Sr. IT Service Operations Manager

Sr. IT Service Operations Manager

Batteries are our Business. People are our Power.

At Clarios, we are producing the world’s best batteries, essential for the evolving future of transportation. Our advanced, low-voltage batterie technologies and smart solutions power nearly every type of vehicle. 1 in 3 vehicles powered by a Clarios Battery worldwide. We are home to strong brands like VARTA® and OPTIMA® and we are driven by a common goal to create cutting-edge technology in a sustainable manner. Ready to power up your career? Then explore the possibilities with us and become a valued member of our team!

As Senior IT Service Operations Manager (m/f/d) you will lead IT Service Operations across EMEA with a clear mandate: restore execution discipline, strengthen manager effectiveness, and improve employee engagement while maintaining operational stability.

This role goes beyond traditional IT Service Management. It requires a leader who ensures that commitments are delivered, teams are supported consistently, and operational excellence translates into a strong employee experience.

You will act as the bridge between global IT strategy and regional execution, ensuring that services are reliable, scalable, and continuously improving - while rebuilding trust and accountability within the organization.

Location
This position can be based at any of our major EMEA locations, including:

• Hannover, Germany (EMEA Headquarters)

• Česká Lípa, Czech Republic

• Bratislava, Slovakia

Applicants should be willing to travel regularly within the EMEA region as required.

What you will do

Execution & Operational Discipline (Primary Accountability)

• Drive execution discipline across EMEA IT Operations, ensuring commitments, improvement actions, and initiatives are clearly defined, tracked, reviewed, and closed on time.

• Establish regional follow-up and accountability routines, proactively escalating and resolving delivery gaps.

Leadership & Manager Effectiveness

• Lead and develop managers and service professionals across EMEA, driving consistent expectations, feedback, follow-through, and team engagement.

• Implement structured leadership routines, including bi-weekly 1:1s, performance feedback cycles, and team execution reviews.

• Coach managers to improve support, clarity, and team engagement

Data-Driven Operations & Transparency

• Build and use dashboards to track service performance, workload, capacity, execution progress, and operational risks.

• Provide stakeholders with clear visibility on priorities and performance, using data to drive decisions and improvements.

Service Operations Excellence

• Ensure stable, high-performing IT services across EMEA, covering end-user services, field support, and incident/escalation management.

• Drive continuous improvement in service reliability, first-contact resolution, and recurring issue reduction while maintaining alignment with global IT standards.

Employee Experience & Engagement

• Improve employee experience through consistent delivery, support, and regional engagement action planning based on survey results.

• Communicate progress, ensure visible improvements, and strengthen manager support, feedback quality, and priority clarity.

Recognition, Development & Sustainable Performance

• Drive recognition and development practices that reward contributions, clarify growth opportunities, and support retention.

• Partner with HR on career development planning while actively addressing disengagement, attrition, workload, stress, and wellbeing risks.

• Implement targeted actions to create a sustainable, productive, and engaging work environment.

Stakeholder & Global Collaboration

• Act as the regional execution lead within global IT, collaborating with global service owners, Service Delivery Managers, and infrastructure, application, and security teams.

• Ensure EMEA requirements are represented and global standards are effectively implemented.

Supplier & Service Performance

• Monitor regional supplier performance, service quality, escalations, and SLA delivery.

• Provide operational input to Service Delivery Managers to support supplier governance.

Regional Readiness & Change Execution

• Ensure operational readiness for M&A activities, new site onboarding, technology rollouts, and organizational changes.

• Coordinate cross-team execution to enable smooth, timely delivery.

What makes you a good fit

Experience

• 8+ years in IT Service Operations / ITSM / Infrastructure or End-User Services

• Proven experience leading managers and distributed teams

• Demonstrated success in driving execution, accountability, and operational discipline

• Experience working in a global matrix organization

• Background in manufacturing or multi-site environments is a plus

Critical Capabilities

• Strong execution mindset with ability to turn plans into delivered outcomes

• Proven ability to enforce follow-through and accountability

• Experience improving manager effectiveness and team performance

• Ability to stabilize and improve low-engagement environments

• Data-driven decision-making with focus on action and outcomes

• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills (Fluent English skills are a prerequisite)

Leadership Expectations

• Leads by example with high personal accountability

• Drives consistency between words and actions

• Creates clarity and structure in complex environments

• Builds trust through visible delivery, not just communication

What we offer you

Input matters just as much as the output. As the world’s largest creator and manufacturer of low-voltage batterie technologies, we know that better than anyone. It all starts with our people. At Clarios, your passion, ingenuity and grit are celebrated. Here, you can get out what you put in. Our benefits philosophy reflects our commitment to care for our employees and rewarding their dedication, expertise and commitment.

• International future-oriented environment with strong commitment to integrity, values, social engagement, and sustainability

• Hybrid model of working

• Learning Academy, LinkedIn Learning and EMEA Mentoring Program

• Other benefits may vary by final work location and will be specified during the first call with a Clarios representative

Why This Role Matters

This is a high-impact transformation role with a clear mandate: to strengthen execution, rebuild trust, and shape the future of IT Operations across EMEA.

The Service Operations Manager will be instrumental in driving operational discipline, improving leadership effectiveness, increasing employee engagement, and enabling reliable, scalable IT services across the region.

Why Join

You will have the opportunity to make a visible impact in a global IT environment - shaping how IT Operations is delivered across EMEA while combining operational excellence with strong people leadership.

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About Clarios

Clarios is the global leader in advanced, low-voltage battery technologies for mobility. Our batteries and smart solutions power nearly every type of vehicle and are found in 1 of 3 cars on the road today. With around 18,000 employees in over 100 countries, we bring deep expertise to our Aftermarket and OEM partners, and reliability, safety and comfort to everyday lives. We answer to the planet with a rigorous sustainability focus - advancing best-in-class sustainability practices and advocating for them across our industry. We work to ensure 100% of our products sold are recyclable, and we recycle 8,000 batteries an hour in our network. You can find more information here (PDF).

To All Recruitment Agencies: Clarios does not accept unsolicited agency resumes/CVs. Please do not forward resumes/CVs to our careers email addresses, Clarios employees or any other company location. Clarios is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes/CVs.