ITSM Automation & Optimization Leader (ITIL Expert)

About Northern Trust:

Northern Trust, a Fortune 500 company, is a globally recognized, award-winning financial institution that has been in continuous operation since 1889.

Northern Trust is proud to provide innovative financial services and guidance to the world’s most successful individuals, families, and institutions by remaining true to our enduring principles of service, expertise, and integrity. With more than 130 years of financial experience and over 22,000 partners, we serve the world’s most sophisticated clients using leading technology and exceptional service.

Title: ITSM Automation & Optimization Leader (ITIL Expert)

Northern Trust is seeking a senior ITSM leader and ITIL expert to lead the automation, optimization, and maturation of IT Service Management processes. This role is accountable for transforming how IT services are governed, executed, and continuously improved—shifting from manual, compliance-heavy processes to automated, data-driven, and resilient ITSM operations.

This is a highly visible leadership role balancing “run-the-bank” stability with “change-the-bank” transformation, requiring strong ITIL judgment, deep automation acumen, and the ability to influence across global technology teams.

What You’ll Do:

ITSM Process Leadership & Optimization:

• Interface with senior executives across the organization to drive strategic outcomes and day-to-day service delivery priorities to deliver operational excellence and enable risk reduction.

• Serve as the enterprise authority on ITIL-based processes and capabilities, ensuring processes are fit-for-purpose, scalable, and aligned to business risk.

• Lead continuous optimization of ITSM processes, reducing friction, manual effort, and cycle time while improving quality and compliance.

• Define and enforce clear process guardrails, decision frameworks, and risk-based controls across global teams.

Automation & Intelligent Enablement:

• Drive an automation-first strategy for ITSM practices, leveraging AI, orchestration, and workflow automation to:

• Reduce human dependency and error

• Increase standardization and predictability

• Enable safe, fast, and repeatable change execution

• Partner with engineering, platform, and tooling teams to embed automation directly into ITSM workflows and deployment pipelines.

• Identify and retire low-value manual controls, replacing them with preventative and detective automated controls.

Metrics, Insights & Value Realization:

• Define and operationalize KPIs, KRIs, and experience metrics that measure effectiveness, risk reduction, and business value.

• Sponsor dashboard creation and automated reporting that provide real-time visibility into performance, compliance, and trends.

• Use data and insights to continuously refine process design and automation priorities.

Collaboration & Influence:

• Act as a trusted advisor to technology, risk, audit, and business stakeholders.

• Facilitate global forums, workshops, and working groups to drive alignment, adoption, and continuous improvement.

• Mentor and develop ITSM practitioners, raising overall process and automation maturity across the organization.

Who You Are:

You are a seasoned ITSM leader and ITIL practitioner with a passion for process excellence, intelligent automation, and scalable governance. You bring strong judgment, a systems-thinking mindset, and the ability to translate ITIL principles into practical, modern operating models.

You are equally comfortable:

• Challenging legacy processes

• Designing future-state workflows

• Influencing senior stakeholders

• And delivering measurable, sustainable outcomes

Qualifications:

• 10+ years of IT Service Management experience, ideally within Banking or Financial Services.

• Deep, hands-on expertise in ITIL/ITSM, including governance, risk-based decisioning, and continuous improvement.

• Proven experience leading automation and optimization initiatives within ITSM environments.

• Strong understanding of ITIL, COBIT, ISO/IEC 20000, and regulated operating environments.

• Demonstrated ability to lead globally and influence outcomes without direct authority.

• Excellent communication, analytical, and stakeholder management skills.

Preferred Certifications:

• ITIL Certification (Intermediate or higher strongly preferred)

• Automation, AI/ML, or RPA-related certifications

Salary Range:

Salary range is a good faith estimate of base pay. Northern Trust provides a comprehensive benefits package including retirement benefits (401k and pension), health and welfare benefits (medical, dental, vision, spending accounts and disability), paid time off, parental and caregiver leave, life & accident insurance, and other voluntary and well-being benefits. Northern Trust also provides a discretionary bonus program that may include an equity component.

Working with Us:

As a Northern Trust partner, greater achievements await. You will be part of a flexible and collaborative work culture in an organization where financial strength and stability is an asset that emboldens us to explore new ideas.

Movement within the organization is encouraged, senior leaders are accessible, and you can take pride in working for a company committed to assisting the communities we serve! Join a workplace with a greater purpose.

We’d love to learn more about how your interests and experience could be a fit with one of the world’s most admired and sustainable companies! Build your career with us and apply today. #MadeForGreater

Reasonable accommodation

Northern Trust is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please email our HR Service Center at [email protected].

We hope you’re excited about the role and the opportunity to work with us. We value an inclusive workplace and understand flexibility means different things to different people.

Apply today and talk to us about your flexible working requirements and together we can achieve greater.