JOB DESCRIPTION

Employment status and working hours

Fixed term for up to 12 months (maternity cover), full time.

Full time hours at the University are 35 per week with the standard working pattern Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 17:00.

Organisation structure

Chief Operating Officer, Technology.

Your line manager will be Kevin Wilkinson, Director of Technology.

Place of work flexibility

The majority of your working week will be spent at our office in Reading and the rest at your home*. The exact split of days/hours is negotiable but must include a minimum of three working days each week in Horizons on the core days (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday). The office closes on Fridays. You can attend the office on Mondays if you have worked the three core days. *Working from home is only possible if your environment is suitable.

High level summary of job role

At the University of the Built Environment, the Technology team support around 300 employees, 200 Associate Lecturers, and 4,000 students.

As the IT Service Manager, you will play a critical part in ensuring an excellent digital experience for both students and staff. You will manage the IT Support team, including day-to-day operational support, optimising service processes, and driving continuous improvement in the service desk environment which is consistently evolving.

You will offer support and guidance to your direct reports, ensuring compliance with IT policies, security standards, and best practices. You will act as an escalation point for all stakeholders, striving to offer excellent customer service and ensure all queries are resolved effectively and efficiently. 

Specific job role accountabilities and responsibilities

• Manage the daily operations of the IT Support team, ensuring incidents and service requests are handled efficiently and professionally.

• Ensure all end-user equipment is reliable, fit-for-purpose and maintained.

• Ensure all meeting rooms and AV equipment is reliable, fit-for-purpose and maintained.

• Maintain and develop ITSM processes (incidents, service requests, problems, and change management).

• Monitor service performance and customer satisfaction, driving improvements based on feedback.

• Lead and chair regular Change Advisory Board meetings, ensuring effective governance of all Technology changes.

• Manage service desk workload, prioritisation, and resource allocation.

• Ensure documentation and asset records for all equipment and software are up-to-date and accurate.

• Occasionally attend the London School of Architecture (Dalston) site for support, auditing and projects.

• Act as an escalation point supporting all stakeholders and IT support staff.

• Ensure compliance with IT policies, security standards, and best practices.

• Align support activities with broader IT service strategy.

• Develop, manage, and monitor the IT service budget, ensuring cost-effective delivery of IT services.

• Foster a positive, collaborative team culture aligned with the University’s values.

• Undertake other duties as required, commensurate with the role as needed.

• Some out of hours work may be required to support upgrades / changes.

Other important features of the job role

Line management responsibilities: Yes, to be discussed.

Budget responsibility: Yes.

In this role you will liaise with the following: All staff groups, students, 3rd party suppliers, and contractors.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

E = Essential person requirement; D = Desirable person requirement

How the person requirement will be assessed:

A = Application; I = Interview; T = Test or other assessment

Please be aware that as part of onboarding processes, we will seek original documentary evidence of the relevant academic and/or professional qualifications which you include within your job application. This is all part of our comprehensive pre-employment screening which also includes checking your identity, right to work, criminal record history (basic disclosure), and three years employment history.

Qualifications and training

GCSE Maths and English language Grade C or 4 or above (E, A).

ITIL foundation Qualification or equivalent experience (E, A).

Further related qualification in IT/Technology or relevant experience (D, A).

Previous experience

Significant experience in an IT support role (E, I, A).

Proven experience in IT service management or service desk leadership (E, A, I).

Working within an assigned budget (E, A, I).

Significant experience in an IT management role (D, A).

Experience within the education sector / built environment / higher education (D, A, I).

Skills, knowledge, and aptitudes

Knowledge of Windows 10/11 and Mac OS (E, I).

Good knowledge of Intune, Office 365 suite, AD and MS Entra/Azure (E, I).

Strong understanding of ITIL practices and their application (E, A, I).

Ability to work well within a team and mentor staff (E, I).

Excellent customer service and communication skills with the ability to support users at all levels (E, I).

Strong understanding of Cyber Security best practices (E, I).

Strong focus on continuous improvement of IT Service (E, I).

Effective troubleshooting and problem-solving skills and methodology (E, I).

Strong organisation and time management skills (E, I).

Ability to accurately maintain records and documentation i.e. asset records, documentation processes and solutions (E, I).

Confident with budget management and procurement processes (E, I).

Other requirements or special requirements

Alignment to the University’s core values of Passion, Integrity, Excellence and Support; all employees are expected to demonstrate our values at work (E, I).

Commitment to delivering positive outcomes for our students; we want our students to be successful (E, I).

You must be prepared to undertake mandatory online training should you be appointed including Data Protection, Health and Safety, Safeguarding, Prevent, and EDI (E, I).

Occasional business travel to London, Dalston (E, I).

PAY AND BENEFITS

Salary: Salary circa £45,000 per annum.

Holiday: 26 days paid holiday (rising to 28 with service) plus paid bank/public holidays plus up to five paid closure days (typically between Christmas and New Year); all per holiday year Full Time Equivalent. Our holiday year runs from 1 August to 31 July. We also have a holiday buy and sell scheme in place. Sometimes the University does not need to close for five days per year and any balance (for example one day), can be used as a paid Wellbeing Day to take time out for your own physical or mental health.

Pension and life assurance: Pensions auto-enrolment to the People’s Pension which is a default salary sacrifice scheme. You may opt out of salary sacrifice but remain in the scheme, or you may choose to opt out altogether. We provide life assurance (death in service) cover as standard to all employees.

Family-friendly policies: Policies in place for all types of family-friendly statutory leave with enhanced pay available from day one of employment for some leave types. Access to Tax-Free Childcare (Government scheme).

Wellbeing: Full access to the Employee Assistance Programme as well as the Thrive Mental Wellbeing app. Several employees are trained Mental Health First Aiders and can support staff. We have a wellbeing policy and we focus on five pillars of wellbeing.

Sustainable travel: Cycle to Work and Electric Vehicle salary sacrifice schemes.

Parking: We have locked sheds for bicycles. For cars, for Horizons based roles, we may in the future be able to offer parking on site however you must not assume this will be possible. Every now and then we may have a spare parking space become available and you can ask to join the waiting list. The University is keen wherever possible, to encourage staff to commute as sustainably as possible.

Other health related benefits: Employer-funded Health Cash Plan (Simplyhealth) and voluntary dental insurance (Unum).

Other valuable benefits:

• Charity giving options available including one voluntary paid day, per annum.

• You will have access to Microsoft Office 365 applications for personal use.

• You will have access to range of lifestyle discounts and everyday savings.

• We offer learning platforms including LinkedIn learning.

On the Join the team page of our website, you will find the full list of employee benefits.

APPLICATIONS - THINGS TO CONSIDER

For an informal discussion about the role please contact 0118 467 2428 or email k.wilkinson@ube.ac.uk. For any other enquiries please contact HR on 0118 467 2454 / 2433 or email recruitment@ube.ac.uk

Did one of our employees recommend you? If you apply on the recommendation of an existing employee, please make sure to mention their name within your application.

We're passionate about sustainability and we have a five-year strategic plan: We expect job seekers to be curious about who we are and what we do. We point you towards a couple of resources about who we are and sustainability.

Closing date and next steps

We will receive applications until the advert closes on Monday 02 March 2026 at 09:00. We will not consider late applications. Our ATS does not screen applications, we humans do. Applications may be reviewed prior to the closing date and occasionally, you may be invited to interview ahead of the closing date.

Interview details

First stage interviews are scheduled for Wednesday 04 March (PM), Thursday 05 March (PM), and Monday 09 March.

Second stage interviews are scheduled for Wednesday 11 March and Thursday 12 March, and Friday 13 March.

We'll ask you to tell us about any dates you cannot make, up to 4 weeks from the closing date; this helps us to plan interviews should you be shortlisted, prior to contacting you.

Interviews are normally carried out over Microsoft Teams or Zoom. Depending on the job role and place of work, your interview may be at our Reading or London office. Please be prepared for a two-stage interview process, held on different dates. As part of the interview process, you will likely meet a member of the Senior Leadership Team.

Note for internal candidates

If you are an existing employee, we request you inform your current line manager of your intention to apply for this role.

As this is a fixed term role, if you were (in the future) to be offered and accept this role, it would mean relinquishing your contractual permanent employment status with the University. Following the expiry of the fixed term period, your employment with the University would cease, unless an alternative role is secured. If instead you would like to apply for this role on the basis of it being a secondment (i.e. not relinquishing your permanent status), please discuss this with your current line manager. Only your line manager can consider and agree to a secondment because this impacts the resourcing in your current team. Please contact HR if you or your line manager need to discuss this further.