Head of IT Service and Platforms

We’re a national law firm with a local reach. Our legal experts are here for you. Whether it’s personal or business, we understand that everyone’s situation is different. But we’re more than just a law firm – we’re a team of people working together to help individuals and businesses navigate life’s ups and downs. Working here you’ll feel a part of our friendly and inclusive environment.

We’ll value you for who you are and what you bring. We support each other and push boundaries to achieve incredible things and make a real difference to our clients and communities.

We're always looking to support our colleagues to work in a way that works best for them and everyone else, including our clients, the business and the regulators. Please speak to a member of our Recruitment and Onboarding team for more information.

Your Role

We are looking for someone to step into a pivotal leadership role as Head of Service & Platforms, where you'll be responsible for the 24/7 availability and performance of our IT platforms, applications, and services across all IM divisions and subsidiaries. You’ll shape and drive the IT service strategy while ensuring solutions meet business needs, regulatory obligations, and deliver lasting value. This role owns technical Disaster Recovery, operational IT risk, service governance (including ITIL good practice), and robust application and platform delivery. You'll be key to delivering ‘silent service’—ensuring technology runs smoothly and reliably behind the scenes—while continuously improving operational excellence, optimising supplier value, and unlocking savings. If you're passionate about resilient services and strategic impact, this is your chance to lead from the front.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Lead and evolve the IT customer service experience, overseeing a blended team of internal staff and third-party partners
• Own the delivery and performance of IT platforms, applications, and service management across the business
• Define and implement a forward-looking IT service strategy aligned to IM’s wider business objectives
• Continuously assess and improve service maturity, ensuring solutions support colleague needs and organisational goals
• Establish and enforce ITSM-aligned processes and governance, supporting rigorous internal and external audit scrutiny
• Drive automation and tooling enhancements (e.g. Microsoft suite, ServiceNow) to boost user experience and operational efficiency
• Manage strategic supplier relationships, ensuring maximum commercial and delivery value
• Champion service performance improvements, using metrics and scorecards to report progress up to board level
• Lead response efforts during major incidents or crises, driving rapid recovery and long-term risk mitigation
• Build and maintain effective service communications and review structures across IM and its subsidiaries
• Respond to audit reviews with clear action planning, ensuring timely remediation and compliance
• Safeguard service continuity throughout change initiatives by embedding strong lifecycle design principles
• Advise the CIO and Executive teams on operational risks and estate-wide issues, offering strategic guidance and insight
• Foster collaborative internal and external partnerships to enhance service value and client experience
• Represent the function in crisis leadership forums and deputise at senior governance groups as required

About You

• Proven leadership of large-scale, 24/7 IT services across hybrid environments and regulated industries
• Experience building and leading high-performing service, platform, and application support teams (50+ staff)
• Strong strategic planning capability, with a track record of delivering client-centric, benefit-led service strategies
• Deep understanding of ITSM frameworks (e.g. ITIL), governance standards (e.g. ISO27001/20000), and audit compliance
• Skilled in managing complex service landscapes across on-premise and cloud, with agile delivery expertise
• Commercially astute, with robust supplier and contract management experience (budgets £10m+)
• Proficient in ITSM tooling (e.g. ServiceNow) and driving automation and service innovation
• Strong grasp of modern enterprise tech: Cloud, Modern Workplace, Infrastructure, Networks, and Application stacks
• Demonstrated ability to manage operational risk and deliver secure, high-performing IT services
• 5–10+ years of senior IT leadership, ideally in service delivery, with regulated sector experience

Desirable:

• Desirable experience in legal services technology strategy development and delivery
• Track record of achieving key standards: ISO27001, ISO20000, BS27999
• Beneficial experience in projects and programmes (e.g. Prince2, PPM)
• Helpful knowledge of Disaster Recovery and IT Security best practices

Our Benefits - What We Can Offer You

• 25 days holidays as standard plus bank holidays - You can ‘buy’ up to 35hrs of extra holiday too.
• Generous and flexible pension schemes.
• Volunteering days – Two days of volunteering every year for a cause of your choice (fully paid)
• Westfield Health membership, offering refunds on medical services alongside our Aviva Digital GP services.

We also offer a wide range of well-being initiatives to encourage positive mental health both in and out of the workplace and to make sure you’re fully supported. This includes our Flexible by Choice programme which gives our colleagues more choice over a hybrid way of working subject to role, team and client requirements.

We have been ranked in the Best Workplaces for Wellbeing for Large Organisations for 2024!

Our responsible business programmes are fundamental to who we are and our purpose. We’re committed to being a diverse and inclusive workplace where our colleagues can flourish, and we have established a number of inclusion network groups across our business to support this aim.

Our commitment to Social Responsibility, community investment activity and tackling climate change is a fundamental part of who we are. It’s made up of four strands: Our People, Our Community, Our Environment and Our Pro Bono.

Additional Information

As part of the Irwin Mitchell Group’s on-boarding process all successful applicants are required to complete the group’s employment screening process. This process helps to ensure that all new employees meet our standards in relation to honesty and integrity therefore protecting the interests of the Group, colleagues, clients, partners and other stakeholders.

We carry out pre employment screening to establish your eligibility to work in the UK, criminal record and financial checks ­with our trusted 3rd parties.

The employment screening process will fully comply with Data Protection and other applicable laws.

Irwin Mitchell LLP is an equal opportunity employer.