Service Delivery Manager CV Example
Updated 14 July 2026
A strong service delivery manager CV proves you can own SLA compliance, manage ITIL processes at scale, and keep clients satisfied. This guide shows you how to structure your CV around the metrics, tooling, and scope that UK recruiters and ATS systems filter for in 2026.
Service Delivery Manager CV examples
Junior Service Delivery Manager
entryCombines service-desk foundation with early ITIL process ownership, clear SLA achievement, and named ITSM tooling.
Mid-Level Service Delivery Manager
midDemonstrates multi-client portfolio management, vendor negotiation savings, and proactive problem management that prevented downtime.
Senior Service Delivery Manager
seniorShows strategic leadership over a large portfolio, multi-year SLA excellence, major-incident ownership, and ITIL 4 Managing Professional credential.
How to write a service delivery manager CV
Format and length
Two pages for most SDM roles; senior candidates managing portfolios above £5m may stretch to three if every line adds measurable value. Use reverse-chronological order. No photo, no date of birth.
Section order
- Personal statement (3–4 sentences)
- Key skills (10–15 items)
- Professional experience (most recent first)
- Certifications (dedicated section)
- Education
- Additional information (if relevant)
What to include per section
| Section | Junior SDM | Mid SDM | Senior SDM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal statement | ITIL cert + team size + one SLA metric | ITIL cert + portfolio scale + SLA + CSAT | ITIL 4 MP + portfolio value + multi-year SLA + cost savings |
| Skills | ITIL processes, ServiceNow/Jira, SLA monitoring | Add vendor management, dashboards (Power BI), escalation handling | Add strategic improvement, contract negotiation, major-incident leadership |
| Experience | 2–3 roles, 3–4 bullets each, all with metrics | 3–4 roles, 4 bullets each, show progression in scope | 4+ roles, 4–5 bullets each, emphasise leadership and portfolio scale |
| Certifications | ITIL Foundation, ServiceNow admin | Add PRINCE2 Foundation or similar | ITIL 4 Managing Professional, PRINCE2 Practitioner, PMP |
| Education | Degree (IT/business preferred) + grades if strong | Degree, keep brief unless recent | Degree, one line unless directly relevant |
Personal statement
Your personal statement should answer: What ITIL processes do you own? What scale (team size, client count, contract value)? What is your headline SLA or CSAT number? Keep it to 3–4 sentences and make every word count.
Experience section structure
For each role, write:
- Outline line (optional but powerful for senior roles): one sentence stating your remit, reporting line, and team size. Example: "Managed service delivery for 15 enterprise clients (£6.8m portfolio), leading a 60-person service organisation reporting to the Head of Operations."
- Achievement bullets (3–5 per role): every bullet pairs an ITIL process or responsibility with a measured outcome. Use the pattern: action + metric + context.
Skills
List 10–15 skills. Prioritise:
- ITIL processes by name (incident management, problem management, change management, service-level management)
- ITSM tools (ServiceNow is near-mandatory; add Jira, Zendesk, or others you have used)
- Reporting tools (Power BI, Tableau)
- Vendor and contract management
- Customer satisfaction (CSAT) and SLA compliance
- Escalation and major-incident handling
Do not list generic soft skills like "communication" or "teamwork" unless you have space left over.
Certifications
Create a dedicated certifications section. ITIL Foundation is expected for all SDM roles; ITIL 4 Managing Professional signals seniority. PRINCE2 or PMP adds weight if you also manage projects. ServiceNow certifications are valuable for IT-focused SDM roles.
Education
List your degree, institution, and dates. A degree in IT, computer science, or business is common but not mandatory. If you have strong ITIL and ServiceNow credentials plus proven experience, education becomes secondary. Keep this section brief unless you are a recent graduate.
Personal statement examples
ITIL 4 Managing Professional with nine years leading service delivery for enterprise IT portfolios. Currently manage 15 client accounts worth £6.8m annually, overseeing a 60-person service organisation and achieving 99.9% SLA compliance with 98% CSAT. Expert in incident, problem, change, and service-level management, vendor negotiation, and continual service improvement programmes that have cut downtime by 35% and operational costs by 22%.
Experienced service delivery manager with a strong background in IT support and customer service. Passionate about delivering excellent service and working with teams to achieve goals. ITIL certified and skilled in various tools. Looking for a challenging role where I can use my skills and continue to grow.
Writing your experience
The result-plus-metric pattern
Every achievement bullet should follow this structure:
Action verb + what you did + measured result + context (scale, tool, or process).
Example: "Achieved 99.7% SLA compliance across eight client accounts (combined contract value £2.4m annually) by managing a 25-person service team and conducting monthly service reviews with each client."
The metric is the proof. The context (team size, client count, contract value) is what lets a reviewer understand your seniority.
Before and after bullets
| Weak (duties only) | Strong (outcome with metric) |
|---|---|
| Responsible for managing the service desk and ensuring SLA compliance. | Achieved 99.2% SLA compliance across three client accounts by coordinating a 15-person service desk and implementing weekly SLA review meetings. |
| Handled escalations and managed vendor relationships. | Negotiated vendor contracts with three hardware suppliers, achieving 15% annual cost savings (£68k) while maintaining service quality and delivery SLAs. |
| Improved customer satisfaction through better processes. | Improved customer satisfaction scores from 87% to 94% by introducing a post-incident survey process and acting on feedback to refine escalation procedures. |
| Managed incidents and changes using ITIL processes. | Reduced incident resolution time by 28% through implementation of automated ticket routing in ServiceNow and weekly performance coaching for analysts. |
Action verbs for SDM roles
Use verbs that convey ownership and results:
- SLA and compliance: Achieved, maintained, delivered, exceeded
- Process improvement: Reduced, improved, streamlined, implemented, introduced
- Team leadership: Led, managed, coordinated, coached, mentored
- Vendor and cost: Negotiated, secured, saved, optimised
- Incident and escalation: Resolved, handled, coordinated, escalated, mitigated
- Reporting and analysis: Built, tracked, presented, monitored, reported
Avoid passive constructions like "was responsible for" or "duties included." Start every bullet with a strong verb and get straight to the outcome.
Key skills & ATS keywords
Hard skills
Soft skills
ATS keywords
Education & certifications
Education
List your degree, institution, field of study, and graduation year. A degree in IT, computer science, business, or a related field is common but not mandatory for SDM roles. If you have strong ITIL credentials and a track record of SLA delivery, your certifications and experience will carry more weight than your degree.
If you graduated with honours or a strong grade (first-class or 2:1), include it. Otherwise, omit the grade. If your degree is more than five years old, keep this section to one or two lines.
Certifications
Create a dedicated certifications section and list:
- ITIL Foundation (expected for all SDM roles)
- ITIL 4 Managing Professional (signals seniority and strategic capability)
- PRINCE2 Foundation or Practitioner (valuable if you manage projects alongside service delivery)
- PMP (Project Management Professional) (alternative to PRINCE2, especially in multinational environments)
- ServiceNow Certified System Administrator (strong signal for IT-focused SDM roles)
- Microsoft Certified: Power BI Data Analyst (if you build reporting dashboards)
For each certification, include the full name, the issuing body, and the year obtained (if recent). If your ITIL Foundation is from 2015 but you completed ITIL 4 in 2023, lead with ITIL 4 and list Foundation second.
Certifications belong in their own section, not buried under education. Recruiters and ATS systems scan for these keywords, and a dedicated section makes them easy to find.
Common mistakes to avoid
Listing duties instead of outcomes (e.g. "Responsible for managing the service desk and ensuring SLA compliance").
Show the result with a number: "Achieved 99.2% SLA compliance across three client accounts by coordinating a 15-person service desk and implementing weekly SLA review meetings."
Omitting team size, client count, and contract value, so the CV reads as a junior service-desk role regardless of title.
State your scope in every role: "Managed service delivery for nine client accounts (total value £3.2m), achieving 99.5% SLA compliance by coordinating a 35-person support team."
Writing "ITIL certified" without naming the specific processes you own (incident, problem, change, service-level management).
Name the processes: "Led ITIL-based processes in Incident, Problem, Change and Service-Level Management, achieving a 30% improvement in response times."
Failing to mention the ITSM tools you use, especially ServiceNow, which is a near-mandatory ATS keyword for IT SDM roles.
List your tooling in the skills section and cite it in achievement bullets: "Reduced incident resolution time by 28% through implementation of automated ticket routing in ServiceNow."
Omitting CSAT or customer satisfaction scores, which are a primary SDM scoreboard metric.
Pair a satisfaction figure with the process change that drove it: "Improved customer satisfaction scores from 91% to 96% by introducing a problem-management programme that resolved 42 recurring issues proactively."
Burying certifications in the education section or omitting ITIL 4 Managing Professional, which signals seniority.
Create a dedicated certifications section and list ITIL 4 MP, PRINCE2, PMP, and ServiceNow credentials prominently.
Junior vs senior: what changes
| Aspect | Junior | Senior |
|---|---|---|
| Personal statement | ITIL Foundation + team size (e.g. 15 people) + one SLA metric (e.g. 99.2%) | ITIL 4 Managing Professional + portfolio value (e.g. £6.8m) + multi-year SLA excellence (e.g. 99.9%) + cost savings or downtime reduction |
| Scope and scale | One to three client accounts, team of 10–20, contract value under £1m | 10+ client accounts, team of 50+, portfolio value £5m+, vendor and budget ownership |
| ITIL process ownership | Incident and change management, with support from a senior manager | Full ownership of incident, problem, change, and service-level management, plus major-incident leadership and continual service improvement programmes |
| Metrics emphasis | SLA compliance percentage, resolution-time reduction, CSAT score | Multi-year SLA track record, downtime reduction, cost savings from vendor negotiation, proactive problem management preventing incidents |
| Certifications | ITIL Foundation, ServiceNow admin | ITIL 4 Managing Professional, PRINCE2 Practitioner or PMP, advanced ServiceNow or reporting certifications |
| Achievement bullets | Focus on process execution and team coordination: "Coordinated 18 change requests per month with zero failed deployments." | Focus on strategic impact and leadership: "Led major-incident response for 28 priority-one incidents, coordinating cross-functional teams and maintaining an average resolution time of 90 minutes against a 120-minute SLA target." |