Service Delivery Manager

Service Delivery & Operations

• Own SLA, KPI, and XLA performance across the contracted towers NOC, SOC, CloudOps, EUC, Service Desk, Data Centre, Network, Backup and Storage.
• Run the operating rhythm: daily ops calls, weekly service reviews, Monthly Operating Review (MOR), and Quarterly Business Review (QBR) — with outcome-based rather than activity-based reporting.
• Own Major Incident Management and escalation governance; chair critical incident bridges, approve RCAs, and drive problem management to closure.
• Ensure ITIL process adherence across incident, problem, change, request, configuration, and asset management; own CMDB health and data quality.
• Drive continual service improvement: automation, shift-left, self-heal, and toil reduction with quantified savings targets.
• Manage transitions, onboarding of new scope, and steady-state stabilisation including KT tracking and exit criteria sign-off.
• Own service risk: capacity, obsolescence, single points of failure, patch and vulnerability compliance, DR readiness and test cycles.

Commercial & Financial Management

Financial ownership is a core requirement of this role, not an adjunct. The SDM must be able to explain and defend every line of the engagement P&L.

• Own the account / engagement P&L: revenue recognition, cost of delivery, and gross margin performance against plan.
• Build and manage the annual operating plan and quarterly forecast; explain month-on-month variance in revenue, cost, and GM with root cause and corrective action.
• Manage the resource cost model: pyramid mix (onshore/offshore/nearshore, junior/senior ratio), rate cards, rate-grid compliance, and approval routing for deviations.
• Control leakage: unbilled effort, over-servicing, uncontracted scope creep, out-of-scope work, and shadow resourcing.
• Manage contractual commercial levers: FTE-based vs outcome-based vs transaction-based pricing, productivity commitments, annual productivity give-back, SLA credits and penalties.
• Own invoicing accuracy, timesheet compliance, PO coverage, DSO and receivables follow-through, and accruals at month and quarter close.
• Build and defend business cases for automation, tooling, and staffing changes — including cost, benefit, payback, and NPV where relevant.
• Track and report client savings delivered and delivery efficiency realised as contractual and relationship currency.
• Support pre-sales, change requests, renewals, and expansion: effort estimation, pricing inputs, solution defence, and negotiation support.
• Manage third-party and OEM spend, licence true-ups, and vendor commercial accountability.

Talent Acquisition, Staffing & People Management

The SDM is accountable for fulfilment, not merely a requester of it.

• Own the demand plan: forecast roles by skill, band, and location against contract and pipeline; maintain a rolling 90-day demand view.
• Write and validate job descriptions with genuine technical depth; define must-have vs preferred skills and realistic screening criteria.
• Drive the hiring funnel end to end with Talent Acquisition: requisition raising, pipeline review, interview panel formation, candidate evaluation, selection, offer, and joining.
• Own fulfilment ageing: escalate stalled requisitions, challenge pipeline quality, and secure rate-grid or band-deviation approvals where market reality demands it.
• Balance build vs buy vs borrow: internal fulfilment, IJP, contingent/CWR, and vendor supply — with cost and risk trade-offs made explicit.
• Manage critical-skill continuity: named-person dependency, backup and shadow resourcing, KT completion, and knowledge documentation before exits.
• Own attrition: track and forecast it, run retention conversations for critical talent, conduct exit analysis, and act on themes.
• Lead the people agenda: goal setting, performance management, appraisal calibration, promotion cases, skill and certification roadmaps, engagement and recognition.
• Build the leadership bench: identify and develop tower leads and successors.

Customer & Stakeholder Management

• Serve as the primary operational point of contact for the client's IT operations, infrastructure, and service management leadership.
• Build and sustain trusted-advisor relationships with client managers, directors, and where appropriate the CIO/CISO organisation.
• Own CSAT / NPS for the engagement: run the survey cycle, analyse detractor feedback, and execute a visible improvement plan.
• Manage client escalations with speed and transparency — acknowledge, contain, communicate, resolve, and follow through with preventive action.
• Communicate credibly at executive level: concise written updates, executive summaries, and presentation-quality reporting.
• Navigate client governance and compliance gates: security certification, change advisory boards, audit and regulatory reviews, and vendor risk assessments.
• Identify and shape growth: spot transformation and automation opportunities in the client estate and convert them into funded initiatives.
• Manage the client-side politics of difficult conversations — staffing constraints, rate increases, scope boundaries, and SLA misses — without damaging the relationship.
• Maintain alignment between client expectation, contractual entitlement, and delivered service.

Governance, Risk & Compliance

• Ensure adherence to information security, data privacy, and client-specific compliance obligations.
• Maintain the engagement risk register with owners, mitigation, and review cadence; escalate through defined governance paths.
• Ensure audit readiness — internal, client, and external — including evidence and documentation quality.
• Comply with organisational policies on operational conduct, responsible AI usage, anti-corruption, and global trade.