Lead Services Manager - Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills - G7

  • Government Digital & Data
  • Jan 14, 2026
Full time

Job Description

Location

23 Stephenson Street, Birmingham, 2 Rivergate, Bristol, Piccadilly Gate, Manchester or Loxley House, Nottingham

About the job Job summary

Are you ready to lead the strategic delivery of service management for one of the UK's most important public sector organisations? Ofsted is seeking a Lead Service Manager to join our Technology Services team and drive excellence across our Digital and Technology function.

As the Lead Service Manager, you will:

  • Oversee all service management processes, including Incident, Problem, Change, and Configuration Management.
  • Lead a team of Service Delivery Managers and manage the Service Desk to ensure efficient, effective, and user-focused services.
  • Champion best practices and continuous improvement to deliver reliable digital services that support Ofsted's mission.

What we're looking for:

  • Strong background in IT service management (ITIL or equivalent).
  • Proven leadership experience in managing teams and service delivery.
  • Passion for delivering high-quality digital services in a public sector environment.

Join us and make a real impact on the reliability and quality of services that underpin Ofsted's work.

This is a fantastic opportunity to further your experience in Ofsted's well-established team. The post holder will work with high-achieving professionals at all levels, surrounded by a friendly and supportive team. They will have access to amazing benefits, such as flexible working hours, the Civil Service Pension Scheme, and 32.5 days annual leave + 8 bank holidays. We offer a hybrid working model, so you may also choose to spend a proportion of time working from home.

Job description

Please refer to the job specification for further information.

Person specification

Please refer to the job specification for further information.

Qualifications

Recognised service management qualification for example ITIL (Essential)
Degree or equivalent experience (Desirable)

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

  • Seeing the Big Picture
  • Communicating and Influencing
  • Leadership
  • Managing a Quality Service
Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

  • Experience leading and mentoring IT service teams, fostering a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement to deliver high-quality digital services. (Essential)
  • Design, implementation and continual review of appropriate IT Service Management, preferably ITIL, processes. (Essential)
  • Experience managing IT service outages and incidents, resolving issues with minimal customer impact, and applying lessons learned to improve future responses. (Essential)
  • Experience of working successfully in blended supplier/internal service teams collectively working to a shared service outcome. (Essential)