Service Owner

Looking for a role that will have a meaningful impact in IT?

We are looking for a hands-on Service Owner to manage and improve the support and enhancement of our internally developed applications and selected commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions.

What part will you play? If you're looking for a place where you can make a meaningful difference, you've found it. The work we do at Markel gives people the confidence to move forward and seize opportunities, and you'll find your fit amongst our global community of optimists and problem-solvers. We're always pushing each other to go further because we believe that when we realize our potential, we can help others reach theirs.

Join us and play your part in something special

The opportunity:

This role combines service ownership with Scrum Mastering, ensuring that business-critical applications remain reliable, well-supported, and continuously enhanced to deliver value.

You will be responsible for the end-to-end support lifecycle of application services from stability and Incident resolution to Release Management, SLA performance, and stakeholder communication. Acting as both a Service Owner and Scrum Master, you will enable the team to work in agile, collaborative ways, while maintaining clear accountability for service delivery and customer satisfaction.

What you'll be doing:

• Service Ownership: Take responsibility for the day-to-day health, performance, and cost of supported applications.
• Scrum Mastering: Facilitate agile practices and help the team stay focused on priorities.
• Incident & Problem Management: Ensure timely resolution of Incidents, effective root-cause analysis, and prevention of recurring issues.
• SLA's: Monitor and report on SLA and OLA performance, ensuring resolution and response times consistently meet or exceed agreed targets.
• Enhancement Delivery: Work with Product and other Service Owners to refine requirements, maintain a prioritised backlog, and ensure enhancements are delivered incrementally.
• Service Delivery Oversight: Track, report, and continuously improve service performance against KPIs, including SLA compliance, backlog throughput, and customer satisfaction.
• Change & Release Management: Oversee controlled deployments into production, ensuring minimal disruption and strong governance.
• Vendor Management: Take ownership of handling user problems and overseeing service delivery with COTS software vendors and third-party partners. This includes building and maintaining strong working relationships, holding vendors accountable for their contractual obligations, and ensuring high standards of service are consistently met. Proactively collaborate with third parties to resolve issues, drive continuous improvement, and safeguard the interests of Markel throughout the vendor lifecycle.
• Continuous Improvement: Facilitate retrospectives and service reviews that find opportunities to improve both technical solutions and delivery processes.
• Stakeholder Transparency: Provide regular reporting on Incidents, SLAs, enhancements, and service performance to business and IT stakeholders.

Our must-haves:

The successful candidate:

• is an experienced Service Owner, Scrum Master, or Application Support Lead.
• has good understanding of Agile/Scrum delivery methods and ability to embed them in a support environment.
• has working knowledge of ITIL Service Management practices, particularly Incident, Problem, Change, and Release management.
• is experienced at handling both in-house applications and COTS platforms.
• is experienced at supplier relationship management, and management of outsourced teams.
• is skilled in backlog management, prioritisation, and facilitating delivery teams.
• is a good communicator and facilitator who is able to work effectively with technical teams and non-technical stakeholders.
• has a collaborative, problem-solving approach with a focus on delivering value quickly and sustainably.
• is comfortable in a hands-on role, balancing tactical service delivery needs with team coaching.
• has a track record of meeting or exceeding SLAs, with clear examples of driving service performance improvements.

Who we are:

Markel Group (NYSE – MKL) a Fortune 500 company with over 60 offices in 20+ countries, is a holding company for insurance, reinsurance, specialist advisory, and investment operations around the world.

We're all about people | We win together | We strive for better | We enjoy the everyday | We think further

What's in it for you?

• A great starting salary plus annual bonus & strong benefits package…
• 25 days paid holiday plus Bank Holidays, with the opportunity to buy/sell extra leave
• Fantastic company pension scheme, private medical and dental cover, life assurance, travel insurance cover, income protection, season ticket loan as well as other great benefits on offer
• There are countless opportunities to learn new skills and develop in your career and we can provide the support needed to do just that

Are you ready to play your part?

Choose 'Apply Now' to fill out our short application, so that we can find out more about you.

Markel celebrates the value of a diverse workforce that brings experience and expertise from a wide variety of backgrounds and life circumstances. Whatever your background, if you feel you meet the requirements of this role then we want to hear from you. We are also happy to consider candidates who are looking for flexible working patterns.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided with all reasonable accommodations to be able to participate in the job application or interview process and to perform essential job functions if successful. Please contact us via email at or call us at to request any accommodations that may be needed. This includes any alternative formats of any documents or information on how to apply offline.

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