University of Northumbria
Service Operations Manager (Northumbria University Digital Services Limited)
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Northumbria University Digital Services Limited
Northumbria University Digital Services Limited is a forward-thinking and growing organisation, delivering 24/7/365 support to students and staff across higher education.
Through Norman Managed Services, we support university communities at scale, combining people, service insight and AI-enabled technology to provide responsive, professional and reliable support whenever it is needed.
Service Operations Manager
We are looking for a Service Operations Manager to help lead the next stage of our service development. This is a key role within our Service & Technology team, focused on strengthening the way our service is managed day to day, improving quality and performance, and ensuring our customers can see clear value from the service we provide.
What you’ll do
As Service Operations Manager, you will lead the day-to-day management of Norman’s support service across people, process and delivery.
Working through Team Leads across a large staff group, you will help ensure the service is consistently managed, standards are applied properly and teams are supported to deliver a professional, service-user-focused experience across daytime and out-of-hours operations.
You will work with established quality and performance frameworks, using service insight to understand what is driving outcomes, where standards are not being met and where improvements are needed. This is not a role for someone who maintains the status quo. We are looking for someone who can listen, challenge established ways of working where needed, break down problems properly and help teams improve how the service is delivered.
Your day-to-day will include:
- Leading the day-to-day management of the support service across people, process and delivery.
- Managing through Team Leads to maintain clear standards, consistency and follow-through across a large team.
- Embedding agreed quality and performance frameworks into everyday management practice.
- Using service insight, reporting, feedback and quality themes to understand what is driving service outcomes.
- Supporting Team Leads to coach, challenge and develop analysts in a fair and evidence-based way.
- Managing operational feedback and complaints, ensuring learning is fed back into service improvement.
- Supporting knowledge management, making sure guidance is current, accessible and used consistently.
- Challenging ways of working where they no longer support good service, strong performance, service user experience or customer value.
- Working with colleagues across Account Management, Technology and Commercial Operations to support service change, new opportunities and improvements to delivery.
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For more information, please see the job description [https://livenorthumbriaac.sharepoint.com/:w:/s/role-descriptions/IQB6wYSSZGp5SLcSvnrVPiP1AUkl-s2kb3R7pvq6EOHCCHc?e=OprDxU].
About you
You will bring experience from a customer support or similar high-volume service environment. You may already be managing Team Leads, supervisors or senior colleagues, or you may be ready to step into a broader role where you can influence how a large service team performs.
You will be comfortable working through others, setting clear expectations and following through. You will understand that good service is not just about being busy or hitting simple measures. It is about quality, consistency, good records, clear communication, strong knowledge, fair performance management and a service experience that gives customers confidence.
We are looking for someone who can bring structure and maturity to a busy environment, while still being prepared to question how things work. You will be able to listen to teams, understand what is really causing service issues and turn that insight into practical improvement.
We’re looking for someone who can bring:
- Experience managing or supporting teams in a customer support, managed service or live service environment.
- Confidence managing through Team Leads, supervisors or senior colleagues.
- A strong understanding of service quality, performance management, feedback, complaints and knowledge management.
- The ability to use data and service insight to understand performance and drive improvement.
- The confidence to challenge poor standards and established ways of working constructively.
- The ability to inspire teams to raise standards and take accountability for better outcomes.
- A practical approach to improvement, with the ability to turn issues into clear actions.
- Good judgement, strong communication skills and the confidence to work with colleagues across the wider business.
- An interest in how technology, automation and AI can support better service delivery.
Further information can be found in the person specification [https://livenorthumbriaac.sharepoint.com/:w:/s/role-descriptions/IQB6wYSSZGp5SLcSvnrVPiP1AUkl-s2kb3R7pvq6EOHCCHc?e=OprDxU].
Why join us
This is a chance to take on a visible management role at an important stage in our growth.
You will help shape how standards are applied, how performance is managed, how Team Leads are supported and how service improvement is delivered. Your work will directly influence the quality and consistency of the service experienced by students, staff and our university customers.
You’ll also benefit from:
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- A key role in the largest shared service in higher education.
- The chance to help shape a modern service operation combining people, insight, technology and AI.
- A varied role where your leadership and improvements will have visible impact.
- A supportive, inclusive and collaborative working environment.
- Training and ongoing professional development.
How to apply
Please send your CV and a covering letter to careers@normanmanagedservices.ac.uk, telling us why you would be a great fit for the role and for Northumbria University Digital Services Limited.
For an informal chat about the role, please contact Dan Newton, Head of Service & Technology, at dan@normanmanagedservices.ac.uk.
Please do not apply through this site using the link below, as your application will not be progressed.
ABOUT US
Join Northumbria University, a research-intensive institution unlocking potential and changing lives locally and globally. Named Times Higher Education's University of the Year in 2022 and Modern University of the Year in 2025, we rank top 25 in the UK for research power. Discover more about us.
With over 37,000 students from over 140 countries, we offer world-leading research, award-winning partnerships, and an outstanding student experience. We empower our exceptional staff, promoting a positive work-life balance and offering great benefits, including excellent pension schemes, flexible working, generous holiday entitlement and more.
Our Northumbria Values, co-created by our team, define who we are: Academic Excellence, Innovation, Inclusivity, Collaboration, and Ambition. Our Behaviours shape our work culture: We listen and learn, support one another, respect everyone, trust each other, and are bold.
Based in Newcastle upon Tyne and London, we are an on-campus organisation and offer flexible hours and location where the role allows. We pride ourselves on diversity and inclusivity, holding numerous awards for gender and race equality, disability confidence, and research excellence. We also hold the HR Excellence in Research award for implementing the concordat supporting the career Development of Researchers and are members of the Euraxess initiative to deliver information and support to professional researchers. The University has implemented a range of flexible working arrangements, and we are happy to explore candidate requirements as part of the recruitment process.
Apply now and join a community committed to transforming society and the economy. Explore "Our Exceptional People", Our Values and Behaviours page to learn more about our commitments and see our Privacy Policy for further details.
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