Applications Service Lead (Specialty Insurance)

Type: Permanent Salary: £75,000 Location: London (Hybrid, 3 days onsite)

We are seeking an experienced Applications Service Lead or Service Owner with a background in specialty insurance or the London Market to take ownership of service delivery for a suite of core underwriting and claims platforms. This is a role for someone who can coordinate across vendors, product owners, and technical leads to ensure stability and smooth BAU support for business-critical systems.

The Opportunity You will oversee applications such as Eclipse, Sequel Claims and Guidewire. Your focus will be on ensuring these systems remain stable, incidents are resolved quickly, and releases are delivered seamlessly. This is not a hands-on technical role, but one that requires strong service management, vendor coordination, and insurance domain expertise, ideally within the London Market or Lloyds of London.

You'll work closely with Engineering Delivery Leads (EDLs), Product Owners, and offshore managed service providers. The role sits within a product-centric model, meaning you'll align service management directly to application "products" rather than generic IT functions.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage BAU support for core underwriting, claims, and document management applications.
• Act as the bridge between offshore vendors, Product Owners, and EDLs.
• Oversee high-priority incidents (P1/P2) and ensure timely resolution.
• Track defects, sprints, and releases using Azure DevOps.
• Apply ITIL-aligned service management practices via ServiceNow.
• Provide oversight and coordination of vendor performance, service quality, and escalations.
• Maintain knowledge base and manage risk/vulnerability exceptions.

What We're Looking For

• Strong background in specialty insurance IT service management (essential).
• Experience supporting claims, policy administration, or underwriting applications.
• Proven vendor management skills, ideally with offshore MSPs.
• Familiarity with Agile/DevOps ways of working, including Azure DevOps.
• ITIL knowledge and ServiceNow experience.
• Ability to coordinate delivery and support without direct line management responsibility.

What Will Make You Stand Out

• Demonstrated success in managing application service delivery in the London Market.
• Examples of bridging between vendors, product leads, and delivery teams.
• Experience ensuring BAU stability while supporting product-centric transformation.

Why Apply? This is a unique opportunity to work at the centre of a product-centric transformation, ensuring the smooth running of core systems that underpin specialty insurance. You'll gain exposure to a wide range of applications, work closely with product and engineering leads, and play a key role in ensuring stability and delivery in a global environment.