IT Support Manager

About the Team

Next's warehouse and distribution operation is simply unrivalled. We provide innovative and robust solutions across all of our warehouses, depots, and distribution network – powering Next’s service offers even further ahead of the competition. Our ‘order by midnight for NEXT day delivery’ promise was a first, and we’re always looking to improve our customer service and warehousing efficiency – from customer order to item picking, packing and despatch and delivery.

 

About the Role 

Lead the warehouse support function, overseeing Team Leads while driving proactive system improvements, cross-departmental collaboration, AI integration, and organisational change. 

The role involves working closely with Operations and Product Development Managers to manage support of the multi-platform systems applications for the business area.

 

Key Responsibilities:

 

• Provide leadership, coaching and direction across the support organisation (including 1st/2nd-line leads, Mainframe and .NET developers) to foster a high-performance culture focused on operational excellence, continuous learning and service delivery.

• Partner closely with Warehouse Operations to resolve operational incidents swiftly and minimise business impact.

• Build and oversee robust site monitoring and telemetry frameworks (utilising Dynatrace or similar) to proactively detect issues and reduce downtime.

• Lead the support response during Major Incidents, overseeing ticket workflows (e.g. ServiceNow) and providing clear status updates to executive stakeholders.

• Drive root-cause analysis on recurring issues, partnering with Dev and Infrastructure teams to implement permanent fixes and eliminate repeat incidents.

• Oversee the change management process for Warehouse Tech, evaluating deployment risks to ensure zero to minimal operational disruption.

• Define, track and report on operational KPIs (e.g. proactive detection ratios, SLAs, MTTR) to drive continuous service improvement.

• Oversee the support project portfolio, ensuring backlog items and improvements are delivered on time.

• Champion team transformation toward proactive operations while identifying and deploying AI tools to improve support efficiency.

• Collaborate with other technology teams across the business to align strategies, integrate systems, and drive continuous service improvements.

• Coordinating with third-party vendors and external technology suppliers during active incidents, driving rapid service restoration and  follow up on RCAs.

 

Criteria

About you:

• Proven track record building and scaling a high-performing support organisation in a fast-paced, complex environment (retail/warehouse experience preferred).

• Demonstrated experience implementing proactive monitoring strategies to successfully reduce downtime in a distribution or manufacturing environment.

• Skilled in managing the complete talent lifecycle - from recruiting and onboarding to career development, performance management and retention.

• Practical experience applying ITIL frameworks using enterprise ITSM platforms (e.g. ServiceNow) and APM/monitoring platforms (e.g. Dynatrace).

• Track record of using operational metrics (MTTR, SLA compliance, callout trends) to drive team performance and eliminate systemic defects.

• Strong ability to build relationships across software development, infrastructure and warehouse operations.

• Calm and decisive under pressure during major outages, with the ability to communicate technical issues clearly to executive stakeholders.

• Solid understanding of the software development lifecycle and client-server architecture, with an enthusiasm for leveraging new technology and AI to optimise workflows.

• Possesses strong expertise in Change Management processes, evaluating/flagging deployment risks, and ensuring stability during system updates.

• A forward-thinking leader who easily adapts to change, motivates the team to achieve broader business goals, and is passionate about leveraging AI to optimise support workflows.

• Proven experience managing and escalating issues with third-party technology suppliers during critical incidents, ensuring rapid service restoration.