Head of Service Management Woolworths Group India is partnering exclusively with Zinnov Group to recruit for this position.

About the role
The Head of Service Management provides the single, unified strategic vision for all IT Service Management (ITSM) practices at Woolworths Group. This leadership role is directly accountable for an integrated service management framework that delivers stable, resilient, and high-performing technology services to the business. The role directs the end-to-end strategy across three core portfolios: Service Transition, Service Resilience, and Service Foundation & Governance. By embedding a "Run, Grow, Govern" operating model, the Head of Service Management ensures that the organisation balances operational velocity with rigorous corporate standards. Crucially, while day-to-day operational execution sits within specialised technical engineering teams, this role focuses heavily on developing and defining the requirements to automate processes and embed AI/AIOps capabilities wherever possible. This role acts as the primary driver of process modernisation, defining the operational guardrails and automation demands that central engineering teams build against, turning traditional ITSM practices into a future-focused, automated function. What you’ll experience
• We champion modern, sustainable ways of working, featuring structured hybrid working models, flexible hours, and family-friendly policies designed to support work-life harmony.
• We are committed to fostering an inclusive, equitable environment where diverse perspectives are celebrated, psychological safety is actively cultivated, and every voice is heard.
• Access senior executive sponsorship, continuous leadership coaching, and clear pathways for ongoing professional advancement.
• Enjoy competitive performance bonuses, 20 days annual leave, comprehensive healthcare coverage for you and your dependants.

Key Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership & Portfolio Direction
• AI & Automation Requirements Vision: Co-create and guide the strategic roadmap for core Service Management portfolios, focusing on identifying, developing, and mapping out the precise requirements to embed AI and automation across the ecosystem in the context of IT Service Management practices.
• Unified Framework Authority: Act as the ultimate owner of the Service Management Portfolio Framework, ensuring all practices, policies, and tools across the three portfolios align with the "Run, Grow, and Govern" strategic model.
• Executive Partnership: Serve as the trusted advisor to Woolworths Technology Senior Leadership on service performance, operational risk, and the strategic application of AIOps, aligning service management outcomes with overarching business objectives.
• High-Performance Culture: Foster an inclusive, high-trust environment for Portfolio Managers and Process Specialists. Empowering the team to innovate, uphold operational excellence, and continuously learn and improve together. Portfolio Governance & Performance
• Holistic Accountability: Accountable for the performance, governance, and organisational outcomes of the three core service portfolios:
• Service Transition: Facilitate the protected, efficient,



and rapid flow of changes and releases into the production environment via a hybrid model of automated pipeline gating and manual operational controls. Govern the structural integrity and lifecycle rules for the Service Catalog and Request fulfillment workflows to ensure frictionless delivery.
• Service Resilience: Champion enterprise service stability across Incident, Problem, Event, Availability, and Service Continuity practices. Establish constructive incident restoration guardrails, blameless root-cause reviews, and proactive readiness frameworks.
• Service Foundation & Governance: Maintain corporate data and governance compliance frameworks across Asset, Configuration, Capacity, Knowledge, and Service Level Management. Guarantee a trusted, automated "single source of truth" for technology assets, CMDB dependencies, capacity baselines, enterprise knowledge lifecycles, and service level commitment frameworks.
• Performance & KPI Management: Own the function’s KPIs, measuring success through a blend of traditional metrics (SLA compliance, change success, data health) and automation adoption indicators (Automation Demand Rates, Toil Reduction).
• Risk & Assurance: Govern the identification and mitigation of systemic risks related to service stability, data integrity, license exposure, and process compliance, reporting key exposures to executive forums. AI & Automation Requirement Development
• Automation Demand & Profiling: Identify high-impact opportunities across core practices to embed AI, machine learning, and algorithmic controls, documenting precise requirements for external engineering platforms.
• Engineering & Platform Partnership: Act as the primary interface to central technology automation and platform engineering hubs, ensuring service management requirements are accurately prioritised, translated, and built into agentic workflows and automated playbooks.
• Horizon Scanning: Monitor emerging technologies (GenAI, AIOps, Agentic AI) from a functional standpoint to assess how they can be practically written into process requirements to optimise the service delivery ecosystem. Talent & Capability Development
• Future-Ready Workforce: Lead the talent strategy for the function, nurturing a workforce of Portfolio Managers and Process Specialists who excel at data analysis, process auditing, and translating complex operational bottlenecks into automation and AI requirements.
• Mentorship & Thought Leadership: Provide mentorship and thought leadership to the team, empowering them to become industry leaders in modern, requirements-driven service governance frameworks. Capabilities Demonstrated capabilities in the following:
• Executive ITSM Leadership: Proven ability to lead a broad and complex Service Management function, managing a team of senior managers and technical experts in a large-scale enterprise.
• Requirements & Automation Vision:



Strong strategic understanding of how to define, translate, and prioritise business requirements for AIOps, machine learning, and automation to drive operational efficiency.
• Strategic Influence & Partnership: Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence core platform engineering hubs, senior executives, and technical leaders on the value of automation requirements.
• Modern Framework Expertise: Expert knowledge of modern service management frameworks, including ITIL 4, and how to adapt them for Agile, DevOps, Governance, and SRE operating models.
• Technical & Platform Acumen: Deep conceptual understanding of enterprise service management platforms (e.g., ServiceNow) and how they ingest automated requirements to interface with observability toolchains. Career Experience
• Significant experience (typically 18+ years) in ITSM and technology governance and substantial engineering leadership background within large, complex enterprises.
• Automation Roadmap Delivery: Proven track record of developing functional roadmaps, translating process friction into successful automation and AI implementation requirements.
• Audit & Compliance: Extensive experience managing compliance audits, data frameworks, and risk profiles for a large technology estate.
• Strategic Stakeholder Management: Proven track record of navigating complex stakeholder environments and delivering value-driven service outcomes across ExCo, technical engineering hubs, and finance boundaries.

Location:
Corporate Edge, Level 10, M3, Block Acacia, Embassy Manyata Business Park, Nagavara Everyone belongs at Woolworths Group Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are key to realising our purpose of better together for a better tomorrow. We recognise the value our team’s diversity brings to our business, customers, and communities and that teams with diverse experiences and backgrounds enrich our group and are better able to innovate and solve problems. As one of the largest employers in Australia and New Zealand, we aim to create a truly inclusive workplace where everyone feels that they belong, can be their best selves, and reach their full potential. We encourage all candidates to apply; please let us know in your application if we can support you with any adjustments in the hiring process. About Woolworths Woolworths Group is one of Australia's largest retailers, serving millions of customers across supermarkets, digital channels, supply chain operations, and related businesses. Through a strong focus on innovation, analytics, and technology, Woolworths continues to transform the retail experience and deliver better outcomes for customers, partners, and communities. As a data-driven organization, Woolworths invests heavily in advanced analytics, business intelligence, and digital capabilities to support strategic decision-making and operational excellence. Joining Woolworths means working in a collaborative environment where insights and innovation directly influence business success. At Woolworths, you will have the opportunity to work on large-scale retail and digital transformation initiatives, leveraging data to enhance customer experiences, optimize operations, and influence key business decisions.

📌 Head of Service Management (Bengaluru)
🏢 Woolworths Group
📍 Bengaluru