Lead Service Transition Manager

Aker Systems was founded in 2017 by a team of experienced technology professionals who recognised an opportunity to provide highly secure enterprise data platforms to large organisations.  We build and operate ground-breaking, ultra-secure, high performance, cloud-based data infrastructure for the enterprise. Our proprietary technology solutions drive performance and reduce costs while helping our clients to improve the management and sharing of data across their organisations.

In 2024, Aker Systems won the Breakthrough Culture Awards highlighting growth companies putting culture first. In 2020 Aker Systems was recognised as a ‘One to Watch’ on the Sunday Times Tech Track.  The Company was also recognised at the Thames Valley Tech Awards 2020; winning the Thames Valley Tech Company of the year, the Emerging Tech Company and High Growth Tech Business categories.  We encourage people of all different backgrounds and identities to apply.  We are committed to maintaining an inclusive, and supportive place for you to do your very best work.

Duties & Responsibilities

A UK Government Security Check (SC) clearance is required for this role. If you don’t hold SC clearance, we will support you to apply assuming you have lived and worked in the UK for a minimum of 5 years.

As a Service Transition Manager, you will be responsible for working with a multi-functional team in a multi-supplier environment to transition cloud Products and Services from projects into BAU (Business As Usual).

You will liaise between product owners, project managers, solutions design teams, operations teams, service delivery managers and partners/suppliers communicating between all key stakeholders to ensure the smooth and successful implementation of new and modified products/services. The primary role of this position is to ensure that all new and modified services, are transitioned in a supportable and maintainable state when entering BAU and that the client stakeholders are satisfied with the transitioned product/service.

You will have a proven track record delivering transition projects to time and budget. You will need a good working knowledge of Service Management and Service Transition as you will be the primary interface to the customer. You will ensure that deliverables are produced in-line with the Service Transition Plan, ensure service readiness testing is complete and operational acceptance criteria have been met.

The responsibilities will include;

• Undertaking the role of Service Transition Manager for multiple Service Transition projects
• Owning and develop the Service Design & Transition process and governance structure
• Preparing and manage the Service Transition Plan including dependencies, resource plan and RAID log
• Quickly identifying key internal and external stakeholders and establish/develop productive relationships
• Ensuring clarity on the division of responsibilities for service components using a RACI matrix
• Ensuring all support functions are aware, prepared and capable of supporting any new and changed services, via workshops, briefings and documentation as appropriate
• Managing the Service Support teams' training and knowledge transfer requirements
• Ensuring that all operating procedures, team interfaces, tooling, inter-tool exchanges and service knowledge are documented
• Confirming the service teams are ready to operate and maintain the Products/Services in the live environment
• Ensuring there are no gaps in the provision of the full end to end service
• Working closely with the Change and Release functions to ensure they are aware of the delivery approach and avoid any Change Freezes or other Conflicts
• Monitoring and manage the Transition risks and issues, ensuring mitigation plans are developed and delivered to successful completion
• Ensuring BAU Service Governance processes and meetings are in place
• Developing, manage and run Service Readiness Testing to ensure that Service Models are fit for use
• Owning and manage the AIS (Acceptance Into Service) criteria
• Defining with each project team the ELS (early life support (hypercare)) period, exit criteria and acceptance of risks into BAU to achieve successful project closure
• Taking responsibility for Continual Service Improvement Initiatives within the Service Transition Management discipline and processes by identifying and leading initiatives to drive continuous improvement whilst protecting the integrity of active transitioning Products/Services

Core Competencies

• ITIL v3 Foundation
• Experience in Service Transition
• Evidence of Cloud knowledge including SaaS, IaaS and PaaS
• Demonstrable experience of working in Service Transition, with knowledge and examples of Service Management, ITIL guidelines and ITIL practices
• Knowledge and demonstrable experience of implementing Service Transition practices and developing AIS criteria
• Knowledge and experience of project methodologies, Agile, DevOps, Waterfall and Wagile
• Advanced stakeholder management, negotiation, and conflict resolution skills including being comfortable in dealing with challenging and pressurised situations
• Ability to understand complex organisational structures and multi-supplier landscapes
• Good commercial and contract awareness skills

Desirable

• ITIL4 Foundation
• ITIL v3 Intermediate in Service Transition
• ITIL4 Specialist: Create, Delivery & Support
• PRINCE2 Foundation/Practitioner
• Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt or higher

Aker Systems Attributes

At Aker we work as a team; we are collaborative, hardworking, open, and delivery obsessed. There is no blame culture here: try things, and take responsibility for the outcomes. You are always part of the wider Aker. We help our colleagues and take pride in successfully achieving difficult tasks. We run towards problems and help to solve them. Communicate always, do so accurately and in a timely fashion.

In return, we offer a competitive salary, 25 days holiday plus bank holidays, company paid medical insurance and life assurance, pension scheme, annual training allowance, wellbeing allowance, virtual GP, Employee Assistance plan and more.

Equal Opportunities

Aker Systems fosters a diverse environment that encourages openness in its communications and is committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all people regardless of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation, age, marital status, national origin, citizenship status, disability, veteran status or other personal characteristics. We embrace differences of opinion and diversity because they help challenge us and find new groundbreaking technical solutions.