UCAS is at the heart of connecting people to higher education.

UCAS is the world’s leading shared admissions service for higher education. We provide application services for UK universities and colleges as well as delivering a wide range of research, consultancy and advisory services to schools, colleges, careers services, professional bodies and employers.

We’re a successful and fast-growing organisation, which helps hundreds of thousands of people every year. We're committed to delivering a first-class service to all of our customers — they're at the heart of everything we do.

The Digital Services business unit is at the heart of UCAS’ technical innovation, data and infrastructure. It focuses on leveraging data science, technology, and enterprise architecture to enhance UCAS' digital products and services. The unit is dedicated to developing and improving customer-centric digital solutions, ensuring seamless and secure online experiences for all users. By providing insightful data and analysis, often made available to anyone with free-to-use intuitive dashboard, Digital Services empowers the Higher Education sector and those interested in the sector with valuable information to make informed decisions. By working in collaborative, expert led, multi-disciplinary teams, Digital Services drives UCAS’ mission to connect students with their next opportunities through advanced technological solutions.

The IT Service Management (ITSM) Lead is a pivotal senior leadership role within IT Operations, responsible for designing and driving the organisation’s ITSM strategy.

Reporting to the Head of IT Operations, this role ensures the effective implementation of ITIL-aligned processes, including Service Transition, Incident, Problem, and Change Management, while embedding these practices within a DevOps culture to deliver agility, reliability, and innovation.

The ITSM Lead oversees direct line reports and manages relationships with key technology partners to ensure high quality, scalable service delivery.

This role collaborates across Tech Ops, Security, and FinOps teams, contributing to the organization’s operational strategy by enhancing service performance, resilience, and user satisfaction. By combining strategic foresight with hands-on leadership, the ITSM Lead plays a critical role in delivering exceptional IT services that empower the organisation to achieve its goals.

ITSM Strategy Development & Execution

• Define and own the ITSM strategy, aligning it with the organisation’s digital transformation, DevOps
  practices, and business objectives.

• Champion the integration of ITIL practices within an Agile/DevOps framework to promote efficient
  and collaborative service delivery.
  
  

For full job description, please see role profile attached.

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field (master’s degree
  preferred) or equivalent.

Professional Certifications:

• ITIL v4 Certification (Strategic Leader or Managing Professional preferred).

• Certifications in DevOps (DevOps Foundation, AWS/Azure DevOps Engineer).

• Agile certifications (Scrum Master, SAFe Agilist) are advantageous.

• Project Management certifications (PMP, PRINCE2) preferred

Experience:

• Significant experience in ITSM leadership roles, with demonstrated success in integrating ITIL processes
  into Agile/DevOps environments.

• Proven expertise in managing Incident, Problem, Change, and Service Transition processes in large-scale enterprise settings.

• Experience with ITSM tools (e.g., Halo, Jira Service Management) and their integration into DevOps
  pipelines.

• Solid understanding of CI/CD, automation, and cloud technologies (AWS, Azure, GCP).

• Demonstrable success in leading cross-functional teams and managing MSPs to deliver high-quality IT
  services.

This role is ideal for a results-oriented leader who thrives in dynamic environments, with the ability to combine structured ITSM processes with the flexibility and speed of DevOps practices.

Salary - up to £70,000

• 30 days annual leave (plus 3 concessionary days over Christmas and your bank holidays!)

• Flexibility – UCAS positively supports Hybrid working for its employees, meaning you can work between home and the office in a way that suits you and the business and also has a comprehensive Flexible Working Policy

• A generous pension scheme

• Hundreds of high street discounts and offers with Perkbox

• Internal training and development

• Subsidised gym and café

• Be rewarded for going above and beyond with our ex-gratia bonus scheme and Celebrating U, our quarterly employee recognition scheme

• Dedicated volunteer employee networks promoting wellbeing, awareness and inclusion