Head of Problem and Change Management

Job content

About Us

National Grid touches the lives of almost everyone in the UK, with an energy network that stretches across the Atlantic. We’re an international team, and our work underpins the lives of millions of people. Feet forwards, head up, and eyes bright, we’re working hard to create value for people today – and shape the future of energy tomorrow.

In the UK, we don’t generate or sell energy – we join the dots to get energy from A to B. From making a cup of tea in the morning, to keeping the lights on in hospitals, our electricity network puts power in the hands of people. Without it, the world as we know it would grind to a halt.

The world of energy is changing beyond recognition. Working at National Grid, you won’t just be touching the lives of almost everyone in the UK – you’ll be shaping the way we use and consume energy for generations to come.

Job Purpose

This role focuses on leading the Change and Problem Management teams globally for National Grid. The Problem Management team is responsible for delivering robust and effective problem management across the National Grid IT Ecosystem resulting in the provision of stable and reliable IT Services to the National Grid business. Change Management is responsible for protecting and maintaining the stability of National Grid’s applications, network and infrastructure.

Your focus will be on leading the UK and US Problem management teams in the ownership of assigned problems and driving a thorough Root Cause Analysis for those problems to minimise/mitigate the future impact of Major Incidents, and to identify and address and resolve contributing factors to the root cause via Corrective Actions. You will also lead the UK and US Change Management teams in focusing on the governance, ownership and accountability for all IT changes requested across National Grid and its dedicated supplier partners. Ensuring the change management process is correctly followed with focus on risk assessment and minimizing any detrimental impact in the provision of changes across National Grid’s services.

There will be a required focus on proactive engagement with Service Owners, Major Incident & Availability management and other functions to intervene to stabilise the causes of Major Incidents and lower priority incidents before they have further detrimental impact to service. You will work with the other teams in Service Operations to ensure continuous service improvement and process maturity.

About The Job

• Ensure timely completion of Root Cause Analysis (RCA) investigations for National Grid IT teams and National Grid IT Ecosystem partners, to successfully identify the Root Causes and manage Corrective Actions to problems that impact National Grid IT Services.
• Liaise with National Grid Service Owners to identify the full business impact of problems to ensure they are correctly prioritised and addressed.
• Manage the RCA process with IT Eco-system suppliers on their assigned problems and weekly reviews with IT Ecosystem partners on their assigned problems. During these weekly reviews you assess attainment of service levels, timely response to Corrective Actions and where necessary escalate supplier performance where service levels that are not being met.
• Identify options for root cause mitigation/removal and Corrective Actions to provide acceptable solutions and/or workarounds. Such options should address people, process, logistic, and technology areas that have the potential to detrimentally impact National Grid IT Services.
• Proactively identify problem trends and known defects and work with necessary business and technology support teams to identify options for root cause mitigation/removal and the Corrective Actions required to provide acceptable solutions and/or workarounds.
• Oversee changes required to implement Corrective Actions, and once completed to liaise with the Service Owner to close problems. Govern and own the change management process from a global perspective.
• Work in conjunction with other functions ensuring the process is adhered to across all streams of IT. Also show an understanding of how change can influence these additional processes.
• Identify and initiate continuous process improvements ensuring that standards are maintained as the process matures.
• Ensure the process is understood across all levels of the company and be prepared to present the process to a wider audience as and when required.
• Liaise with National Grid Project Managers, Service Owners, and I&O strategic directors to identify the full business impact of all changes to ensure they are correctly prioritised and addressed.
• Understand the needs and business drivers for a complex and thriving FTSE 100 company.
• Initiate and manage the Change Advisory Boards (CAB) ensuring appropriate attendance from IT Ecosystem suppliers and IT Project Technical resources with the appropriate level of authority.
• Own the data to enable the production of succinct business-led change reports and be able to articulate these reports at an executive level.
  

Assignment And Flexibility

The Change and Problem teams will be situated in the US and UK (Wokingham) and operate Monday to Friday during normal working hours. Therefore, as Head of Change and Problem Management flexibility is expected in working hours to provide support for your teams and ensure completion of the required work and deadlines.

This role will may require joining of management calls that cut over the time-zones.

Assignments may change from time to time depending on business impact and demand.You must also be prepared to work ‘hands on’ and may be required to cover for each other to cover vacation, sickness, and other absences, which may mean working nonstandard hours.

At times you may be given a delegate of authority for the head of service operations and will need to provide adequate cover at those times.

About You

To be successful in this role you will:

• Have a university or college degree in a relevant discipline, or an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience.
• Have at least 5 years of experience in a senior management role in the service management of complex technical environments involving primarily outsourced service providers.
• Have at least 8 years of experience providing service management in the delivery and management of global large-scale IT Services.
• Have at minimum 3 - 5 years working in a senior / lead Problem Management and Change Management roles assisting with team direction and continuous service improvement.
• Have experience in being involved with or managing Major incidents directly or indirectly.
• Be able to evidence of process-orientated approach and strong customer service skills.
• Be able to demonstrate the ability to achieve objectives via influencing others.
• Possess relevant industry and professional certifications (e.g. ITIL Expert, Kepner Tregoe) (minimum ITIL Foundation)
• Have at least 5 years working in a role that has required strong analytic skills and attention to detail.
  

More Information

Closing date: 9th July, 2021

A competitive salary between £69,000 – 80,000, dependent on capability.

As well as your base salary, you will receive a company car or allowance, a bonus of up to 20% of your salary for stretch performance and a competitive contributory pension scheme where we will double match your contribution to a maximum company contribution of 12%. You will also have access to a number of flexible benefits such as a share incentive plan, a salary sacrifice technology scheme, support via the employee assistance line and matched charity giving to name a few.

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