Service Performance Lead

Service Performance Lead  - (2500004J)

Description

 

UK Research and Innovation 

Salary: £56,745 
Hours: Full time 
Contract Type: Open Ended. 
Location: Polaris House, Swindon

Closing date Monday 17th March 2025

About us

Operating across the whole of the UK with a combined budget of more than 6 billion, UK Research and Innovation is a new entity that brings together nine partners to create an independent organisation with a strong voice for research and innovation, and a vision to ensure the UK maintains its world-leading position in research and innovation. UKRI will build on the successful elements from the current funding system and maximise the contribution of each of the component parts to create the best environment for research and innovation to flourish.

Job Purpose

The Service Performance Lead for Service Performance is responsible for overseeing the performance and continuous improvement of service delivery within the organization. This role involves strategic planning, management of large teams, and ensuring that service performance meets or exceeds established targets. The role requires significant management experience, technical expertise, and the ability to solve complex problems creatively.

You will collaborate closely other Senior Product Managers and with cross-functional teams, including technology, operations, and customer support, to continuously improve service performance. By leveraging data-driven insights and user feedback, you will identify opportunities for innovation and optimization, ensuring that our services remain at the forefront of the research funding landscape.

UKRI has created the Simpler and Better Funding (SBF) Programme to deliver a single, simpler and intuitive, end to end funding service for UKRI, including a new digital platform for managing applications and awards. The aim of the SBF Programme is to simplify and improve UKRI funding processes to deliver best value to the UK by creating:

•  an easy-to-use interface for applicants to apply for opportunities and report outcomes.
• efficient and effective tools, policies and processes to manage the end-to-end funding lifecycle from opportunity to outcomes and impact, harmonised across domains by default.
• tools and processes designed to be used by a diverse user community with support available at all stages of the process. 

The Programme involves not only digital delivery but also major transformation in the simplification of UKRI’s funding opportunities across the organisation.   

The Service Performance Lead for Service Performance is responsible for supporting the Associate Director, Funding Service for managing the vision and technical performance of the platform and identifying any enhancements required.  The role reports to the Associate Director /Service Owner for UKRI Funding Services and forms part of the Funding Service Delivery Authority senior management team.  As the SBF programme moves into business as usual operation, the role holder will be instrumental in the identification of work for the Delivery Teams, which meets the demands of the business, balancing service performance, business outcomes and continuous improvement.  The service is already live, so close monitoring of performance and service health is a vital input to ensuring that the service achieves and maintains high levels of user satisfaction and that users can complete their journeys at each stage of the funding lifecycle. 

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic Planning and Implementation:

• Develop and implement strategic plans to enhance service performance.
• Lead major change initiatives to improve service delivery and customer satisfaction.
• Establish and monitor performance targets, ensuring alignment with organisational goals.
• Lead data-driven analysis to inform decision-making and drive performance improvement for the Funding Service.
• Develop and maintain dashboards and reports to provide real-time insights into service performance
• Analyse complex data sets to identify trends, patterns, and areas for improvement with a focus on the digital platform, and identify potential policy and process improvements for the Service.
• Conduct user research to gather qualitative data and inform service design

Team Leadership and Management:

• Manage large teams, providing direction, support and development opportunities.
• Ensure effective workflow management, quality assurance and performance evaluation.
• Foster a collaborative and high -performance team culture.

Service Performance Monitoring and Improvement:

• Monitor service performance metrics and identify areas for improvement to teams across the Funding Service and with DDaT engineers based on data gathered from the digital platform.
• Implement best practices and innovative solutions based on data insights and feedback from stakeholders linking closely with the Funding Service Engagement Lead to gather data-based, but also qualitative stakeholder feedback to enhance service delivery, driving continuous improvement and excellence.
• Conduct regular reviews and audits to ensure compliance with standards and regulations, maintaining high-quality service and adherence to organisational policies.
• Monitor the impact of improvement initiatives and adjust strategies as needed.
• Collaborate with the Associate Director, Funding Service to develop performance frameworks and KPIs aligned with business goals.
• Regularly review and update performance metrics.
• Own the regular delivery of service health review reports
• Provide training and support to teams on the use of performance metrics and frameworks.

Incident Management and Risk Mitigation:

• Manage incidents and lead mitigating actions.
• Develop and implement incident response plans and protocols.
• Conduct post-incident reviews to identify root causes and prevent future occurrences.
• Identify and address potential risks and barriers to performance improvement developing strategies to overcome constraints and leverage them as opportunities for innovation.      

Stakeholder Engagement: 

• Engage with internal and external stakeholders to understand service requirements and expectations
• Work with and challenge senior stakeholders, prioritising and mitigating constraints,  adapting approaches according to constraints, ensuring security and data privacy compliance.
• Represent the organisation in negotiations and discussions with key stakeholders.
• Communicate service performance updates and initiatives to senior management and other relevant parties.
• Facilitate workshops and meetings to share insights and gather feedback from stakeholders        

Financial Management: 

• Manage budgets related to service performance, ensuring efficient use of tools and resources.
•  Approve or recommend expenditure within financial parameters.
• Monitor financial performance and implement corrective actions as needed.
• Policy Development and Implementation:
• Develop and implement policies and procedures to support service performance goals.
• Ensure policies are aligned with organisational objectives and regulatory requirements.
• Provide expert advice on policy matters related to service performance. 

Product Community of Practice and Capability:

• Active participation and engagement within the community by attending regular meetings, discussions and events focussed on relevant product management topics.
• Drive collaboration between product managers and other communities such as to ensure alignment and effective product development.
• Stay abreast of industry trends, emerging practices and new technologies in product management and share insights with the community to foster innovation
• Act as an advocate for the product management discipline within the organization, promoting its value and importance to senior leadership and other stakeholders.

This is an outline description of the key responsibilities and accountabilities involved in the job. This is not an exhaustive list and the post-holder might be expected to undertake any other duties across the wider DDaT engineering function, commensurate with the Band and level of responsibility of this post, for which the post holder has the necessary experience and/or training.

Person Specification

Shortlisting criteria

(S) – Assessed at shortlisting

(I) – Assessed at interview

(S&I) – Assessed at both shortlisting and interview

Essential

• The role holder is expected to possess a strategic blend of leadership, technical expertise, and industry knowledge to drive the continuous evolution of the service. (S&I)
• Ability to develop and implement strategic plans to achieve service performance goals incorporating in-depth knowledge of service performance metrics and improvement methodologies. (I)
• Deep understanding of user-centred design, performance measurement, and the end-to-end service lifecycle is critical to ensure the successful delivery of user-focused outcomes at scale. (S&I)
• Proven ability to use data, insights, and creative problem-solving skills to drive decisions and improve service performance. (S&I)
• Excellent communication, presentation, and stakeholder management skills with the ability to turn complex data into compelling, clear, and actionable stories. (S&I)
• Ability to collaborate with and manage teams of highly skilled professionals. (S)
• Detailed knowledge and practical application of data tools for transforming and analysing datasets. (S&I)

Desirable

• Strong subject matter expertise in funding services or a related field. (S&I)
• Strong expertise with Google Analytics and other digital analytics platforms. Experience of using of Google Analytics API (S)
• Proficiency with visualisation tools (e.g., Google refine, Tableau) and spreadsheets (S)
• Experience in one or more of the following areas: Ruby, Python, React JS, Java, JavaScript, Spring Framework or R; Statistics - e.g. Regression, Classification and Clustering; Data security and privacy (privacy-preserving data mining, data security, data provenance (S)
• Collaboration with web developers, (who ideally operate within a Sprint schedule), to gather requirements and build technical solutions. (S)

Qualifications and Experience:

• Relevant professional qualifications or equivalent experience.

 

Qualifications

 

About UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

UKRI launched in April 2018, UKRI is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

Our organisation brings together the seven disciplinary research councils, Research England, which is responsible for supporting research and knowledge exchange at higher education institutions in England, and the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK. Together we build an independent organisation with a strong voice and vision to ensure the UK maintains its world-leading position in research and innovation. More information can be found at www.ukri.org.

Choosing to come to work at UKRI means that you will have access to a whole host of benefits from a defined benefit pension scheme, excellent holiday entitlement, access to employee shopping/travel discounts and salary sacrifice cycle to work scheme.  For more details, visit Benefits of working for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

The role holder will be required to have the appropriate level of security screening/vetting required for the role.  UKRI reserves the right to run or re-run security clearance as required during the course of employment.

How we support EDI in the workforce

At UKRI, we believe that everyone has a right to be treated with dignity and respect, and to be provided with equal opportunities to thrive and succeed in an environment that enables them to do so. We also value diversity of thought and experience within inclusive groups, organisations and the wider community. For further information, please visit ‘How we support EDI in the workforce’. 

Disability Confident Employer

As users of the disability confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy/ies. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation. 

How to apply

Online applications only preferred for this role. Please submit a CV and covering letter which clearly outlines how you fulfil the criteria specified along with your motivation for UKRI and the role. Ensure that the job reference number is included in the filename description of each document uploaded. Note that failure to address the above criteria or submit an application without a covering letter may result in the application not being considered. Assessment will only be based upon the content of your submitted covering letter and CV and not the ‘experience’ section of the application. 

UKRI seeks to ensure it creates and maintains a system of openness, fairness and inclusion – a collaborative, trusted environment, which is attractive to and accessible to everyone who is interested in developing their career with us. 

 

Primary Location

: England-Wiltshire-Swindon

Job

: Administration

Organization

: UKRI - Funding Services GroupContract Type: Open Ended

Unposting Date

: 17-03-2025Hours: Full-time

Salary (Pay Basis)

: Pound Sterling (GBP)56,745.00Band UKRI: UKRI-Band F