Digital Service Centre Manager

West country Schools Trust (WeST) is a family of 31 schools (8 secondary and 23 primary), working together across the South West. We are ambitious for every child and are investing in modern, secure and connected digital services that help our schools collaborate, innovate and deliver an excellent education.

We are looking for an experienced, people-focused technology operations leader to shape how digital services are delivered across WeST. Based at our Plymouth headquarters, you will lead the Digital Service Centre and create reliable, modern services for colleagues across our schools and central teams. Your remit will span infrastructure, connectivity, endpoints, hardware and site technology, combining operational leadership with the opportunity to deliver meaningful improvement at Trust scale.

Working with school leaders, specialist managers and colleagues across WeST Digital, you will lead the support experience across our digital services, creating a responsive, insight-led operation that resolves more needs at first contact, communicates clearly and adapts to what schools need.

As Digital Service Centre Manager, you will develop the Service Centre team to deliver first and second line support remotely and on site to primary schools and central services. You will use service data, knowledge management, self-service and automation to improve how requests are logged, prioritised and resolved, ensuring incidents are managed through to closure and schools know what to expect.

You will plan on-site school visits and oversee incident, service request, change and problem management; asset and device operations; planned maintenance and technical changes; and the team’s contribution to Trust-wide projects and migrations. Working within the standards, security baselines and service levels set by the Platforms and Identity Manager, Cyber Security Manager and Digital leadership, you will turn specialist expertise into consistent, scalable support.

You will also coordinate suppliers and contractors, triage escalations from secondary-school teams, strengthen service continuity and expand the Service Centre’s capability.

This is a visible leadership role at an important point in WeST’s digital development. You will shape how the Service Centre works, develop its people and turn service insight into better digital experiences for schools.

The role calls for sound judgement, empathy and a practical, customer-focused approach.

An experienced digital operations, infrastructure or service professional, confident leading and developing a technical team across a complex, multi-site environment.

• A strong people manager who can set clear priorities, motivate colleagues and maintain a genuine customer service focus.
• Experienced in service desk and IT service management practice, including incident, request and problem management, ideally with knowledge of ITIL.

Organised and calm under pressure, able to balance planned work, project activity and urgent incidents across a busy, multi-site estate.

• Able and willing to travel independently to schools across Plymouth, Devon and Cornwall to deliver the Service Centre's programme of on-site support.

Knowledgeable in network infrastructure, connectivity, switching, wireless, endpoint and device operations, identity and access management, and the site technologies that support safe and effective school operations.

• A clear communicator who can build trusted relationships with school leaders, colleagues and suppliers, and manage expectations honestly when capacity is stretched.
• Committed to working within Trust technical and security standards,…