DWS Sr Director, Support Experience

About us

National Grid touches the lives of almost everyone, with an energy network that stretches across the Atlantic. We’re an international team, and our work underpins the lives of millions of people. Feet forwards, head up, and eyes bright, we’re working hard to create value for people today – and shape the future of energy tomorrow.

In the UK, we don’t generate or sell energy – we join the dots to get energy from A to B. From making a cup of tea in the morning, to keeping the lights on in hospitals, our electricity network puts power in the hands of people. Without it, the world as we know it would grind to a halt.

The world of energy is changing beyond recognition. Working at National Grid, you won’t just be touching the lives of almost everyone in the UK – you’ll be shaping the way we use and consume energy for generations to come. 

Job Purpose

Organizations that want to keep pace with a flexible work world and attract and keep talented employees need to create a digital workplace where team members can work seamlessly anytime, from anywhere. National Grid must undergo significant transformation to create digital experiences that will meet the growing needs of our Business and end users. The Support Experience Director will play a crucial role to help fulfil this mandate. This is a new and highly visible function within the Digital Workplace Services (DWS) team.

The primary role entails transforming the Technical Support Service Portfolio to align with the changing needs of the National Grid Group businesses as a post-Covid ‘new normal’ is established. The incumbent will work as the primary interface between senior stakeholders within IT and the NG Business to design and execute a modern operating model and communicate, document, and manage the portfolio which includes the global and regional service desks, on-site support, tech bars, knowledge management, service request management and level 1/1.5 operations. The SA Director will create a new support experience vision and roadmap, define OKRs and measure TCO/ROI, SLA/SLOs. The primary toolset is Service Now, and this position plays a key role in the SNOW roadmap.

Key partners include product owners and managers across IT, IT Finance, IT Business Strategy, and business partners. The SA Director will also work closely with or directly manage IT Communication and Business Enablement functions to ensure various modes of communication and training are used to market the Product, facilitate and measure adoption and success.

Key Accountabilities

• Assess and transform the support assurance function which includes service desks, on-site support, tech bars, executive support, and L1.5/2 digital workplace operations
• Lead a highly responsive, respected, and competent technical support services function across the US and UK
• Continually drive efficiency via automation, organizational change
• Provide differentiated “class of service” and core offerings to National Grid Group which consists of 5+ business lines
• Modernize the support culture of National Grid to digital self-service channels
• Provides the vision, roadmap, delivery and performance reporting of the service and team: organizational and operating model; SLA/SLO; TCO; NPS/OKR/KPIs; for the service desk L1 & 2 support and end use operations, knowledge management, service request/catalog management functions; across phone, on-site/in-person technicians, and digital channels
• Be a trusted advisor and key point of contact for senior business stakeholders
• Drives continual service improvement by collaborating with product and ITSM channels such as incident/change/release/problem management and communications and training
• Collaborates with Service Now platform team to deliver a modern Support Assurance roadmap of utilizing digital experiences, automation and collaboration tools to drive a culture of self-service and demonstrate the financial and customer satisfaction effectiveness

Qualifications

• 10+ years experience delivering technology products and services, 8+ of which has been as a service desk/support leader leading multi-level teams of employees and contractors
• Solid understanding of and demonstrated experience in designing efficient, digital and live support services operating and cost models based on ITIL/ITSM best practices
• Experience with insourcing/outsourcing business plans and business cases and vendor/commercial management practices
• In-depth knowledge of and experience creating performance plans for support functions including SLA/SLO, performance dashboards, improvement plans
• In-depth knowledge of and experience with staffing strategies including recruiting, retention, career development
• In-depth knowledge of and experience with logistical and operating models for support services including incident and request logging, routing, reporting, dispatch and assignment; digital methods and channels including chat, web portal, mobile, and delivery automation
• Demonstrated success driving support experiences on the Service Now platform, utilization of it’s capabilities and roadmap
• Demonstrated ability to create effective relationships with vendor partners and drive them to deliver quality and cost effective services
• A strong customer service-oriented, empathetic mindset and ability to impart this across the team
• Strong negotiation, motivational leadership, communication and presentation skills
• Experience at large (15,000+ employee) companies, preferably in a government regulated industry such as utility, healthcare, financial services
• Highly energetic and motivated personality with strong sense of urgency, ownership, and ability to think outside the box
• Able to effectively communicate at all levels of an organization from service desk staff to senior executives with discretion, authority, and empathy
• ITILv4 certified
• A bachelor’s degree from an accredited educational institution in a technical discipline (computer science, electrical engineering), master’s degree a plus

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