Head of Service Operations

Job description

The role The Head of IT Service Management is accountable for leading IT service management practices across Group IT and ensuring that internal teams and external vendors consistently operate against agreed ITIL-based frameworks, controls, and performance expectations. The role leads the ITIL practice leads and owns the integrated service management improvement agenda, ensuring practices are well defined, adopted, trained, measured, reported, audited, and continuously improved. The role is responsible for driving end-to-end operational stability, incident reduction, major incident management, change management, problem management and root cause analysis, knowledge management, service request management, continual service improvement, and Group IT operational reporting. The role is Singapore based to align with the Group IT Operations leadership hub in STC and SJPS, enabling daily senior-level engagement, faster operational decisions, and stronger coordination across vendors, internal IT teams, and ITIL practice governance. Key Accountabilities 1. IT Service Management Leadership and Governance The Head of IT Service Management is accountable for the overall effectiveness, adoption, and maturity of IT service management practices across Group IT. Responsibilities include: • Lead the ITIL practice leads and provide clear direction, prioritisation, coaching, and performance expectations. • Own the IT service management governance model, standards, practice roadmap, and improvement agenda. • Ensure ITSM practices are aligned to business priorities, operational risk, audit expectations, and Group IT strategy. • Establish governance forums to review service performance, practice adoption, risks, issues, and improvement progress. • Act as the senior escalation point for ITSM practice risks, maturity gaps, governance failures, and cross-team process issues. • Ensure ITSM practices operate as an integrated service management system rather than isolated processes. 2. ITIL Framework Adoption Across Vendors and Internal Teams Ensure all vendors, managed service providers, and internal IT teams operate consistently against agreed ITIL-based ways of working. Responsibilities include: • Define the expected ITIL-based standards, controls, behaviours, and process obligations for vendors and internal teams. • Govern compliance with major incident, incident, request, problem, change, knowledge, and continual improvement practices. • Challenge process drift, inconsistent adoption, poor quality data, weak handoffs, and unclear ownership across teams and suppliers. • Ensure process requirements are embedded into supplier governance, service reviews, contracts, operational reporting, and onboarding. • Drive consistency of ITSM execution across regions, technology domains, service towers, and delivery partners. • Hold teams and suppliers accountable for service management performance, quality, and evidence. 3. Operational Stability, Incident Reduction and Service Improvement Own the end-to-end agenda for reducing operational disruption and improving service stability. Responsibilities include: • Define and lead the service stability and incident reduction roadmap across Group IT. • Use incident trends, major incident themes, root cause data, change failure data, user impact, and operational reporting to identify priorities. • Drive cross-functional improvement actions that reduce recurring incidents, repeat failures, avoidable escalations, and service disruption. • Ensure problem management and root cause analysis outputs convert into measurable improvement and risk reduction. • Partner with service owners, platform owners, engineering teams, operations teams, and vendors to address systemic service weaknesses. • Report progress against stability, reduction, and improvement objectives to senior IT leadership. 4. Group IT Operational Reporting and Performance Insight Own the operational reporting capability required to give Group IT accurate, trusted, and actionable service performance insight. Responsibilities include: • Define and govern the Group IT operational reporting framework, performance measures, and reporting calendar. • Ensure operational reporting covers service performance, major incidents, change performance, incident trends, request performance, problem progress, knowledge adoption, vendor performance, and improvement activity. • Improve data quality, reporting consistency, and narrative insight across operational reports. • Provide executive-level reporting that highlights risks, trends, decisions required, and improvement priorities. • Ensure reporting drives better action, accountability, and service outcomes rather than passive measurement. • Partner with analytics, ServiceNow, process owners, service owners, and supplier teams to improve reporting automation and accuracy. 5. Major Incident Management, Change Management and Core Practice Oversight Provide leadership oversight for critical ITSM practices that directly protect service stability and business confidence. Responsibilities include: • Oversee major incident management to ensure fast mobilisation, clear communication, effective coordination, and timely service restoration. • Oversee change management to ensure changes are risk assessed, controlled, communicated, and delivered with minimal business disruption. • Oversee problem management and root cause analysis to ensure repeated issues are understood and permanent corrective actions are delivered. • Oversee knowledge management to improve self-service, support quality, faster resolution, and consistent service delivery. • Oversee service request and continual service improvement practices to improve efficiency, experience, automation, and operational quality. • Ensure each ITIL practice has clear ownership, standards, measures, governance, training, and maturity plans. 6. Training, Adoption and Capability Development Ensure teams and suppliers understand how to operate effectively within the Group IT service management framework. Responsibilities include: • Own the ITSM training and adoption strategy for internal teams, vendors, and operational stakeholders. • Ensure clear training content, process guidance, role expectations, quick reference material, and onboarding assets are available and maintained. • Drive adoption campaigns for key practices, controls, tools, and behavioural expectations. • Ensure training is practical, role-based, and focused on improving service outcomes rather than process theory alone. • Measure training completion, adoption effectiveness, process compliance, and behavioural improvement. • Build service management capability across IT through coaching, communities of practice, governance forums, and targeted interventions. 7. Risk, Audit, Compliance and Continual Improvement Ensure IT service management practices are auditable, controlled, risk-aware, and continuously improved. Responsibilities include: • Maintain visibility of ITSM risks, control gaps, audit findings, and process maturity weaknesses. • Ensure appropriate process evidence, controls, and governance records are available for audit and compliance reviews. • Drive remediation of audit findings, control weaknesses, and recurring process failures. • Maintain a continual improvement roadmap across ITSM practices and operational reporting. • Promote automation, simplification, standardisation, and proactive risk reduction across service management. • Provide clear recommendations to senior leadership on where investment, decision making, or enforcement is required. Key Responsibilities The Head of IT Service Management will: • Operate from Singapore to mirror other Group IT Operations “Heads of” roles and maintain daily alignment with senior Group IT stakeholders based in STC and SJPS. • Lead the ITIL practice leads and set the direction for IT service management across Group IT. • Own the ITSM governance model, practice standards, maturity roadmap, training strategy, and improvement agenda. • Ensure vendors and internal IT teams deliver against agreed ITIL-based frameworks and operational standards. • Own Group IT operational reporting, performance insight, service health reporting, and executive operational narratives. • Lead the end-to-end stability and incident reduction agenda across Group IT. • Provide oversight of major incident management, change management, problem and root cause analysis, knowledge management, service request, and continual improvement practices. • Define and manage ITSM training content, adoption material, role expectations, and process guidance. • Drive improvements in service performance, operational quality, audit readiness, vendor accountability, and employee experience. • Use operational data to identify service risks, recurring issues, process gaps, and improvement priorities. • Chair or contribute to ITSM governance forums, service reviews, operational performance reviews, and senior leadership updates. • Partner with service owners, platform owners, suppliers, cybersecurity, enterprise architecture, infrastructure, applications, workplace services, and business stakeholders. Key Deliverables • IT Service Management Strategy and Roadmap. • ITSM Governance Framework. • ITIL Practice Maturity Plan. • Group IT Operational Reporting Pack. • Service Stability and Incident Reduction Roadmap. • Major Incident Management Performance Reporting. • Change Management Performance and Risk Reporting. • Problem and RCA Improvement Reporting. • Knowledge Management Adoption and Quality Reporting. • Service Request and Experience Improvement Plan. • Vendor ITSM Compliance and Performance Reporting. • ITSM Training and Adoption Content. • Process Risk and Control Register. • Continual Service Improvement Roadmap. • Audit Evidence and Compliance Reporting. Required Experience The successful candidate should have 10+years global enterprise accountability in: • Leading IT service management, service operations, or operational governance functions within a large or complex organisation. • Managing or leading ITIL practice owners across incident, major incident, change, problem, request, knowledge, and continual improvement practices. • Driving ITIL framework adoption across internal IT teams, vendors, service towers, and managed service providers. • Owning operational reporting, executive service performance reporting, and service improvement governance. • Leading service stability, incident reduction, major incident improvement, change quality, and root cause management initiatives. • Managing supplier performance and holding vendors accountable to service management standards and evidence requirements. • Developing training content, process guidance, adoption material, and maturity improvement plans. • Working with senior stakeholders across IT, business functions, suppliers, audit, risk, and compliance teams. • Using operational data to identify trends, risks, process deficiencies, and service improvement opportunities. • Operating in ITIL-based service management environments with strong governance, audit, and risk requirements. Required Skills and Capabilities • Strong ITIL and IT service management leadership capability. • Excellent people leadership, coaching, and performance management skills. • Strong vendor governance and supplier performance management capability. • Strong operational reporting, analytical, and executive insight capability. • Ability to influence senior stakeholders and challenge poor process adoption or weak operational practice. • Strong understanding of major incident, incident, change, problem, request, knowledge, and continual improvement practices. • Strong governance, risk, audit, and control mindset. • Excellent communication, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills. • Ability to translate process and operational data into clear priorities and business outcomes. • Ability to operate across strategy, governance, delivery, and operational detail. • Continuous improvement mindset with a clear focus on stability, reduction, customer experience, and business value. • Calm, credible, and structured leadership style during high-pressure operational situations. Preferred Qualifications • ITIL Foundation and ITIL Managing Professional, Strategic Leader, or equivalent advanced ITSM qualification. • Lean, Six Sigma, or continual improvement certification. • ServiceNow experience or equivalent ITSM platform experience. • Project, programme, or Agile delivery qualification such as PRINCE2, PMP, Agile, or Scrum. • Experience with SIAM, supplier governance, managed service models, or multi-vendor operating environments. • Experience operating in a global enterprise environment. Key Stakeholders • CIO and IT Leadership Team. • Global Director, IT Service Management and Operations. • ITIL Practice Leads. • IT Service Management and Operations Teams. • Service Owners and Platform Owners. • Internal IT Resolver Groups and Operational Teams. • Managed Service Providers and Strategic Vendors. • Service Desk and End User Support Teams. • Infrastructure, Cloud, Network, Application, and Workplace Technology Teams. • Cybersecurity and Risk Teams. • Enterprise Architecture. • Procurement and Vendor Management Teams. • Audit and Compliance Teams. • Business Stakeholders and Employee Experience Teams. Measures of Success Success in this role will be measured by: • Faster operational decision making and stronger leadership alignment through Singapore-based daily engagement with STC and SJPS Group IT leaders. • Improved ITSM practice maturity across Group IT. • Consistent vendor and internal team adoption of agreed ITIL-based standards. • Reduction in major incidents, repeat incidents, failed changes, and recurring operational issues. • Improved service stability and reduced business disruption. • Improved quality, credibility, and actionability of Group IT operational reporting. • Stronger major incident management performance, communication, and recovery outcomes. • Improved change success rates and reduced change-related disruption. • Improved problem and RCA effectiveness, with corrective actions delivered to closure. • Improved knowledge adoption, training completion, and process compliance. • Positive vendor governance, audit, risk, and compliance outcomes. • Clear continual service improvement benefits and measurable operational value. • Positive stakeholder feedback from IT leadership, operational teams, vendors, and business partners. Dyson is an equal opportunity employer. We know that great minds don’t think alike, and it takes all kinds of minds to make our technology so unique. We welcome applications from all backgrounds and employment decisions are made without regard to race, colour, religion, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, protected veteran status or other any other dimension of diversity.