Service Delivery Manager

Job description

It all started when engineer Fred Luddy wrote code that automated a tedious task for his coworker, Phyllis. She cried tears of joy. That moment inspired Fred to build a company that could do that for everyone—freeing people from busywork so they could focus on meaningful work. Today, ServiceNow is the AI control tower for business reinvention. Our ServiceNow AI platform brings together any AI, any data, and any workflow— helping 85% of the Fortune 500® work smarter, faster, and better. We're building an AI-native culture where technology and talent are unstoppable together. And we're just getting started. Join us to put AI to work for people.   The Service Delivery Manager (SDM) is responsible for overseeing the performance, quality, and operational health of partner-delivered services. Acting as the primary governance point between ServiceNow and delivery partner(s), the SDM ensures partner engagements are delivered in accordance with agreed service levels, quality standards, contractual commitments, and customer outcome expectations. The SDM monitors partner delivery performance, identifies risks, drives corrective actions, manages escalations, and provides ongoing visibility into delivery health for ServiceNow leadership. The role serves as the accountability layer that makes partner performance predictable, scalable, and aligned to ServiceNow standards, regardless of whether the partner is delivering managed services, outsourced operations, subcontracted services, or project-based engagements. Responsibilities • Serve as the primary ServiceNow point of contact for the partner's aligned Delivery Manager(s), maintaining day-to-day oversight of partner service performance against contracted KPIs and SLAs. • Review delivery quality trends, audit findings, and operational metrics to identify systemic issues, root causes, and opportunities for continuous improvement. • Monitor delivery unit economics and cost-per-outcome performance, ensuring the contracted commercial model (unit-based, outcome-based, or hybrid) tracks to delivered value. • Manage the ongoing evolution of the Partner’s service so that new capabilities can be planned and deployed with the appropriate stakeholder alignment, scalable processes and measurable outcomes to drive results • Manage the operational governance cadence, including weekly performance check-ins, monthly reviews, and quarterly business review preparation. • Lead delivery escalations across ServiceNow and partner teams, driving timely issue resolution and ensuring accountability for remediation plans and service recovery activities. • Own tracking and acceptance of transition and mobilization milestones during partner onboarding or service transitions, including staffing ramp against plan, capability/certification readiness, and transition exit criteria. • Own capacity and demand management processes, including utilization tracking, variance planning, and periodic reconciliation against contracted volumes. • Manage the change control process for operational or initiative requests that have contractual implications, engaging Commercial Management as needed. • Flag discrepancies between service delivery status and invoicing or milestone payment triggers to Commercial and Finance stakeholders. • Produce and maintain performance reporting, providing regular updates to internal leadership and ensure effective coverage and handoff models across distributed, multi-shift delivery teams • Identify and implement process improvements in response to changes in tooling, operating model, or service delivery requirements. • Coordinate with Service Delivery Managers in other geographies on initiative design, sequencing, and rollout to ensure global consistency. • Maintain a regular interlock with the Global Partnerships and Channels (GPC)  team and the emerging global partner organization, ensuring partner performance insights, escalations, and capability needs are shared and jointly actioned. • Partner with account teams, customer success teams, and delivery stakeholders to protect customer outcomes and address service delivery risks impacting customer health. • Drive consistency in delivery execution, governance processes, and operational standards across partner-delivered services within the geography. To be successful in this role you have: • Experience in leveraging or critically thinking about how to integrate AI into work processes, decision-making, or problem-solving. This may include using AI-powered tools, automating workflows, analyzing AI-driven insights, or exploring AI's potential impact on the function or industry. • Demonstrated experience in service delivery management, vendor governance, or partner performance management within a complex, matrixed organisation – particularly within India-based organizations. • Experience managing partner, vendor, or supplier performance through structured governance frameworks, scorecards, and business reviews. • Proven ability to manage third-party performance against defined SLAs and KPIs, including escalation and corrective action processes. • Experience managing partners related to Customer Success and Professional Services context • Experience designing and maintaining operational documentation, including playbooks and standard operating procedures. • Strong project and programme management capability, with a track record of delivering cross-functional initiatives to agreed timelines. • Ensure effective coverage and handoff models across distributed, multi-shift delivery teams • Experience monitoring and tracking partner resource ongoing development of skills and certifications in line with service demands • Demonstrated ability to influence and collaborate across functions and leve