ITSM Service Excellence Leader

About Northern Trust: Northern Trust, a Fortune 500 company, is a globally recognized, award-winning financial institution that has been in continuous operation since 1889. Northern Trust is proud to provide innovative financial services and guidance to the world’s most successful individuals, families, and institutions by remaining true to our enduring principles of service, expertise, and integrity. With more than 130 years of financial experience and over 22,000 partners, we serve the world’s most sophisticated clients using leading technology and exceptional service. Northern Trust is seeking a senior ITSM leader and ITIL expert to lead the automation, optimization, and maturation of IT Service Management function. This role is accountable for transforming how IT services are governed, executed, and continuously improved—shifting from manual, compliance-heavy processes to automated, data-driven, and resilient ITSM operations within a high-volume and time-critical environment . This is a highly visible leadership role balancing “run-the-bank” stability with “change-the-bank” transformation , operating within a dynamic, high-velocity operating model that requires strong ITIL judgment, deep automation expertise, and the ability to influence in a matrixed environment across global technology teams. What You’ll Do ITSM Process Leadership & Optimization Interface with senior executives across the organization to drive strategic outcomes and day-to-day service delivery priorities , delivering operational excellence while enabling risk reduction in a deadline-sensitive delivery model . Serve as the enterprise authority on ITIL-based processes , ensuring they are scalable, risk-aligned, and fit-for-purpose within a complex, high-throughput operational environment . Lead continuous optimization of ITSM processes, reducing friction, manual effort, and cycle time while improving quality, compliance, and delivery at pace and scale . Define and enforce clear process guardrails, decision frameworks, and risk-based controls , balancing speed with strong governance and control adherence . Manage priorities across a multi-threaded, high-demand environment , ensuring effective execution amid competing priorities and tight timelines. Automation & Intelligent Enablement Drive an automation-first strategy for ITSM practices, leveraging AI, orchestration, and workflow automation to: Reduce human dependency and error Increase standardization and predictability Enable safe, fast, and repeatable execution in a continuous delivery and improvement environment Partner with engineering, platform, and tooling teams to embed automation directly into ITSM workflows and deployment pipelines, supporting accelerated delivery cycles with appropriate governance controls . Identify and retire low-value manual controls, replacing them with preventative and detective automated controls aligned to high-volume change and release ecosystems . Metrics, Insights & Value Realization Define and operationalize KPIs, KRIs, and experience metrics that measure effectiveness, risk reduction, and business value in a delivery-focused organization . Sponsor dashboard creation and automated reporting to provide real-time visibility into performance, compliance, and operational trends . Use data-driven insights to continuously refine process design while supporting rapidly evolving priorities and delivery demands . Collaboration & Influence Act as a trusted advisor to technology, risk, audit, and business stakeholders within a dynamic and evolving workload environment . Facilitate global forums, workshops, and working groups to drive alignment, adoption, and continuous improvement . Mentor and develop ITSM practitioners, elevating process maturity, automation capability, and execution discipline across the organization. Who You Are: You are a leader with a passion for ITSM modernization and ITIL practitioner with a drive for process excellence, intelligent automation, and scalable governance . You bring strong judgment, a systems-thinking mindset, and the ability to translate ITIL principles into modern, execution-oriented operating models . You thrive in high-performance, deadline-driven environments and are comfortable: Navigating rapidly shifting priorities and competing demands Maintaining quality and control in time-sensitive, high-volume operations Demonstrating agility in complex, evolving environments Delivering measurable outcomes at pace and scale Qualifications 10+ years of IT Service Management experience, ideally within Banking or Financial Services. Deep, hands-on expertise in ITIL/ITSM , including governance, risk-based decisioning, and continuous improvement. Proven experience leading automation and optimization initiatives within fast-moving ITSM and release cadences . Strong understanding of ITIL, COBIT, ISO/IEC 20000 , and regulated operating environments. Demonstrated ability to lead globally and influence outcomes without direct authority. Excellent communication, analytical, and stakeholder management skills. Preferred Certifications ITIL Certification (Intermediate or higher strongly preferred) Automation, AI/ML, or RPA-related certifications Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. without the need for employment-based visa sponsorship now or in the future. Northern Trust will not sponsor applicants for U.S. work visa status for this opportunity (no sponsorship is available for H-1B, L-1, TN, O-1, E-3, H-1B1, F-1, J-1, OPT, CPT or any other employment-based visa) Salary Range: $137,400 - 240,400 USD Salary range is a good faith estimate of base pay. Northern Trust provides a comprehensive benefits package including retirement benefits (401k and pension), health and welfare benefits (medical, dental, vision, spending accounts and disability), paid time off, parental and caregiver leave, life & accident insurance, and other voluntary and well-being benefits. Northern Trust also provides a discretionary bonus program that may include an equity component. Working with Us: As a Northern Trust partner, greater achievements await. You will be part of a flexible and collaborative work culture in an organization where financial strength and stability is an asset that emboldens us to explore new ideas. Movement within the organization is encouraged, senior leaders are accessible, and you can take pride in working for a company committed to assisting the communities we serve! Join a workplace with a greater purpose. We’d love to learn more about how your interests and experience could be a fit with one of the world’s most admired and sustainable companies! Build your career with us and apply today. #MadeForGreater Reasonable accommodation Northern Trust is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please email our HR Service Center at . We hope you’re excited about the role and the opportunity to work with us. We value an inclusive workplace and understand flexibility means different things to different people. Apply today and talk to us about your flexible working requirements and together we can achieve greater.