Principal Architect (Service Strategy & Service Management)

Serco has made significant contributions at European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, supporting a wide range of space missions and projects. Serco provides essential engineering, technical, and management services, playing a key role in logistics and operational support for missions. Its expertise in spacecraft operations, ground systems, and data processing has earned it recognition, including 'Best in Domain' awards from European Space Agency. Its long-standing partnership with ESA reflects its commitment to excellence and innovation in the space sector, ensuring successful mission outcomes and advancing space exploration.

We are seeking an experienced Principal Architect (Service Strategy & Service Management) to join our service team at ESOC in Darmstadt. You will focus on developing and evolving service strategy, managing the service portfolio and catalogue, analyzing demand and service value, and supporting service cost and business-case assessments. The role will also involve customer and stakeholder engagement, service governance, performance reporting, supplier coordination, and driving continual improvement across the service environment.

This position requires significant experience in IT Service Management, service strategy and governance within complex enterprise or multi-provider environments. You will work closely with customers, ESA stakeholders, service providers and internal teams to translate business needs into effective service models, maintain strong service governance, and provide clear, evidence-based recommendations on service performance, demand, costs and strategic priorities.

Key Responsibilities

• Gather, structure and maintain customer, business and service requirements, ensuring traceability to service strategy and decisions.
• Develop and maintain the Service Strategy, strategic framework, Service Portfolio and Service Catalogue across the service lifecycle.
• Assess service models, strategic options and sourcing approaches, supporting investment, affordability and make/buy decisions.
• Analyse service demand, usage, trends and value, producing forecasts and comparing expected versus actual demand.
• Assess service costs, including one-off, operating, sustaining and lifecycle costs, and support business-case and affordability analysis.
• Lead customer and stakeholder engagement, including requirements sessions, surveys, interviews, service reviews and satisfaction activities.
• Analyse customer feedback, complaints and compliments, translating insights into service strategy and continual improvement.
• Develop and coordinate service communications, including engagement with external creative/visual-identity suppliers and ESA branding stakeholders.
• Define and operate service governance and reporting, including KPIs, management information, reviews, escalations, risks and actions.
• Maintain service-management processes and operational documentation, coordinating applicable ITIL practices.
• Support service-level, continuity, knowledge, change, performance and continual-improvement activities.
• Coordinate formal interfaces and OLAs with other service providers and stakeholders.
• Manage deliverable review, acceptance, release and lifecycle control.
• Produce and coordinate periodic service reporting, KPIs and management information.

Required Skills & Experience

• 10+ years of experience in IT or Service Management, with significant responsibility for service strategy, governance or complex managed services.
• Strong background in IT Service Management / Service Strategy, ideally within complex enterprise or multi-provider environments.
• Proven experience developing Service Strategies, Service Portfolios and Service Catalogues, covering service introduction, transformation and retirement.
• Strong experience translating customer and business needs into service strategies, requirements and actionable plans.
• Practical experience with Demand Management, including usage analysis, forecasting, trends and demand-versus-actual assessment.
• Experience with service cost and business-case analysis, including TCO, operating and lifecycle costs and cost drivers.
• Strong practical knowledge of ITIL / IT Service Management, particularly Risk, Change, Knowledge, Capacity & Performance, Service Level, Service Continuity and Continual Improvement.
• Experience designing and operating service governance, including KPIs, reporting, review cycles, escalations and decision forums.

Required Skills And Experience Continued

• Strong multi-supplier / multi-provider coordination experience, including interfaces, dependencies and OLAs.
• Excellent customer and stakeholder engagement skills, including workshops, service reviews and senior governance meetings.
• Experience managing customer satisfaction and feedback, including surveys, interviews, complaints and improvement initiatives.
• Strong service performance and reporting skills, including KPI definition, trend analysis and service-health assessment.
• Ability to assess strategic service options, balancing costs, demand, risks, operational impact and feasibility.
• Experience coordinating specialist external suppliers, including communications or visual-identity providers.
• Strong technical and strategic writing skills, with the ability to produce clear, concise strategy, governance and decision-support documentation.
• Able to pass ITAR Export Control screening due to operational requirements.

Desirable Skills & Experience

• ITIL 4 Certification.
• Experience with Service Portfolio / Service Catalogue Management, business cases or financial analysis.
• Experience with supplier management.
• Exposure to regulated or critical infrastructure environments, including public sector, aerospace, space or similar complex organisations.

Package Description

• Relocation allowance (flight to Germany, airport transport, one month paid accommodation).
• Hybrid working model for flexibility.
• 30% discount on the Deutschland ticket for easy travel.
• Subsidised Wellpass – access to 12,500+ fitness and wellness options across Germany.
• Pension and health schemes.
• Corporate Benefits discounts
• 30 days of holiday for balance and exploration.