Associate, IT Service Operations Manager

Who are we At Knight Frank, we work responsibly in partnership to enhance people's lives and environments. Founded in 1896 and headquartered in London, UK, Knight Frank is one of the world's leading independent real estate consultancies. After 128 years we are now located in over 50 Territories, 740+ Offices, 27,000+ People, with 1 Global Network.At the heart of all we do are our Clients. A relationship built on trust is vital. As trusted partners in property, we act with integrity and care, understanding our clients' unique needs and consistently thinking about the bigger picture to provide personalised, clear and considered advice across all areas of property. Through our deep understanding of key markets and sectors - both emerging and established - we are dedicated to meeting and exceeding their property goals.A true partnership is a balanced one, and our People are passionate about, and committed to, making our business inclusive and diverse. We give every individual the space and opportunity to perform at their best and be recognised for the immense value they bring. We empower everyone to have autonomy in their role and encourage them to use their voice in how we can make a positive impact as a firm and shape the future of real estate, the built environment and the impact on the communities we serve. Our collaborative and engaged teams provide excellent and dedicated client service. In our workplace, opinions are respected, everyone is invited to contribute to the success of our business and innovation, and new ideas are celebrated.In 2021 we celebrated our 125th anniversary and set out Our Desired Future, cemented in three pillars: People Potential, Client Centricity and always Creating our Future, together. Learn more about what sets us apart . About The Role Scope Established in 1896, Knight Frank is the leading independent property consultancy in the UK offering agency and professional advice across Commercial, Residential and Rural sectors. Headquartered in London, Knight Frank now comprises a global network of over 523 offices in 60 territories.We are seeking a highly talented, motivated and experienced IT Service Operations Manager to support us on the evolution of our IT Transformation. This is a critical role within the Group IT department, responsible for defining service and owning our IT service operations, ensuring the successful, timely and secure delivery of all IT services across Knight Frank. As the Service Operations Manager, you will be the owner for our ITSM policies and processes, ensuring adherence, measurement and compliance for both internal and external resolver groups.This role is a senior leadership position reporting directly to the Head of Technology Projects & Operations with overall responsibility for the delivery of the IT operations 'run' environment. The role ensures the strategic direction for the IT service operations team and ensures that the IT services that unpin our business remain highly available and reliable, meeting the needs of a constantly changing and growing business.The IT Service Operations team consist of outsourced IT Service Desk, EUC Operations, Infrastructure and Information Security and in-house Application Support and Microsoft Power Platform support. The Service Operations Manager is responsible for process and service level management for all other technology resolver groups, both internal and external to Knight Frank. The IT Service Operations team is responsible for the ensuring the successful delivery of Incident, Problem, Change, Release, Request and Access Management and with such, the Service Operations Manager is the process owner for such ITIL processes and Product Owner for our ITSM platform, Halo ITSM.Under the leadership of this role, the IT Service Operations team are responsible for ensuring end-to-end IT Service Delivery Policies, Processes and Procedures are well defined, integrated, maintained and continually improved within a complex multi-vendor support model. Includes responsibilities for education, training, communications, strategic vendor management, delivery to SLAs, OLAs and UPCs, operation of appropriate governance forums, day to day process outputs, complaints & operational reporting. Responsibilities - Service Level Management - Ensure service levels are measured and adhered to, in alignment to contractual SLAs, internal OLAs and our business published service levels. Act as an escalation point for the business on the occasions these are not met and to monitor vendor adherence.- Process Owner & Process Improvement - Process owner for our ITSM process across Knight Frank, ensuring all processes align to best practise, are continuously reviewed and improved and measuring performance and adherence in align to our overall IT controls.- Team Management and Development - continuous development of the IT Service Operations teams to ensure the right technical and service management capability exists including succession planning across the team.- Vendor Management - To build, manage and maintain strategic outsourcing vendor relationships and ensure service obligations and levels or performance are being met. Develop good relationships with existing and new suppliers.- Reporting, Monitoring and Metrics - the ability to understand data is critical to developing tactical and strategic operational changes in IT Service Operations to respond to business needs. Creating key metrics around IT Services' performance will enable better decision making and resource allocation.- ITSM Excellence - ensuring Knight Frank colleagues receive the best customer experience available. Achieving this through developing strong relationships with colleagues across the business to better understand their day-to-day IT challenges and ensure Knight Frank IT continuously strives to improve.- Developing Standards for Working and Sharing Best Practice - sharing best practice for ITSM and IT operations management across the IT team.- Understanding the Organisation - Knight Frank is complex, and changes frequently. Ability to understand the organisational structure, business and user requirements and key programmes will enable the Service Operations Manager to provide the best service.- Processes and Tooling - IT Service Operations has responsibility to ensure products and applications are available to support the organisation, working with other teams within IT to ensure integrated solutions. This role is accountable for the processes the IT Service Operations team uses for ITSM to make best use of the people, systems and other resources available as part of the role.- IT Operations Management - Create and execute ITIL based services with defined service support models for internal and external resolver groups, including an effective Incident, Problem, Change and Release Management function at the heart of this model. Act as a senior escalation and communication point for incidents, problems and changes, and communicating with senior stakeholders about progress.- Problem Management - Leading IT Service Operations team to ensure identification and effective man-agement of recurring IT problems is a key requirement for this role. Performing proactive trend analysis and post Incident review to prevent future problems, eliminate recurring or unnecessary incidents and to minimise the impact of incidents that cannot be prevented.- Incident Management - Responsible for ensuring timely identification and effective resolution manage-ment of Incidents including consistent, informative and high-quality communication, especially during Ma-jor Incidents.- Change Management - Responsible for the IT Change Management process, ensuring IT changes are con-trolled and managed in alignment to our IT Change controls. Ensuring live service is protected for potential change related issues, ensuring service stability and availability through gracefully managed