Manager - IT Service Management

Our client is on a mission to become the most customer-driven telco in the Netherlands, and the continuity, performance, and reliability of their IT services are at the heart of that promise.

As Manager - IT Service Management, you will drive the strategy behind the availability and quality of their business-critical IT applications and systems. You will lead service assurance across both mobile and fixed domains, ensuring seamless digital experiences for customers, whether they are streaming, calling, or connecting.

Imagine this: a high-traffic moment hits, and thousands of users go online simultaneously. Behind the scenes, your smart automation, proactive monitoring, and self-healing systems keep everything running without a hitch. When an alert triggers at 3 AM, your setup resolves it before anyone even notices. The next day, your team dives into root cause analysis to prevent future issues.

You are a unifier. You speak tech fluently, but also understand business urgency and customer impact. Whether you are managing vendor performance, optimising APIs, or aligning KPIs, you ensure everything is connected and working as it should.

This role requires an individual with a solid foundation in IT Service Management, a strong sense of ownership, and a mindset that strikes a balance between operational detail and strategic oversight.

Long-term telecom experience in a managerial IT service environment is essential. Without it, your profile cannot be considered. You must understand the pace, pressure, and resilience required to keep telecom systems operational under all conditions.

Every day brings something new. You will collaborate across departments, lead with empathy, and deliver solutions that empower people, simplify complexity, and uphold the company’s customer promise — today and tomorrow.

Your core responsibilities are:

Strategic ITSM Leadership

• Lead the ITSM function across all ITIL disciplines, including Incident, Problem, Change, Release, and Configuration.

• Oversee service delivery and assurance across OSS, BSS, CRM, Billing, and Network platforms.

• Ensure end-to-end service visibility across both mobile and fixed telecom services.

Cross-Domain Service Assurance

• Manage service assurance across broadband, mobile voice, data, SMS, and core IT platforms.

• Work to reduce recurring faults, restore services efficiently, and improve customer-impacting KPIs.

API Management & Integration Oversight

• Govern the full API lifecycle across IT systems such as CRM, billing, OSS/BSS, provisioning, and digital apps.

• Ensure the uptime, reliability, and security of key APIs used by internal platforms and external partners.

• Collaborate with architecture and development teams to

  • enforce API versioning and documentation standards,

  • monitor performance and latency,

  • resolve downstream service impacts caused by API issues,

  • and contribute to API gateway policies, service discovery, throttling, and integration governance using platforms such as Apigee, Kong, WSO2, or AWS API Gateway.

Business KPI Ownership

• Track and improve KPIs across mobile, fixed, and shared domains.

• Present KPI dashboards to leadership and drive structured action plans for areas underperforming.

Billing & Revenue Assurance Reporting

• Oversee IT performance within billing cycles, mediation, usage rating, and invoice accuracy.

• Work with revenue assurance and finance to identify and eliminate revenue leakage risks.

• Monitor key indicators such as charging failures, data reconciliation gaps, and delayed processing jobs.

Vendor & Partner Management

• Manage vendor SLAs, delivery milestones, and service improvement plans.

• Conduct regular vendor reviews and ensure accountability for performance KPIs.

• Align vendor support with internal IT and business roadmaps.

COO Issue Reduction & Structural Fixes

• Partner with Field Operations, Customer Service, and the COO office to reduce repeat calls, complaints, and unnecessary dispatches.

• Promote automation and process improvements over manual workarounds.

Service Intelligence, Reporting & Automation

• Deliver real-time service health insights, incident trends, and SLA compliance reporting.

• Use ITSM platforms and observability tools to surface actionable insights.

• Implement proactive alerting and auto-remediation using intelligent workflows.

Leadership & People Management

• Lead and develop a team of End-to-End Service Assurance Managers.

• Build a performance-driven team culture with clear accountability and a strong focus on service quality.

• Coach the team on prioritisation, stakeholder alignment, root cause ownership, and executive reporting.

• Ensure collaboration across assurance teams, field operations, NOC, and product teams.

Our client is the newest provider of Mobile, Fibre and TV with over 2000 team members who believe in challenging the status quo of telecommunications. They aspire to make technology accessible to everyone no matter where you are from or where you are going. Their name is a palindrome that highlights this understanding of knowing what your goal is no matter where you begin or end. They strive to ensure everyone participates in the digital world, as the largest telecommunications company in the Netherlands they make digital possible and are also a recognized Top Employer for 2023!

Some things can’t be taught, and our client values traits like empathy, decisiveness, humour, authenticity, and a people-first mindset. You understand when to coach and when to lead. You are growth-minded, challenge-driven, and team-oriented. These qualities are expected at every level of the organisation.

Required Skills & Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s in IT, Telecom, Engineering, or related field.

• 12–15+ years in ITSM or telecom IT operations.

• At least 5 years of leading service management teams.

• Proven success in managing end-to-end service assurance and vendor performance.

• ITIL v3/v4 Expert certified.

• Strong understanding of OSS/BSS, service orchestration, and fault/incident management.

• Familiarity with telecom APIs and systems integration.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with API tools like Apigee, WSO2, Mulesoft, AWS API Gateway.

• Exposure to major telecom stacks like Amdocs, NetCracker, or CSG.

• Certifications: PMP, Six Sigma, ISO 20000, COBIT.

• Background in cloud operations, CI/CD, or Agile/DevOps environments.

• Relocation package.

• Step-by-step assistance with your relocation processes and covered virtual sessions with our relocation experts.

• Visa application and 30% tax ruling application done by Ir Olav’s Globetrotters on your behalf.

• Great South African community waiting for you in the Netherlands.

• Market related salary.

• 8,33% holiday allowance.

• Dutch Government authorized pension plan activated once you arrive in the Netherlands.

• One on one Dutch lessons up until company requirement where your partner can join lessons for free.

• Company laptop.

• Commitment for indefinite contract with our client 

• Mentoring and coaching until you go over to the payroll of our client

• Great on and offline events to meet your fellow Globetrotters and learn about the Netherlands, hosted by Ir Olav's Globetrotters.

• Pleasant working atmosphere, where you can be and stay yourself.

Are you just as excited as us about this role? Great! Then you're sure to be a good match! Applying for a job with us is very easy. Simply complete the application form below and one of our recruiters will be in touch!