Service Owner

Senior IT Service & Operations lead

£100,000-£110,000 + 25% bonus

Permanent

An established global insurance group is seeking a Senior IT Service & Operations lead to take accountability for the operational health & performance of business-critical applications within it's the Insurance business.

This is a high impact, standalone leadership role operating at a senior level & directly in the IT Director. You will act as the escalation point for major incidents, provide cross team service oversight, & ensure operational stability across multiple technology functions.

This is not a line management position. It is a senior service governance role requiring credibility, influence, & deep operational experience within an insurance carrier environment.

The Role

You will take ownership of the end-to-end service lifecycle across a portfolio of in house built & vendor platforms, ensuring performance, resilience & continuous improvement.

Key responsibilities include:

• Oversight of application service health, stability & cost control
• Monitoring ticket volumes, ageing, SLA/OLA adherence, & service KPIs
• Leading incident & problem governance, including root cause analysis
• Acting as escalation authority for high-severity incidents
• Ensuring effective change & release control with minimal production impact
• Partnering with Scrum Masters to embed Agile discipline within support environments
• Driving transparency through clear stakeholder reporting
• Holding third-party vendors accountable for contractual service obligations
• Representing the IT Director where required

You will operate across multiple established technology teams, providing oversight & challenge without direct line management responsibility.

What We Are Looking For

This role requires an experienced service leader. It is not a developmental step-up opportunity.

You will demonstrate:

• Proven experience as a Service Owner, Application Support Lead or similar within an insurance carrier
• Strong grounding in ITIL disciplines: Incident, Problem, Change & Release Management
• Experience overseeing both in-house applications & vendor platforms
• A track record of improving SLA performance & reducing service backlog
• Experience working within Agile environments & supporting Scrum-based delivery
• Vendor & outsourced supplier management capability
• Gravitas to influence senior stakeholders & embedded technical managers
• Financial awareness & experience managing IT service budgets

You must be comfortable operating at senior level without direct reports, influencing laterally & driving accountability across established teams.

Why This Role?

• Senior-level autonomy & visibility
• Clear operational ownership across critical systems
• Exposure to enterprise-level stakeholders
• Strong remuneration & bonus structure
• Genuine second-in-command position

This is a strategic service execution role for someone who thrives on operational excellence, governance discipline & cross-functional leadership within a complex insurance technology environment.

For a confidential discussion, please get in touch.