Senior Enterprise Service Management (ESM) Lead (m/f/d)

The Senior Enterprise Service Management (ESM) Lead is responsible for defining, governing, optimizing, and continuously improving Enterprise Service Management capabilities across the organization. This role establishes and maintains a standardized service management framework, ensuring consistent delivery of high-quality IT and business services while aligning service operations with organizational strategy, governance requirements, and customer expectations. As the strategic owner of the Enterprise Service Management framework, the ESM Lead drives operational excellence, service quality, process maturity, compliance, automation, and customer experience. The role champions the adoption of service management principles across IT and business functions and serves as a trusted advisor to senior leadership on service performance, governance, and transformation initiatives. Your role in our team Own and continuously evolve the Enterprise Service Management framework across the organization. Define and maintain ESM strategies, policies, standards, governance models, and operating procedures. Align service management capabilities with organizational objectives, business priorities, and digital transformation initiatives. Drive adoption of service management disciplines beyond IT into corporate and business functions. Develop multi-year ESM roadmaps focused on governance, maturity improvements, automation, and business value realization. Act as the enterprise authority for service management best practices and operating models. Service Portfolio and Service Catalog Governance Govern the Enterprise Service Portfolio and Service Catalog. Ensure all services are documented, measurable, and assigned to accountable service owners. Establish standards for service design, service lifecycle management, and service ownership. Ensure services are aligned with business needs and supported by appropriate SLAs, OLAs, and operational controls. Drive continual improvement of service offerings and user experience. Process Ownership and Governance Serve as the process owner and governance lead for core ESM disciplines, including: Incident Management Major Incident Management Request Fulfillment Problem Management Change Enablement Service Level Management Knowledge Management Asset Management Continual Improvement Management Responsibilities include: Establish governance structures, process controls, and compliance mechanisms. Define process standards, procedures, policies, and accountability models. Conduct regular process reviews and governance assessments. Identify process gaps, inefficiencies, and risks. Lead cross-functional improvement initiatives to enhance service performance and business outcomes. KPI, XLA and Service Performance Management Define, implement, and govern Enterprise Service Management KPIs, SLAs, OLAs, XLAs, and operational performance metrics. Develop and maintain executive dashboards and reporting frameworks. Establish standardized performance measurement methodologies across service domains. Monitor service quality, operational efficiency, customer experience, and business outcomes. Analyze performance trends and recommend corrective and preventive actions. Ensure executive stakeholders have meaningful visibility into service performance and risks. Process Maturity and Continuous Improvement Establish a formal process maturity framework for Enterprise Service Management disciplines. Conduct regular maturity assessments and benchmarking exercises. Develop roadmaps to improve process capability, effectiveness, and organizational adoption. Lead Continual Service Improvement (CSI) programs using data-driven methodologies. Facilitate service health reviews, process assessments, and improvement workshops. Promote industry best practices aligned with ITIL, Enterprise Service Management, and emerging service management methodologies. AI, Automation and Digital Transformation Drive adoption of AI-enabled service management capabilities and workflow automation. Promote self-service and shift-left strategies to improve user experience and operational efficiency. Partner with technology teams to identify automation opportunities across service management processes. Evaluate emerging technologies that support predictive analytics, virtual agents, intelligent knowledge management, and operational optimization. Measure automation effectiveness and business value realization. Risk, Compliance and Governance Ensure ESM processes align with internal governance standards, audit requirements, security policies, and regulatory obligations. Identify service management risks and implement mitigation strategies. Monitor process compliance and governance adherence across the organization. Support internal and external audit activities. Establish governance forums and review mechanisms to ensure accountability and transparency. Stakeholder and Business Relationship Management Partner with executive leadership, service owners, process managers, and technology teams. Act as a trusted advisor on service management strategy, governance, and operational excellence. Facilitate cross-functional collaboration to improve end-to-end service delivery. Build strong relationships with business stakeholders to understand evolving service needs. Influence decision-making through data-driven recommendations and performance insights. Tool and Platform Governance Define business requirements, governance standards, and strategic priorities for the Enterprise Service Management platform (e.g., ServiceNow). Ensure service management processes are effectively enabled and measured within supporting tools. Partner with platform owners and development teams to deliver enhancements and automation capabilities. Promote platform standardization, adoption, and data quality. Drive CMDB, service mapping, and reporting governance initiatives. Reporting and Executive Communication Lead regular service reviews and executive performance discussions. Present KPI, SLA, XLA, compliance, risk, and maturity results to senior leadership. Provide strategic recommendations based on service performance and operational insights. Communicate transformation progress, improvement initiatives, and governance outcomes. Deliver executive-level reporting that links service performance to business value. Your profile Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Engineering, Business Administration, or a related discipline. 8+ years of experience in IT Service Management or Enterprise Service Management. 5+ years of experience in process ownership, governance, service management leadership, or transformation roles. Deep knowledge of ITIL 4 and Enterprise Service Management best practices. Experience with ServiceNow or comparable Enterprise Service Management platforms. Proven experience defining KPIs, XLAs, dashboards, governance frameworks, and performance reporting. Strong analytical, strategic thinking, and problem-solving capabilities. Demonstrated experience leading enterprise-wide process transformation initiatives. Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and influencing skills. Experience working in global and multi-regional service organizations. Success Measures Achievement of enterprise KPI, SLA, and XLA targets. Increased ESM process maturity year-over-year. Improved customer and employee experience scores. Increased adoption of Enterprise Service Management practices across busines