Head of Project Delivery

Head of Project & Service Delivery

 

Location: Hybrid working with offices based in Leeds or Sunderland.

Salary: £70,000 - £80,000 per annum plus up to 15% annual bonus.

 

Company Overview

We are working with a leading infrastructure organisation delivering essential services to millions of homes and businesses across the UK. With a strong focus on safety, innovation and operational excellence, the organisation is investing in its technology and service capabilities to deliver resilient, customer-focused services and meaningful change across the business.

 

Job Summary

We are seeking an experienced Head of IT Service & Project Delivery to provide strategic leadership across IT service delivery, operational performance and technology change.

 

This is a senior leadership role responsible for ensuring the effective delivery, performance and continual improvement of IT services, while also overseeing the successful transition of projects and transformation initiatives into live operational environments.

 

You will lead a high-performing team and work closely with senior business and technology stakeholders, suppliers and third-party partners to ensure IT services are reliable, resilient, customer-focused and aligned to organisational priorities.

 

A key part of the role will be strengthening the relationship between IT operations, service management and project delivery, ensuring that new technology and business changes are introduced effectively and deliver sustainable operational value.

 

The successful candidate will be an experienced IT Service Delivery leader who combines strong operational and people leadership with a good understanding of technology change, governance, suppliers and continuous improvement.

 

Key Responsibilities

IT Service Delivery & Operational Leadership

• Provide strategic leadership for IT service delivery, ensuring services consistently meet agreed performance, availability, security and customer experience expectations.
• Establish and maintain effective IT Service Management practices across incident, problem, change, request, configuration and service-level management.
• Monitor service performance against agreed SLAs, KPIs and operational objectives, identifying trends and driving corrective action.
• Lead the continual improvement of IT services, using data, customer feedback and operational insight to improve service quality, efficiency and resilience.
• Establish effective service review and governance processes, providing clear reporting and recommendations to senior leadership.
• Ensure robust incident and problem management processes are in place, including effective escalation and root-cause analysis for major and recurring issues.
• Work closely with IT operations, infrastructure, applications and business teams to ensure effective end-to-end service ownership.

 

Service Transition & Change

• Own and oversee the transition of new and changed services into operational support, ensuring services are supportable, resilient and operationally ready before go-live.
• Ensure appropriate service acceptance criteria, support models, documentation, knowledge transfer and operational readiness activities are completed.
• Work closely with project and programme teams to embed service management requirements throughout the project lifecycle.
• Ensure lessons learned from project delivery and operational incidents are incorporated into future service and change processes.
• Balance the need for business transformation with operational stability and service continuity.

 

Project & Portfolio Delivery

• Provide leadership and oversight across a portfolio of IT and business transformation initiatives.
• Ensure projects are delivered against agreed scope, timescales, budgets, benefits and governance requirements.
• Maintain appropriate project governance, including stage gates, steering groups, RAID management and executive reporting.
• Develop and manage portfolio roadmaps aligned with organisational priorities and technology strategy.
• Provide senior-level challenge and support to Project Managers, ensuring delivery risks and dependencies are proactively managed.
• Support the prioritisation of investment and change activity based on business value, operational impact, risk and organisational capacity.

 

People, Suppliers & Stakeholders

• Lead, coach and develop a high-performing team across service and project delivery, supporting performance, capability development and succession planning.
• Build strong relationships with senior business and technology stakeholders, ensuring expectations, priorities and service performance are clearly understood.
• Manage relationships with key technology suppliers and third-party service providers, ensuring contractual commitments, service levels and performance expectations are achieved.
• Work with commercial teams on supplier selection, contract management, performance reviews and service improvement.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, innovation and psychological safety.

 

Governance, Risk & Compliance

• Ensure IT services and technology change operate within appropriate governance, risk, regulatory and operational frameworks.
• Provide accurate, data-driven reporting on service performance, operational risks, project delivery, financial performance and strategic priorities.
• Identify and escalate significant service, technology and delivery risks, providing clear options and recommendations to senior stakeholders.
• Ensure appropriate financial management across service operations, suppliers and project delivery.
• Support the organisation in maintaining resilient and effective technology services within a regulated infrastructure environment.

 

Qualifications and Skills

Required

• Significant senior-level experience in IT Service Delivery, IT Service Management, IT Operations or a closely related leadership role.
• Proven experience leading and developing high-performing IT service and/or technology delivery teams.
• Strong understanding of ITIL and modern IT Service Management principles.
• Experience managing IT services against SLAs, KPIs and customer-focused service outcomes.
• Strong knowledge of incident, problem, change, service-level and continual improvement management.
• Significant experience overseeing service transition and operational readiness for new and changed technology services.
• Experience managing complex IT and business transformation portfolios, programmes or projects.
• Strong understanding of project governance, planning, budgeting, financial management and risk management.
• Experience working across Agile and Waterfall delivery environments.
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication and influencing skills, with the ability to operate effectively at senior leadership level.
• Commercial awareness and experience managing technology suppliers and third-party service providers.
• Experience operating in complex, highly regulated or infrastructure-based environments.

 

Certifications

• ITIL Foundation certification (ITIL 4 preferred).
• PRINCE2 Practitioner certification or equivalent project delivery qualification.

 

Preferred

• ITIL Managing Professional or equivalent advanced ITSM qualification.
• Certified Scrum Master or equivalent Agile qualification.
• Experience leading service improvement or IT transformation programmes.
• Experience implementing or improving ITSM processes, tooling and service management operating models.
• Experience managing outsourced or multi-supplier technology environments.

 

Equal Opportunity Statement

SPG Resourcing is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to fostering an inclusive workplace which values and benefits from the diversity of the workforce we hire. We offer reasonable accommodation at every stage of the application and interview process.

If this opportunity is of interest, please get in touch using the details below.

 

jarret.devlin@spgresourcing.com

01617 110288