Service Delivery Manager

About Doherty Associates

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Doherty Associates (DA) has successfully delivered IT consultancy and managed services for over 30 years to world-renowned, international clients. Our focus is on delivering exceptional customer services to the professional and financial services sector, including leading private equity and venture capital firms and several top 10 UK law firms.

We are a Microsoft Partner with five competencies, a Tier 1 Microsoft CSP relationship and are ISO27001 & ISO9001 accredited.

Our customers rely on us to bring specialist expertise across cloud solutions, hybrid working, modern workplace, cyber security and compliance, and the adoption of automation and AI. We have built a reputation as a company that keeps its promises and delivers quality.

About the role

The Service Delivery Manager (SDM) is responsible for ensuring the consistent delivery of reliable and effective IT services to customers, in alignment with contractual obligations, service level agreements (SLAs), and business objectives.

You will act as the bridge between the customer, the technical and the account management teams, ensuring operational robustness, consistent customer satisfaction, and continuous service improvement across all managed services.

This role is best suited to an experienced SDM professional who works comfortably in an IT MSP, high-pressure environment, has a track record of managing demanding customer expectations while working closely with senior stakeholders to deliver results. Strong communication skills are essential for navigating complex negotiations, handling sensitive information, and building lasting relationships.

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Main responsibilities

Service performance and SLA management

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• Act as an escalation point for persistent issues and assist key customers during major incidents.
• Drive resolution of service quality related escalations, by co-ordination across relevant departments.
• Monitor and report on monthly service performance against SLAs and KPIs (at a DA business level and specific customer level, as required).
• Identify service delivery risks and propose mitigation strategies (at the business and client level).
• Manage SIP processes for specific customers.
• Develop and improve customer satisfaction and the supporting processes.
  
  

Customer engagement and relationship management

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• Build and maintain strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders to understand business needs and expectations.
• Partner with Account Managers in conducting service review meetings with key clients and standardise generic performance metrics and reporting.
• Work with internal and third-party teams to ensure actions are taken and completed to protect and improve services when required.
• Be an ambassador for IT Managed Services and help educate the customer and their teams on how best to use our services.

Operations

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• Coordinate client and account management escalations with internal service desk and project teams to ensure timely and effective delivery of services.
• Oversee change, release and service transition management processes.
• Work with service desk leads to ensure compliance with ITIL best practices and internal governance standards.

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Continuous improvement and innovation

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• Identify opportunities for service improvement and efficiency gains.
• Lead initiatives to enhance service quality, customer experience, and operational processes.
• Collaborate with technical teams to implement automation and innovation in service delivery.
• Review and identify services that are being delivered that could generate billable work such as Ad-hoc tickets.
  

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Reporting and documentation

• Produce and present service reports, dashboards, and performance summaries.
• Create and maintain service performance reports that show the commercial success of each service line.
• Own customer experience reporting, identifying service concerns and opportunities for improvement.

Team collaboration and leadership

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• Work closely with the Service Desk, Project Managers, and Account Managers to drive improvements in service delivery and the process of transitioning services into operations.
• Support onboarding of new clients.
• Assist Managers in mentoring the junior staff involved in service improvements or CSI.
  

Professional skills and experience

• Demonstrable ability to lead IT service delivery operations in a fast-paced, mid-sized MSP, with measurable improvements in service quality and customer satisfaction.
• ITIL certified, with good understanding of practical application of ITIL principles to drive service consistency, incident resolution, and process optimisation.
• Hands-on, effective ownership of SLA and KPI frameworks - not just working within them, but actively shaping, monitoring, and improving them to meet evolving client needs.
• Experience with clients utilising Microsoft M365 and cloud services.

About the person

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• Professional demeanour, influential at C-level
• High levels of empathy with ability to build and maintain effective relationships
• Clear and confident communicator, able to build trust and influence stakeholders at all levels.
• A proactive, 'can-do' attitude and sense of urgency
• High ethical standards and integrity
• Analytical mindset with the ability to interpret data and drive decisions.
• Resilient with ability to learn and bounce back from challenging situations

What we offer in return

• Basic salary plus performance bonus
  
• Incentive scheme for passing specific Microsoft accreditations
  
• 33 days of annual leave (incl. 8 UK bank holidays)
• Time off on your birthday
• Private medical insurance, group income protection and life insurance
• Enhanced family friendly schemes
• Pension scheme
• Company sick pay
• Compassionate leave
• Employee Assistance Programme