IT Operations Lead (SC cleared)

IT Operations Lead (SC cleared) | Government Data Service | Outside IR35

We are looking for a hands-on IT Operations Manager to help keep the service stable, secure, resilient and performing effectively.

This is not a traditional service desk role. You will take ownership of day-to-day live operations, work closely with engineering and delivery teams, and improve the processes, monitoring and controls that underpin a reliable production service.

Key Responsibilities

• Own live-service operations across incident, problem, change and release management.
• Act as an escalation point for operational issues and major incidents, driving resolution within agreed SLAs and ITIL-aligned processes.
• Improve service-management practices including incident prioritisation, ticket ageing, reporting and operational governance.
• Monitor the health and performance of a custom-built data platform, including data pipelines, availability, capacity and system performance.
• Investigate technical issues and coordinate resolution with Software, Data, Platform and DevOps teams.
• Own production readiness and release governance, ensuring changes are appropriately tested, controlled and safe to deploy.
• Identify and implement service improvements across automation, resilience, documentation, support processes and operational efficiency.
• Manage operational access and security-related support activity.
• Provide clear updates on service health, incidents, risks, performance and releases to clients, delivery teams, senior stakeholders and suppliers.

What We're Looking For

An experienced, technically capable IT Operations professional who is comfortable working with complex software-based services and getting into the detail of how production environments operate.

You will be able to:

• Work effectively with Data Engineers, Software Developers, Platform Engineers and DevOps specialists.
• Understand software delivery, production environments and the balance between technical change, reliability and operational risk.
• Challenge technical teams constructively on monitoring, resilience, maintainability and production readiness.
• Identify operational risks and inefficiencies and introduce sustainable processes and controls.
• Take ownership of operational decisions and escalate appropriately

Contract details:

• c. £400/day
• Outside IR35
• Fully remote, UK based
• Initial contract through to Feb 2027
• Good chance of extension
• Current SC assumed for now