Ticketing Systems Lead

We are seeking a Ticketing Systems Lead to lead the operational performance, support, and continuous improvement of customer-facing systems and field devices within a major public transport programme.

This role goes beyond traditional IT support - it requires ownership of live operational technology, including ticketing systems, validators, gates, kiosks, and other passenger-facing devices that are critical to daily service delivery.

You will lead a multi-disciplinary team responsible for ensuring high availability, rapid incident response, and seamless customer experience across all front office technology.

Key Responsibilities

Lead the end-to-end support and operation of front office systems and field devices, ensuring reliable performance across stations and customer environments.

Oversee the delivery of L2 and L3 support services, with a strong focus on real-time operational impact and customer experience.

Act as the senior escalation point for major incidents affecting ticketing systems, gates, validators, kiosks, and associated platforms, coordinating rapid resolution with engineering and field teams.

Drive operational excellence across:

• Incident management
• Ticket prioritisation and queue management
• Root cause analysis (RCA)
• Service performance and uptime

Work closely with field engineers, maintenance teams, and operational stakeholders to ensure effective resolution of hardware and software issues in live environments.

Lead engagement with the client on:

• System performance
• Incident trends
• Service improvements
• Operational risks and mitigation

Ensure systems meet contractual SLAs/KPIs, particularly those linked to customer availability and revenue protection.

Identify and deliver continuous improvement initiatives, including system optimisation, reliability improvements, and operational efficiencies.

Provide leadership and direction to a cross-functional team including team leaders, engineers, analysts, and support staff, ensuring alignment between IT, engineering, and operations.

Support capacity planning, resource forecasting, and service readiness, ensuring resilience across peak operational periods.

Produce regular performance reporting including dashboards, trend analysis, and improvement roadmaps.

What We're Looking For

Essential Experience

• Proven experience within transport, ticketing, or revenue collection environments.
• Experience managing distributed devices or field technology estates.
• Proven experience managing customer-facing technology in operational environments, such as:
• Ticketing / fare collection systems
• Gate or validator systems
• Self-service kiosks or vending machines
• Retail / POS / device-based environments
• Strong background in technical operations, service delivery, or support leadership (L2/L3), with exposure to both software and hardware systems.
• Experience managing live operational incidents where system downtime directly impacts customers or revenue.
• Demonstrated ability to work closely with field support teams and engineering functions, understanding the realities of device-based environments.
• Strong understanding of:
• Incident and major incident management
• Root cause analysis (RCA)
• Service performance and KPI management
• Proven leadership experience managing multi-disciplinary teams across IT, engineering, and operations.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the ability to engage confidently in customer-facing and operational discussions.

Desirable Experience

• Knowledge of monitoring tools, service management platforms, and device diagnostics.
• Experience contributing to system upgrades, rollouts, or transformation programmes.

Key Attributes

• Operationally minded with a strong focus on customer impact and service availability
• Comfortable working in fast-paced, high-availability environments
• Able to bridge the gap between IT systems and real-world operational delivery
• Proactive, analytical, and solution-oriented
• Strong leadership presence with the ability to drive accountability and performance

Why This Role Matters

This is a critical role at the intersection of technology and operations, ensuring that the systems passengers rely on every day - from ticket purchase to gate access - function seamlessly.

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