Thales Electronic Systems (STES), a Joint Venture with Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI), operating under the ambitious directives outlined in Vision 2030.

As a Service Delivery Manager (Team Manager) within the DES team, you will lead a team of 8+ engineers with diverse technical skills sets, ensuring the reliable delivery of services and regional projects while maintaining operational excellence, customer satisfaction, and compliance with Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

You will be responsible for team leadership, service operations, stakeholder management, resource planning, and escalation handling, while driving continuous improvement and aligning service delivery with business objectives. As a hands-on technical leader, you will actively contribute to troubleshooting, automation, technical initiatives, and process optimization, ensuring high service quality, operational efficiency, and service profitability.

A week in the life of a Service Delivery Manager

• Lead and manage a team of engineers, ensuring effective resource planning, skill development, high performance, and a collaborative, growth-oriented culture.
• Act as the primary customer and stakeholder escalation point, leading major incident management, coordinating cross-functional teams, and providing timely executive communications.
• Achieve Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) and Net Promoter Score (NPS) targets, addressing low scores through actionable improvement plans.
• Drive ITIL service management practices, including change, release, incident, and problem management, while participating in governance reviews and ensuring adherence to quality processes and KPIs.
• Build and maintain strong customer and stakeholder relationships, proactively addressing feedback, improving service quality, and supporting business growth and service adoption.
• Define and execute operational and DevOps improvement initiatives, monitor service and team KPIs, and drive automation, reliability, and continuous improvement.
• Collaborate closely with Product Owners, Delivery Managers, Production Engineers, and other cross-functional teams to achieve organizational goals and ensure 24x7 service availability.
• Actively contribute hands-on to technical tasks, including troubleshooting complex issues, participating in code reviews, optimizing infrastructure, and improving system reliability.
• Work directly with engineers to design and implement scalable, high-availability solutions, leveraging industry best practices.
• You will ensure traffic boosting and service usage of managed services by collaborating with the Account/Marketing team.
• You will be the owner of project financial management, respecting the management approved margins

Qualification

Education, Experience, Knowledge and Skills

• To succeed at this job, you must have: experience with overseeing project scope and requirements, SLAs, change and customer relationship management, project handovers and ITIL foundation, practitioner, service manager and practitioner release and control certifications.
• You must be fluent in English and Arabic.
• We would like someone to join our team who has strong communication and stakeholder management skills.
• You must have a Degree in Computer, Electrical or Telecommunications Engineering or a related field.
• We are looking for someone with 10+ years of experience in software and services delivery, including at least 3 years of experience managing engineering teams of at least 5 team members.
• Proven experience in operations or team management within IT or technical environments.
• Knowledge of IT Service Management (ITSM) processes and tools, project management, SLAs, and change management.
• Hands-on experience with key technologies su