Strategic Partnership Manager

Position Overview

We are seeking an exceptional communicator who prioritizes customer satisfaction and quality service. The ideal candidate will be a dedicated Business Relationship Manager with outstanding organizational, collaborative, and communication abilities, tasked with leading and coordinating customer relationships between Digital IT teams and internal as well as external stakeholders.

Your primary responsibility will be to manage, sustain, and enhance the connections between IT Services teams, Service Owners, operational teams, the Executive Board, and various stakeholders. This customer-centric role is crucial for ensuring that colleagues are informed about all IT-related issues, changes, and challenges that may affect them and their clients. You will provide support to the Senior Business Relationship Manager and collaborate closely with the IT Problem Manager and other IT Services teams.

The IT Services Team comprises approximately 100 highly skilled and committed professionals with a diverse range of technical expertise, including infrastructure, databases, applications, networks, cybersecurity, and service management. These specialized teams work together to maintain customer services and have a proven track record of supporting one another to deliver services and resolve issues as needed.

You will assist technical colleagues by ensuring precise reporting of IT Services availability against public targets. This includes documenting all service-affecting incidents via SharePoint, maintaining major incident reports and business continuity plans, monitoring and reporting availability statistics, and engaging with internal customers regarding digital service availability concerns.

Companies House promotes a flexible and inclusive culture that encourages a healthy work-life balance and a proactive approach to well-being, allowing us to perform at our best. We recognize that our people are essential to our success and offer an attractive benefits package, including flexible working arrangements, 30 days of annual leave, 8 bank holidays, and 1 privilege day, along with enrollment in the Civil Service Pension scheme with an average contribution rate of 28%.

Key Responsibilities

In this role, you will take the lead in collaborating with IT Services digital teams, Service Owners, software developers, end users, and other stakeholders across the organization to communicate, manage, and coordinate various IT changes, problems, and incidents.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Establishing and nurturing strong, effective relationships with all IT Services teams.
• Building and maintaining robust relationships with Finance and Customer Services teams to ensure seamless communication regarding service-affecting issues.
• Leading the communication of service-affecting issues and changes to all relevant internal and external customers and stakeholders in a timely and effective manner.
• Promptly and accurately recording all service-affecting issues, ensuring high data quality for auditing purposes.
• Engaging with Companies House teams by attending meetings to provide IT updates as necessary.
• Collaborating with Service Owners, Service Managers, and key Operational Managers to review service degradation metrics, ensuring accurate recording and publication of customer impact.
• Working with Data colleagues to ensure data capture accuracy aligns with Companies House digital availability public targets.
• Managing and coordinating the escalation of service issues and complaints from internal customers.
• Overseeing the business relationship process, often under challenging deadlines.
• Coordinating with IT Services teams to prioritize change requests and implementation requests, minimizing business impact.
• Ensuring timely completion of change implementation tasks within service level agreements (SLAs).
• Generating various service availability reports for IT Services Management, Business Board, and internal customers.
• Managing the Companies House overtime request process.
• Maintaining and reviewing the Service Availability SharePoint site.
• Collaborating with the IT Problem Manager to analyze trends and potential issues to prevent future problems.
• Working with the Incident Controller during Major Incidents to ensure effective communication regarding service issues, recovery, and continuity plans as appropriate.
• Ensuring that IT Services continuity plans are current and maintained.
• Managing the Major Incident Report process and collaborating with technical colleagues to ensure all actions are completed within agreed timelines.
• Providing cover for the Senior Business Relationship Manager when necessary.
• Collaborating with other teams within the Service Management area to ensure timely communication, management, and coordination of issues, changes, and problems.
• Willingness to cross-skill with other teams within the Service Management area to achieve departmental objectives.

Candidate Profile

We are looking for candidates with the following experience and technical skills:

• Exceptional verbal, written, and presentation skills to communicate effectively with colleagues at all levels, including external suppliers and customers.
• A solid understanding of Companies House services and the customers who utilize them.
• An adaptable and flexible approach, with the ability to work well under pressure while managing multiple priorities to meet targets and deadlines.
• Capability to convey technical information to a non-technical audience, including presenting this information at internal meetings.
• Knowledge of ITIL principles for service management, with experience in Incident, Problem, Release, and Change Management processes.
• Practical experience in producing documents, spreadsheets, and presentations for both technical and non-technical colleagues.

Technical Skills

• Technical understanding of the infrastructure and software that supports Companies House Services, including Oracle, AWS, Microsoft, Linux (Unix), Azure, and AWS.
• Good knowledge of IT technical infrastructure, end-user devices, networks, servers, databases, and storage.
• Proficiency in M365 software (Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, SharePoint, Power BI, etc.).
• ITIL Foundation Level 4 qualification or a willingness to work towards achieving this qualification.
• Experience using ServiceNow service management software or similar tools.
• Experience with Jira, Confluence, and Slack software.

Additional Requirements

• Must uphold confidentiality and may be required to undergo SC level security clearance.
• This position may occasionally require overtime during the week and on weekends to manage and coordinate critical incidents.

Behaviors

We will assess candidates against the following behaviors during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Making Effective Decisions
• Delivering at Pace
• Managing a Quality Service

Benefits

Alongside a competitive salary, Companies House contributes significantly towards membership in the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. We believe that our success is driven by the well-being and satisfaction of our team members at all levels. Companies House is committed to providing a comprehensive benefits package that goes beyond the ordinary, ensuring your career journey with us is fulfilling and rewarding. We pride ourselves on offering a quality work-life balance, with employee well-being central to our working practices.

Diversity and Inclusion

As an equal opportunity employer, we celebrate diversity and are committed to ensuring we are representative of the citizens we serve, creating an inclusive environment. We welcome applications from underrepresented groups and encourage applications from Welsh speakers. We are proud to be a disability confident leader, and our recruitment process is fully inclusive, with adjustments available as needed.

Work Environment

This position aligns with a hybrid working approach, providing opportunities for adaptability in work methods to achieve a healthy balance between professional and personal life. The degree of choice will depend on business needs, the role, and daily work activities, which will be discussed at the offer stage.