Senior Data, Digital and Technology Manager

Citizens Advice SORT Group is a growing and ambitious organisation determined to deliver the highest quality services to the communities we serve. We are leading providers of information, advice and casework services and support tens of thousands of clients every year.
Join our Innovation Team!
We're looking for an experienced IT Manager to lead the service that keeps our advice running. Every day, thousands of people turn to us at a point of crisis. When our systems work, our advisers can help them. 
That is what this role is here to protect.
This full-time role, working 35 hours per week

• 38,707 rising to £41,116 per annum

This is a fantastic opportunity for someone to lead a small, capable team and grow a service that reaches well beyond our own four Boroughs. So, if you're looking for a new challenge and want the opportunity to help cultivate an innovative and client-focused culture, we want to hear from you.
About the Role
As Data, Digital and Innovation Manager you will run the group's IT support function and lead a team of three Data, Digital and Support Officers. Your job is to keep our advice services running without disruption, to keep our systems and our clients' data secure, and to make IT something colleagues find genuinely easy to work with. 
Your work will span:

• Keeping the lights on: owning IT service delivery and continuity across four Boroughs, planning changes around advice delivery, and responding quickly when something breaks.
• Cyber security: enforcing our security standards and leading the work that keeps us certified to Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus, year after year.
• Leading the help desk: managing and developing three officers, setting service standards, and using what the ticket queue tells you to cut repeat demand.
• Training and projects: contributing to IT training for staff and volunteers, and project managing IT work that falls within your remit.
• Supporting the wider network: acting as the key point of contact for the other local Citizens Advice offices we support, and helping grow that side of the organisation.

That last part matters. We already provide IT support to other local Citizens Advice under service level agreements, and we want to do more of it. You will be central to building an IT support function that serves not just SORT but the wider Citizens Advice network, which means shaping an offer that is sustainable, well documented and capable of scaling.
We value diversity, promote equality and challenge discrimination. We encourage and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds. We particularly welcome applications from people with disabilities and people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups, as they are currently under-represented in our workforce.
Other organisations may call this role IT Services Manager, Infrastructure & Support Manager, Head of IT, ICT Manager or Technical Services Manager.
Closing Date 12th October
Key elements & tasks
IT service delivery and continuity

• Take day to day responsibility for the group's IT service, making sure colleagues across Stockport, Oldham, Rochdale and Trafford have the systems, hardware and access they need to advise clients.
• Keep advice services running.
• Plan and schedule maintenance, updates and changes around service delivery so that client-facing work is not interrupted, and act quickly when something does go wrong.
• Own the incident and problem process, including escalation, communication to affected teams and root cause analysis, so that the same issue does not keep recurring.
• Maintain business continuity and disaster recovery arrangements for IT, and test them so we know they work before we need them.
• Manage relationships with suppliers, contracts, licences and renewals, making sure we get value for money from every pound we spend.
• Maintain an accurate asset register and keep hardware refreshed, secure and fit for the way our teams actually work.

Cyber security and compliance

• Make sure cyber security standards are understood, applied and enforced across the group, and challenge practice that puts client data or services at risk.
• Lead the group's Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus certification, including annual recertification, evidence gathering, remediation and working with the assessor.
• Keep the technical controls that underpin certification in good order, including patching, access control, device configuration, malware protection and firewalls.
• Work with colleagues responsible for data protection and information governance to make sure our IT practice supports GDPR compliance and the Citizens Advice membership requirements.
• Deliver and contribute to cyber awareness training so that colleagues and volunteers can recognise and report threats such as phishing.
• Monitor and report on security posture, risks and incidents, and escalate appropriately.

Leading the team and the help desk

• Line manage three Data, Digital and Support Officers, with responsibility for supervision, appraisal, wellbeing, workload and development.
• Run an effective help desk, setting response and resolution standards, managing the ticket queue and making sure colleagues get a timely and helpful answer.
• Use help desk data to spot patterns, reduce repeat demand and target training or system changes where they will make the most difference.
• Build a culture of good customer service within the team, where colleagues across the group find IT approachable and easy to work with.
• Create a positive working environment in which equality and diversity are well managed, dignity at work is upheld and staff can do their best.

Supporting other local Citizens Advice

• Act as the main point of contact for the other local Citizens Advice offices that SORT supports, building trusted relationships with their leadership and staff.
• Make sure support delivered to partner offices meets the agreed service levels, and that scope, expectations and charges are clear on both sides.
• Work with the Director of Innovation to grow this side of the organisation, including scoping new partnerships, shaping the offer and supporting pricing and proposals.
• Develop the IT support function so that it can serve more offices sustainably, including documentation, standard builds, tooling and ways of working that scale beyond SORT.S
• hare good practice with the wider Citizens Advice network and represent SORT in relevant network forums and groups.

Training, projects and improvement

• Contribute to IT training for staff and volunteers, including induction, new systems and refreshers, and produce clear guidance that people will actually use.
• Provide project management for IT projects within your remit, from scoping and planning through to delivery, handover and benefits.
• Work alongside the Data, Digital and Innovation function so that IT service, data and new product development pull in the same direction.
• Contribute to a digital, data and innovation strategy that drives forward continuous improvement and delivers value for money services.
• Work with your line manager to develop an annual learning and development plan which meets your development needs and the needs of the organisation.
• Take an active role in the preparation of regular meetings, taking a lead on your own development.

• Essential skills and experience:
  • Demonstrable experience of managing or leading an IT support or service desk function in an organisation of comparable size and spread.
  • Experience of line managing or supervising staff, including supervision, development and performance.
  • Strong working knowledge of the technologies that underpin a modern hybrid workplace, including Microsoft 365, identity and access management, endpoint management, networking and telephony.
  • Practical understanding of cyber security controls and standards, and how to apply and enforce them across an organisation.
  • Experience of achieving or maintaining a recognised security standard such as Cyber Essentials, Cyber Essentials Plus, ISO 27001 or equivalent.
  • A track record of keeping services running, including incident management, planned maintenance and business continuity.
  • Ability to explain technical matters clearly to colleagues who are not technical, and to write guidance and training material people can follow.
  • Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to build trust with colleagues, partner organisations and suppliers.
  • Ability to plan and manage projects to time and budget, and to juggle competing priorities without losing sight of day to day service.
  • Ability to use a variety of IT and digital systems and packages, and to learn new ones quickly.
• Desirable skills and experience:
  • Experience of working in the charity, advice or wider third sector, or in another public service setting.
  • Experience of delivering IT support to external clients or partner organisations under a service level agreement.
  • Experience of contract, licence and supplier management, and of building or pricing a service offer.
  • A relevant qualification such as ITIL, CompTIA, Microsoft certification, PRINCE2 or Agile project management.
  • Experience of data protection and information governance in an environment handling sensitive personal data.
  • Awareness of how AI and automation are being applied to service delivery and IT support.

• 30 days' annual leave plus bank holiday (progressing to 35 days after 5 years)
• 3% employer pension contributionEmployee assistance scheme
• Salary sacrifice scheme
• Perks and savings scheme
• Mental health and wider wellbeing support
• Learning, development and growth opportunities