UK Health Security Agency
IT Service Transition Lead

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Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool or London (Canary Wharf)
Job Summary
As an IT Service Transition Lead at UKHSA, you will ensure that digital and technology services are transitioned into live operation safely, efficiently, and in a way that supports long-term operational resilience. You will play a key role in delivering UKHSA’s health security mission by ensuring that services are robust, supportable, and aligned with operational and user needs from day one.
The role involves working across delivery, technical, and operational teams to embed structured transition processes, reduce risk, and ensure readiness across people, process, and technology. You will influence service design decisions, support adoption of ITIL practices, and enable high-quality service outcomes across national and regional operations.
Working for your organisation
We pride ourselves as being an employer of choice, where Everyone Matters promoting equality of opportunity to actively encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce.
UKHSA ethos is to be an inclusive organisation for all our staff and stakeholders. To create, nurture and sustain an inclusive culture, where differences drive innovative solutions to meet the needs of our workforce and wider communities. We do this through celebrating and protecting differences by removing barriers and promoting equity and equality of opportunity for all.
Please visit our careers site for more information here.
Job Description
Responsibilities
- Lead the transition of new and changed services into live operation, ensuring alignment with governance standards and organisational priorities
- Ensure all elements required for service readiness (people, process, technology, suppliers) are in place prior to go-live
- Manage transition timelines to meet delivery milestones while maintaining service quality and minimising operational risk
- Provide evidence-based recommendations on rollout strategies, early-life support and service acceptance criteria
- Build strong relationships with delivery teams, service management, technical specialists and suppliers to enable effective collaboration
- Identify, manage and mitigate risks, issues and dependencies across service transitions
- Coordinate onboarding of services into ITSM platforms (e.g. ServiceNow), ensuring clarity on ownership, support models and performance expectations
Service Transition & Delivery
- Lead end-to-end service transition activities ensuring new or changed services meet defined entry and exit criteria
- Embed ITIL-aligned service transition processes, including change, release and knowledge management
- Ensure service documentation (e.g. support models, runbooks, SLAs) is complete and approved prior to go-live
Stakeholder Engagement
- Engage with a wide range of stakeholders including programme teams, architects, operations, and suppliers
- Translate technical service requirements into clear, business-understandable outputs
- Influence decision-making to ensure supportability and sustainability of services
Operational Readiness
- Validate that service support structures, monitoring, and escalation processes are in place
- Ensure operational teams are trained and prepared to manage live services
- Support early life support (ELS) and transition into business-as-usual operations
Risk & Governance
- Manage risks and dependencies across multiple service transitions
- Ensure compliance with organisational governance, security and assurance processes
- Provide reporting and assurance to senior stakeholders on transition readiness
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Continuous Improvement
- Identify opportunities to improve service transition processes and practices
- Contribute to continual service improvement initiatives across ITSM functions
- Promote best practice and knowledge sharing across teams
Leadership (where applicable)
- Provide matrix leadership across transition activities
- Support prioritisation and coordination of workloads across multiple services
- Mentor and support colleagues to build capability in service management practices
This is not an exhaustive list.
Person specification
Essential Criteria
- ITIL qualification (or equivalent) with practical experience in IT Service Management, particularly Service Transition
- Demonstrated experience leading service transition activities for digital or technology services
- Strong stakeholder engagement and communication skills, with the ability to influence across technical and non-technical teams
- Experience producing and reviewing service design and transition documentation
- Proven ability to identify and manage risks, issues and dependencies
- Experience working with suppliers and ensuring delivery against SLAs and KPIs
Desirable criteria
- Experience coordinating or leading teams (including matrix management)
- Familiarity with ServiceNow or similar ITSM platforms
- Experience in public sector (or a similar large scale organisation), or health environments
Please note that for roles where specific qualifications or registrations are required, successful applicants will be asked to provide appropriate evidence. Employment cannot commence until satisfactory documentation has been received and verified.
Benefits
- Alongside your salary of £56,185, UK Health Security Agency contributes £16,276 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance [here](opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles and will assess your behaviours, experience and technical skills.
Stage 1: Application & Sift
You will be required to complete an application form. You will be assessed on the 6 listed essential criteria, and this will be in the form of:
- an application form (‘Employer/ Activity history’ section on the application)
- a 1000 word supporting statement.
This should outline how you consider your skills, experience and knowledge provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the essential criteria.
You will receive a joint score for your application form and statement. (The application form is the kind of information you would put into your C.V –please be advised you will not be able to upload your CV. Please complete the application form in as much detail as possible). Please do not email us your CV.
Healthjobs UK has a word limit of 1500, but your supporting statement must be no more than 1000 words. We will not consider any words over 1000 words.


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Longlisting: In the event of a large number of applications we will longlist into 3 piles of:
- Meets all essential criteria
- Meets some essential criteria
- Meets no essential criteria
Only those meeting all essential criteria will be taken through to shortlisting.
Shortlisting: In the event of a large number of applications we will shortlist on:
- Demonstrated experience leading service transition activities for digital or technology services
Desirable criteria may be used in the event of a large number of applications / large amount of successful candidates.
If you are successful at this stage, you will progress to interview and assessment.
Feedback will not be provided at this stage.
Stage 2: Interview
You will be invited to a face to face interview in our Canary Wharf offices.
Behaviours, experience and technical skills will be tested at interview.
You will be required to prepare a presentation (maximum of 10 minutes) as part of the interview which will assess your technical skills. The presentation will be: “Using an example, show how you used ITIL principles to ensure a smooth transition of a new IT service into live operations, while maintaining service quality and minimising risk”.
The Behaviours Tested During The Interview Stage Will Be
- Leadership (Lead behaviour)
- Communicating and influencing
- Delivering at pace
- Making effective decisions
Interview dates to be confirmed.
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
Location
This role is being offered as hybrid working based at any of our Core HQs in either Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool or London (Canary Wharf).
We offer great flexible working opportunities at UKHSA and operate using a hybrid working model where business needs allow. This provides us with greater flexibility about how and where we work, to get the best from our workforce. As a hybrid worker, you will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of your contractual working hours (approximately 3 days a week pro rata, averaged over a month) on-site.
Our core HQ offices are modern and newly refurbished with excellent city centre transport link and benefit from benefit from co-location with other government departments such as the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC).
Eligibility criteria
Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including by definition internal applicants).
Security clearance level requirement
Part 1
Successful candidates must pass a basic Disclosure and Barring Security (DBS) check before they can be appointed.
Part 2
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is Security Check clearance.
For meaningful National Security Vetting checks to be carried out, individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time. You should normally have been resident in the United Kingdom for the last 5 years to obtain Security Check clearance. UK residency less than the outlined periods may not necessarily bar you from gaining national security vetting at this higher level and applicants should contact the Vacancy Holder / Recruiting Manager listed in the advert for further advice.
Salary information
If you are successful at interview, and are moving from another government department, NHS, or Local Authority, the relevant starting salary principles for level transfers or promotions will apply. Otherwise, roles are offered at the pay scale minimum for
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