Director, Service Management

Vizient•Chicago, IL

4d•$117,600 - $206,000•Hybrid

About The Position

In this role, you will lead the enterprise-wide strategy and execution for Change Control, Critical Incident Management, and Release Management. You will drive operational excellence through process standardization, governance, and alignment with ITIL best practices while partnering with IT leadership, Security, Application Owners, and Platform Teams to build scalable, auditable, and secure operational frameworks that foster proactive risk management and continuous improvement.

Requirements

7 or more years of relevant experience required.
5 or more years of experience leading service management and functional/technical teams in a management or director-level role within a complex enterprise environment required.
Deep knowledge of ITIL frameworks, IT Service Management principles, enterprise service operations, and process governance practices required.
Strong strategic thinking, analytical, organizational leadership, process design, and problem-solving skills with the ability to make decisions in high-pressure situations.
Excellent written, verbal, executive communication, stakeholder management, and crisis management skills.
Ability to lead with empathy, build consensus, influence senior leadership, and drive accountability, operational resilience, and organizational change across teams.

Nice To Haves

Relevant degree preferred.
Proven experience designing and operating CAB processes, leading critical incident command centers, and managing enterprise release operations highly preferred.
Experience selecting, implementing, and optimizing ITSM platforms, automation tools, and operational reporting frameworks.
Familiarity with Active Directory, hybrid cloud environments, CI/CD pipelines, modern infrastructure, cybersecurity practices, and regulatory or audit requirements related to IT operations highly preferred.

Responsibilities

Develop and drive the enterprise vision, strategy, governance, and operational objectives for change, incident, and release management aligned to business and technology goals.
Partner with senior leadership, Security, Compliance, Risk, and Platform teams to align operational practices with enterprise architecture, governance standards, regulatory requirements, and strategic priorities.
Lead standardization, adoption, governance, and continuous improvement of enterprise change, incident, and release management processes in alignment with ITIL best practices.
Establish and chair the Change Advisory Board (CAB), ensuring rigorous review, risk assessment, accountability, and governance for enterprise technology changes.
Define, monitor, and report on KPIs related to change success rates, incident response effectiveness, release quality, operational resilience, and process maturity.
Oversee separation of change and release functions while ensuring secure, compliant, and efficient delivery practices across hybrid cloud and enterprise technical environments.
Facilitate executive-level communication during critical incidents, including status updates, mitigation strategies, root cause analysis, post-incident reporting, and operational readiness activities.
Coordinate cross-functional release planning, operational readiness, and implementation activities to support successful enterprise technology deployments and service continuity.
Develop and maintain operational policies, standards, dashboards, documentation, and reporting frameworks supporting enterprise IT governance, audit, and compliance objectives.
Recruit, mentor, and lead high-performing teams while driving service excellence, operational discipline, automation initiatives, continuous improvement, and strong collaboration with clients, vendors, and internal stakeholders.