About the job

Job summary

The Submarine Delivery Agency (SDA) is a part of the Ministry of Defence responsible for the procurement, in-service support, and disposal of the UK’s nuclear submarines. Our work is of unparalleled strategic importance nationally and internationally, ensuring the security of the UK’s continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent, and delivering some of the most technically complex programmes in defence.

Here you’ll find a community to belong to – whether that’s alongside project teams with a shared vision or as part of an employee network of like-minded individuals. We believe that, by celebrating different backgrounds and perspectives, together we’ll achieve the extraordinary.

Discover more about our work:

We offer 25+ days’ holiday, flexible and hybrid working, enhanced parental leave schemes, shopping discounts, and an exceptional employer pension contribution of around 27%, to help work for you.

Job description

Are you a Service Manager looking to step up and enhance your career within the Civil Service? If so, we are recruiting a Senior IT Service Manager to join the SDA at our main office in Abbey Wood, Bristol. 

In this role you’ll be responsible for the quality delivery of digital and IT services into the Submarine Delivery Agency. You’ll be expected to collaborate with a wide breadth of stakeholders, internal and across the private sector to deliver pioneering and progressive outcomes. Using your substantial knowledge and expertise in delivering digital and IT services, you’ll be able to influence the strategic direction of service management within the SDA.  

To be successful you will ensure these services are continuously improved and meet the standards set by specialists in other digital and data domains such as Cyber, Architecture and Data. You’ll use strong commercial and financial management skills to identify opportunities to enhance services and make efficiencies. 

You will require strong leadership, stakeholder engagement and management skills in order to develop and maintain relationships and reputation within an operationally focused and specialist stakeholder community. In your role you will be responsible for the leadership of ~20 civil servants and maintaining strong relationships with managed service providers. 

For security reasons this role is open to sole UK nationals only. A ‘sole UK national’ refers to an individual who holds citizenship solely in the UK, without dual citizenship or nationality from another country. We’re unable to offer visa sponsorship. 

This role requires you to have lived in the UK for the last 5 years and obtain Security Check (SC) security clearance. Clearance must be obtained without any caveats that prevent you from carrying out the role you have been recruited for. If it isn’t obtained or is obtained but with caveats that prevent you from carrying out the role, any conditional offer made to you will be withdrawn. Obtaining SC security clearance can be a lengthy process, and we reserve the right to withdraw any conditional offer made if the necessary security clearance isn’t obtained within 12 months. 

At the SDA, we champion flexible ways of working. Regular in-person attendance (a minimum of 3 days per week) is required to promote the benefits of face-to-face collaboration alongside flexibility of hours to support work-life balance. Initially, you may be expected to attend more frequently to familiarise yourselves with the site, the team, and your role. There will also be the occasional travel to UK wide MOD sites which would be subsidised.

Whilst on the Abbey Wood site in Bristol, you’ll experience our impressive range of on-site facilities including a restaurant and coffee bistros and free parking. Our sports facilities include a fully equipped gym and sports hall with bookable classes, as well as a squash court, tennis courts and a football pitch.

What you’ll be doing

• Lead a team of IT Service Manager to ensure high quality work is delivered that meets the needs of the business.
• Apply Service Management tool and techniques to ensure that the level of service delivered in all services meets agreed standards & KPI's
• Contribute to the development, review and monitoring of policies and procedures for IT Service Delivery and ensure compliance of staff within specialist area
• Manage the planning, implementation, control, review and audit of service provision, to meet customer business requirements and operate continuous improvement
• Be responsible for ensuring IT change does not impact Service and checks the infrastructure has the capacity to support the IT change delivery.

Person specification

To be successful with your application, you'll need to show that you meet the following essential criteria:

• Experience in leading IT Service Management
• Relevant professional qualification e.g., ITIL or relevant experience.

In addition to the responsibilities above, the following technical competences and behaviours will be assessed at interview:

• Service Delivery and Operations (1) – Expert
• Change and Transformation – Practitioner
• Managing a Quality Service - CSBC 4
• Leadership - CSBC 4

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £58,500, Ministry of Defence contributes £15,795 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

Your application will go through the following stages of assessment:

1. Pre-sift - We will check that you meet any essential or eligibility criteria that are listed in the Person Specification section of this advert. On your CV, please clearly show how you meet the essential criteria.

2. Sift - Your CV will be assessed against the following categories, using a simple numerical scoring system: Key Achievements; Relevant Experience; Applied Knowledge and Skills

Please follow our guidance on CV writing for best chance of success.

3. Interview - If you're invited to interview, you'll be assessed against the Sift categories listed above, as well as the Technical Competences and Behaviours listed in the Person Specification section of this advert.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview.

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

Open to UK nationals only.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.