Portfolio Director - Managed Services

“Version 1 is celebrating 25 years in the IT industry this year and we continue to be trusted by global brands to deliver IT solutions that drive customer success. 

Version 1 is not just a Microsoft Gold Partner, an AWS Premier Consulting Partner and an Oracle Platform Partner; we are also an award-winning employer and our employees are at the heart of Version 1. We invest in a strong culture of wellness through programs that help our employees create their journey toward optimal wellbeing. This framework is based on the ‘Strength in Balance‘ theme and this seen again in our Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Team motto “Bring Your Difference“.”

We are looking for a Service Portfolio Director who understands our mission to go above and beyond keeping the lights on and reactive service improvements, to really driving proactive service improvements tied to our customers’ business KPIs. As well as reporting the technical KPIs underpinning service availability, we will systemise the demonstration of impact on business KPIs like churn, conversion, satisfaction, experience, and return on investment.

You will be a servant leader who believes in the power of teamwork, who can win the hearts and minds of your team(s) and those around you over to the innovative approaches that drive growth in your service portfolio. You will be comfortable conversing with and tailoring your message for a range of customer-side and internal stakeholders, from your support engineers through to C-suite. You will be capable of contributing to bids, including bid-writing and pitching for new work.

You will understand and appreciate our Strength in Balance, which promotes Customer Success (excellent customer experience, proactive engagement), Strong Organisation (prudent P&L management), and Empowered People (developing people). Our Core Values are incredibly important to us, guiding everything we do, and will resonate with you personally.

In collaboration with the wider team, you will:

• Ensure a core framework is in place to underpin all aspects of your services, including Agile, ITIL and DevOps.
• Formalise and document enhanced operational processes to meet required outcomes across services delivered from multiple locations. 
• Ensure all teams define understand and deliver their role and the scope of the service to be delivered.
• Facilitate service readiness activities, to ensure a smooth transition.
• Support the evolution of the skills in the team to the cloud-oriented services, helping design appropriate career path progression for all levels of people in the team. 
• Work with the Commercial and Pre-Sales teams to define a customer’s service requirements and then together with the delivery team, architect and design solutions to meet those needs, including designing new and compelling pricing models to suit customer needs. 
• Support the Sales and Pre-Sales team with tools and training to position appropriate managed services for new customers or new opportunities.
• Support the creation of service level and operating level agreements. 
• Contribute to an ITIL Service Delivery design authority

Please note that we do not offer work permits or sponsorship for this role, you must have the legal right to live and work in the U.K.

Roles & Responsibilities

• Manage all 3 sides of the Strategic Triangle – Customer Success; Strong Organisation and Empowered People
• Develop modern, proactive service delivery models aligned to the ‘cloud-native’, agile, digital world
• Drive conversations with existing and new customers which enable proactive service delivery
• Coach your team(s) on proactive client engagement that drives growth
• Monthly and quarterly forecasting of team costs and project revenues
• Review actual performance against forecast – understand gaps and put corrective measures in place, as appropriate
• Work with Delivery Manager(s) / Portfolio Director(s) / Customer Success Manager / Practice Head as appropriate to agree strategy for assigned accounts  
• Input to service design and support for service implementation
• Internal service reporting
• Maintain standards for ISO20000 compliance & best practices across the team
• Manage customer escalations, issues, problems, and requirements 
• Identify and progress Proactive Service Improvement initiatives
• Manage business risk and knowledge to ensure business continuity
• Achieve targets and improvement initiatives for customer satisfaction
• Explore and drive opportunities within existing customers for new/additional work
• Work with sales to develop new opportunities both with new and existing customers
• Conduct regular Service Reviews with Customers
• Contractual awareness

• Experience architecting complex managed services, both on premise and cloud, including E2E operational models, resource models, governance and continuous improvement methodology.
• Involvement in responding to initial stage RFPs, bids/tenders, definition of contracts, pricing and transition of managed services. 
• Very comfortable presenting service design to customers, up to CXO level.
• Strong influencing skills, with an ability to engage in conversations with business and technical stakeholders – simplifying complex technical requirements into clear, defined and easy to understand service architectures.
• Experience in ITIL service delivery 
• Excellent working knowledge of the functional systems involved
• Strong customer service/relationship management experience 
• Strong leadership, analysis, and decision-making skills
• Strong track record in driving revenue opportunities 
• Demonstrated ability to work within a process driven environment
• Resource Management experience: performance management, workload distribution, team development, knowledge management 
• Forecasting: Monthly forecasting on gross profit accounting for team costs, recurring and additional project revenues and costs 
• Self-starter. Can take on assignments, driving through contacting the appropriate parties to get them done and escalate when progress is impeded.
• A team player and self-motivated, you must demonstrate a strong customer-centric ethos.
• Experience with Service Now (nice to have)

Before you apply, here are some of our benefits. We offer profit share, pension, private medical, flexible working policy and more. We offer incentives for accreditations and educational assistance for courses relevant to your role.

We offer employee recognition in the form of Excellence Awards and V1Ps which is awarded by your peers. Engagement is incredibly important with local engagement teams driving our engagement events!