COTS and Business Apps Manager

As a valued employee of the British Council you already help us deliver our mission to support peace and prosperity by building connections understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. For over 90 years we have shaped brighter futures through education arts culture language and creativity.

You are part of our organisation in over 200 countries and territories and where we are on the ground in more than 100 countries.

We connect. We inspire.

British Council Pay band:Grade 8

Location:Noida India
Department:Digital Partnerships and Innovation
Contract type:Indefinite Contract

No of Positions:1

Closing Date:24th May 2025 at 23:59 UK Time.

Interviews will be held in the following weeks.

Salary: Starting at 2080125 (negotiable) with additional benefits to be discussed at later stages of the process.

You must have the legal right to work in India at the time of application; there is no relocation or visa sponsorship support offered.

British Council supports working in new ways such as hybrid working subject to full approval by line management and conditional upon our ability to provide the appropriate level of service. This may not be appropriate for all roles but can be explored at interview.

Role Purpose

As COTS and Business Apps manager you will support the COTS (Commercial Of The Shelf) and Business Apps Manager to deliver the service lifecycle roadmap and the Applications Strategy for the British Council COTS and Business Applications.

Your work will include planning and strategizing the process to achieve efficiency and effectiveness of application packaging and deployment activities. You will ensure that these applications remain up to date and secure while enforcing our policy to reduce the number of multiple applications that deliver the same capability.

In this role you will work with global stakeholders. You will collaborate with the rest of the team to ensure the portfolio of COTS and Business Applications available to the British Council user community provides the functionality required to deliver British Council business.

Role Context

The Digital and Technology Directorate leads the British Councils digital strategy and transformation. It creates and executes technology initiatives to fulfil the organisations mission and corporate priorities.

Key focus areas are:

• Creating digital products that attract and retain customers delivering business value through digital design and delivery expertise.
• Developing and optimising digital platforms that provide seamless customer interactions and use scalable and secure capabilities.
• Enhancing digital capability across the organisation.
• Enabling growth impact and efficiency through technology.

Digital and Technology is a global Directorate organised into four divisions: Product Engineering Operations and Performance which collectively create digital products and services maintain and improve products services and platforms and optimise performance. Areas of responsibility include digital and technology strategy architecture infrastructure software development data innovation and cybersecurity. It ensures that technology initiatives are customer and value focused accessible efficient and secure. The Operations division is accountable for the continuing delivery of secure performant enterprise platforms and applications and the connectivity and modern workplace environment to access those platforms. This is achieved through partnerships with external suppliers and delivery through ITIL based processes. The unit is also responsible for transitioning new products and services into the live environment. It interfaces across the Digital and Technology departments Suppliers and Managed Services.

Main Accountabilities/Responsibilities

Leadership & Management

• Support the Lead COTS and Business Applications in managing thirdparty suppliers to ensure agreed service levels are met and continuously improved.

Strategy & Planning

• Collaborate with the Service Provider to develop and implement a service lifecycle roadmap through engagement with key stakeholders suppliers and industry experts.
• Ensure adherence to policies and standards for managed services ensuring compliance from both the business and thirdparty suppliers.

Relationship & Stakeholder Management

• Serve as the primary point of contact for stakeholder relationships ensuring reliability and effectiveness in service delivery.
• Engage with the Service Provider subject matter experts and stakeholders to identify and implement continuous improvements including addressing underperformance.
• Validate all application requests in alignment with the Applications Strategy Information Security Policy and other relevant policies.

Professional Services & Expertise

• Manage the COTS portfolio ensuring it aligns with the British Councils needs.
• Support British Councildeveloped Line of Business Applications.

Consultancy Analysis & ProblemSolving

• Assist the Service Restoration Team in handling highpriority incidents engaging with the business when needed.
• Collaborate with IS Service teams and British Council stakeholders to assess and manage change impacts on business and procurement activities.
• Provide guidance to the business and D&T teams ensuring compliance with contracts and standards when working with managed service partners

Role Specific Skills

• IT Service Management / ITIL Process delivery
• Supplier Management
• Project management

Role specific knowledge and experience required.

• Experience of Managing Supplier Service Delivery
• Experience of managing COTS and Business Applications services in an outsourced international complex environment

Desirable

• Budget management

Education/ Professional Qualification and Certification

Minimum / Essential

• Degree qualified or equivalent experience.

Desirable

• An advanced degree such as a Masters in Business Administration or Information Technology is advantageous field such as business administration or service management

Professional Qualification and Certification

Minimum / Essential

• Qualification or high level of demonstrable capability with relevant COTS and Business Applications. Microsoft Certified: Azure Virtual Desktop Specialty
• Microsoft 365 Certified: Fundamentals

Desirable

• ITIL V4 Expert
• PRINCE 2 Practitioner
• AgileSHIFT

A connected and trusted UK in a more connected and trusted world.

Equality Diversity and Inclusion Statement

We are committed to equality diversity and inclusion and welcome applications from all sections of the community as we believe that a diverse workforce gives added depth to our work. The British Council is a Disability Confident Employer. The Disability Confident scheme helps challenge attitudes increase understanding of disability and ensure staff are drawn from the widest possible pool of talent. We guarantee an interview for disabled applicants who meet the minimum role requirements. We welcome discussions about specific requirements or adjustments to enable participation and engagement in our work and activities.

Safeguarding Statement

The British Council is committed to safeguarding children young people and adults who we work with. We believe that all children and adults everywhere in the world deserve to live in safe environments and have the right to be protected from all forms of abuse maltreatment and exploitation as set out in article 19 UNCRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) 1989. Appointment to positions where there is direct involvement with vulnerable groups will be dependent on thorough checks being completed in line with legal requirements and with the British Councils Safeguarding policies for Adults and Children.

If you experience any difficulties with submitting your application please email