Description
The ServiceNow Platform & Enterprise Tools Service Operations Lead is responsible for ensuring the stable, compliant, and reliable operation of core systems and platforms within the ServiceNow Platform & Enterprise Tools domain.
The role oversees day-to-day platform operations and ensures that processes are followed, risks are managed, and changes are delivered safely. It maintains the operational performance of multiple platforms (e.g. ServiceNow), ensuring they meet agreed service levels and adhere to security and compliance expectations.
Operating at a senior level, the role provides leadership across operational teams, acts as the primary escalation point for platform issues, and partners with Product/Platform Owners, architects, engineering teams, and IT service functions to maintain platform stability and drive continuous improvement.
Key Responsibilities
- Provide operational leadership across core platforms, ensuring system stability, availability, and adherence to service levels, acting as the primary internal escalation point for product and domain teams on service performance and major incidents.
- Govern incident, problem, change, configuration, and release processes for domain platforms, ensuring operational compliance with ITSM policies and control frameworks, and defining measurable outcomes for problem management.
- Define and maintain service readiness and runbook quality standards.
- Create and oversee service plans for new and enhanced products, coordinating with Product Owners, third-party partners, and platform/service teams to define SLAs, performance expectations, and support handover criteria.
- Monitor platform performance, proactively identifying risks, trends, and recurring issues, and implement improvement actions to strengthen stability and user experience.
- Coordinate with Platform Owners, engineering squads, solution architects, and service teams to ensure changes, integrations, upgrades, and releases are deployed safely and meet operational readiness standards.
- Lead operational readiness assessments, ensuring documentation, support models, monitoring coverage, and non-functional controls are in place prior to deployment.
- Own operational dashboards, KPIs, and reporting for the platforms, ensuring performance, risks, and issues are communicated to senior stakeholders.
- Oversee root cause analysis for major incidents, ensuring sustainable fixes, clear remediation actions, and preventative measures are identified and delivered.
- Maintain and continuously improve operational documentation, including runbooks, support procedures, configuration inventories, and architectural operational views.
- Manage relationships with third-party vendors and managed service providers to ensure high-quality operational support and fulfilment of contractual obligations.
Education & Professional Qualifications
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in a relevant field.
- Industry certifications highly desirable.
Job Experience
- Typically 18+ years of experience in platform operations.
- Significant experience overseeing operational performance for multiple platforms or systems within a complex environment.
- Demonstrated ability to manage ITSM processes.
- Proven ability to diagnose operational issues, lead root cause analysis, and drive sustainable improvements.
Desirable Requirements
- Operational oversight and ITSM governance for ServiceNow platforms.
- Service readiness, runbook quality, and major incident management.
- Performance monitoring, RCA, and continuous improvement.
- Cross-functional coordination for operational readiness and change.
- Vendor and MSP relationship management for high-quality operations.
Preferred Skills:
- Strong analytical and problem-solving capability.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
- Strong understanding of security, compliance, and operational risk controls.
- Ability to lead cross-functional teams, influence without direct authority, and promote operational discipline.
- Effective organisational skills, able to balance multiple priorities and manage time-sensitive escalations.