Duty Manager (Major Incident Manager) - Central Government - DV Clearance - Inside IR35

Duty Manager (Major Incident Manager) - Central Government - DV Clearance - Inside IR35

A large central government organisation is seeking an experienced Duty Manager (Major Incident Manager) to lead 24/7 operational incident management across a complex, global digital environment. This role is ideal for someone who thrives in high-pressure operational settings, can take command of major incidents, and can confidently engage senior stakeholders while coordinating multidisciplinary technical teams.

You will act as the senior operational authority during your shift, making rapid decisions, driving the restoration of critical IT services, and ensuring clear communication across business and technical stakeholders. The role sits within a major government digital function responsible for delivering secure, resilient technology services worldwide.

Key Responsibilities

• Deliver 24/7 incident and major incident (MI) management, including Tier 2/3 escalation and coordination with regional IT support teams.
• Lead major incident bridge calls, ensuring effective communication with technical teams, suppliers, and senior stakeholders.
• Act as the operational decision-maker during your shift, ensuring swift and safe restoration of services.
• Oversee recovery actions while ensuring accurate and timely incident documentation within ITSM tooling (eg, ServiceNow).
• Support and evolve major incident governance, ensuring alignment with organisational standards and continuous improvement.
• Serve as the primary operational contact for crisis coordination teams and business owners during critical events.
• Manage structured and consistent shift handovers to maintain continuity between operational teams.
• Participate in and help lead resilience exercises, simulations, and post-incident reviews to embed lessons learned.
• Contribute to problem management, change management, and service continuity planning with operational insights.
• Promote team wellbeing, collaboration, and sustainable workloads across the operational function.

Ideal Candidate Profile

Essential

• Strong background in IT Service Management, incident management, and problem management, ideally in complex environments.
• Experience working under pressure and managing multiple, concurrent major incidents.
• ITIL 4 Managing Professional certification.
• Experience operating within 24/7 or shift-based operational teams.
• Experience leading major incident bridge calls and coordinating suppliers, engineers, and business stakeholders.
• Proven ability to lead or develop operational teams.

Desirable

• Crisis management or service continuity planning experience
• Experience within large, distributed, or global organisations, particularly in high-security environments

Clearance Requirements

• DV clearance required
• Candidates must be willing to undergo additional checks for enhanced briefings (STRAP).

Applications will be rejected if:

• The CV shows theoretical or lightweight incident-management experience with no hands-on ownership of major incidents.
• The candidate has not operated in fast-paced, high-pressure 24/7 environments before.
• DV eligibility requirements cannot be met.

TL;DR

Job Title: Duty Manager (Major Incident Manager)
Start Date: ASAP
Location: London (Hybrid)
Contract Length: 6 months initial
Day Rate: £600
IR35 Status: Inside IR35
Clearance: DV (with willingness for STRAP)