IT Specialist - Problem Management

Location/s: Newcastle, UK
Recruiter contact: Laura Kennedy

Mott MacDonald is a global engineering, management, and development consultancy with over 20,000 employees across more than 50 countries and 140+ offices.

We work across incredible global industries, delivering exciting work that is defining our future and making an important societal impact in the communities we serve. Our people power our performance – we succeed when they do. With countless opportunities to collaborate, learn, and grow, the possibilities for excellence are as varied as every individual.

Whether you want to grow as a subject matter expert or broaden your experience with roles across our international community, you’re surrounded by global specialists who want to combine their expertise and champion you to be your best. As a proudly employee-owned business, we benefit our clients, our communities, and each other, investing in creating the right space for everyone to feel empowered, included, and valued. Whatever your ambition, Mott MacDonald is where people come to be brilliant.

About the business unit
Mott MacDonald’s support services are the driving force behind our organisation enabling us to run efficiently and effectively. The team works collaboratively to offer specialist advice, best practice and technology to all areas of our business specifically designed for our global reach.

Overview of the role

The IT Problem Specialist works collaboratively with a global team to drive strategic initiatives aimed at enhancing problem management processes. This role focuses on delivering long-term solutions and continuous improvement to ensure the stability and reliability of IT services.

This strategic role will oversee the entire lifecycle of the problem management process. This includes spearheading initiatives to mature the process, ensuring adherence to best practices, and identifying trends and patterns to implement proactive measures.

The Specialist drives continuous improvement by fostering team collaboration, delivering ongoing training, and governing compliance with problem reviews. Responsible for the end-to-end delivery of continuous improvement initiatives, ensuring they are implemented effectively from concept to completion.

The primary objective is to strategically minimise the impact of incidents, prevent future occurrences, and enhance overall system stability by prioritising problems based on their business value. The focus is on achieving measurable outcomes that enhance IT service delivery and improve the customer experience.

Key duties and responsibilities include:

• Develop and implement a strategic problem management framework to identify, analyse, and resolve recurring IT issues in collaboration with the IT Group, ensuring minimal disruption to business operations.
• Develop and own meaningful problem management dashboards in ServiceNow's Performance Analytics.
• Maintain a strategic overview of the problem queue, ensuring timely updates and adherence to the problem management process, with a continuous focus on efficient delivery and resolution.
• Manage regular problem review calls with IT service owners, ensuring thorough analysis and resolution of issues.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives by analysing problem trends and performance metrics, and by formulating and implementing initiatives to enhance IT processes and systems.
• Maintain a comprehensive knowledge base of known errors and workarounds, ensuring that IT teams have access to up-to-date information for problem resolution.
• Provide training and support to the IT group to ensure team alignment with problem management processes and best practices.
• Proactively identify and assess potential risks associated with IT problems, developing mitigation strategies to minimise impact on business operations.
• Continuously seek opportunities to enhance the problem management process within the ITSM tool ServiceNow, including supporting the problem process during ServiceNow upgrades.
• Maintain and own all process documentation, ensuring it is kept up to date and accurately reflects current practices.
• Develop and present regular reports on problem management activities, including key performance indicators (KPIs) and trends, to senior management.
• Promote process excellence by researching industry best practices and exploring new functionalities within ServiceNow to improve, automate, and optimise processes.

Candidate Specification

Essential:

• Extensive experience in IT Service Management or an IT process-oriented role.
• Extensive hands-on experience with ServiceNow, including Problem, Change, and Knowledge Management, as well as creating and maintaining problem records, workflows, and related tasks.
• Strong understanding of ITIL best practices.
• Hands-on experience with ServiceNow Performance Analytics.
• Proven ability to create systematic and professional documentation, including processes and work instructions.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Experience in managing and leading continuous improvement initiatives.
• Ability to identify and mitigate potential risks associated with IT problems.
• Experience in developing and delivering training.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams.
• Excellent working knowledge of information technology and its application to business operations.

Desirable:

• Experience with agile methodologies.
• Proficient in ITIL Processes.
• Experience of working in a global organisation.
• ITIL V4 qualified.

Personal Attributes:

• Highly self-motivated and directed.
• Confident presentation and facilitation skills, with strong interpersonal and leadership abilities to engage with senior management and stakeholders at all levels.
• Ability to balance demands and priorities and think clearly under pressure.
• Good analytical skills and attention to detail to identify discrepancies and drive them to closure.
• Passion for the possibilities of technology and staying abreast of advances in technology and industry best practices.

UK Immigration

Mott MacDonald Ltd. are not currently offering sponsorship to candidates under the Skilled Worker visa route in the UK. This decision is as a consequence of the changes made to the Skilled Worker route by the UK Government in April 2024. We continue to welcome applications from candidates who are eligible for alternative immigration routes in the UK, that do not require sponsorship as a Skilled Worker now or in future.

Equality, diversity, and inclusion

We put equality, diversity, and inclusion at the heart of our business, seeking to promote fair employment procedures and practices to ensure equal opportunities for all. We encourage individual expression in our workplace and are committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels they can contribute.

Accessibility

We want you to perform your best at every stage in the recruitment process. If you are disabled or need any support to enable you to apply or attend an interview, please contact us at reasonable.adjustments@mottmac.com and we will talk to you about how we can support you.

Agile working

We are happy to talk openly about flexible working and how we can support your responsibilities beyond the workplace.

We offer some fantastic benefits including:

Health and wellbeing

• Private medical insurance for all UK colleagues.
• Health cash plan to support you with every day health costs and treatments.
• Access to Peppy, providing free support from menopause experts for all UK colleagues.
• A variety of wellbeing support is available through our comprehensive wellbeing program, including access for you and your family.
• Ability to flex your salary to opt into a wide range of health benefits, many of which can be extended to your family too.

Financial wellbeing

• We match employee pension contributions between 4.5% and 7%.
• Life assurance equal up to 4 x your basic salary, with an option to increase the level of cover to 6 x your salary.
• Our income protection scheme provides a financial benefit, as well as absence and return to work support due to long-term illness or injury.
• Flexible benefits, including increased life assurance cover, critical illness insurance, payroll saving and will writing.
• As an independently owned business we share the financial success of the business with all our colleagues in various ways including annual bonus schemes.

Lifestyle

• A minimum of 33-35 days holiday each year, inclusive of public holidays and dependent on level, with the ability to buy or sell leave through our flexible benefits programme.
• Holiday entitlement increased to a minimum of 35 days after 5 years’ service.
• Variety of employee saving schemes and discounts from high-street retailers.

Enhanced family and carers leave

• Enhanced family leave policies, including 26 weeks paid maternity and adoption leave, and two weeks paid paternity/partner leave.
• Our shared parental leave matches maternity leave meaning we pay up to 24 weeks at full pay.
• Up to five additional days leave are provided for those with significant caring responsibilities, two of which are paid.

Learning and development

• Primary annual professional institution subscription.
• A broad range of opportunities to enhance both technical and soft skills through mentoring, formal training, and self-development options.

Networks, communities, and social outcomes

• Join a wide range of groups including our Advanced Employee Networks which support our LGBTQ+, gender, race and ethnicity, disability, and parents/carers communities.
• Make a difference within our communities through our social outcomes.

Apply now, or for more information about our application process, click here.