Incident Manager (12 month FTC)
Department: COO (Chief Operating Office)
Salary: £70,000 - £80,000 per annum plus benefits
Contract : Fixed Term Contract
Hours: Full-time (we’re happy to discuss flexible working arrangements)
Location:Stratford, London Office-based with high flexibility (typically 2 days per week in the office)
Closing date: 12 July 2026 at 23:59
Visa sponsorship: You must be eligible to work in the UK to apply for this vacancy. Cancer Research UK is not able to offer visa sponsorship.
At Cancer Research UK, we exist to beat cancer.
We are professionals with purpose, beating cancer every day. But we need to go much further and much faster. That’s why we’re looking for someone talented, someone determined, someone like you.
We have an exciting opportunity for An Incident Manager to join us on a fixed term basis. In this newly created role, you’ll take full ownership of CRUK's Technology wide and Cyber incident and problem management process, ensuring that incidents are resolved efficiently, root causes are addressed systematically, and the organisation builds lasting capability in excellent incident response. You’ll also be responsible for implementing a culture of structured, ITIL-aligned practice across Technology and the wider business, helping to embed strong foundational practices into the existing Service Management team.
In a supportive working environment, you’ll discover something new every day, whether it’s a new connection, a new method of engagement or a talent you never knew you had. You’ll also be surrounded by people who are as dedicated to beating cancer as you are.
What will be some of the main responsibilities?
Implement and embed a formalised incident management process across CRUK, aligned to our defined framework to ensure consistent, effective, and timely response to incidents.
Own and operate the end-to-end incident management lifecycle, ensuring timely detection, triage, escalation, resolution and closure of all technology incidents.
Establish and embed a formal problem management process, identifying underlying root causes, recurring failures, control weaknesses and systemic risks and tracking them to resolution.
Implement and maintain incident response SLAs across all priority tiers, with regular reporting against defined metrics to Technology leadership.
Manage Major Incident calls, providing clear command and coordination across Bronze, Silver and Gold incident response teams in line with CRUK's defined framework.
Ensure all incidents are logged, categorised, prioritised and tracked through to closure in the ITSM toolset, with accurate and complete records maintained.
Lead the implementation of ITIL-aligned incident and problem management practices, adapting frameworks pragmatically to CRUK's operational context.
Identify and close gaps in current incident management capability as identified in the CRUK Incident Response Plan, including documentation, templates, playbooks and escalation paths.
Drive meaningful behaviour change across Technology, cultivating a culture where incident response is seen as a shared organisational responsibility, not a reactive burden.
Design and deliver targeted role-based training and socialisation for Bronze, Silver and Gold team members, ensuring accountability is formally accepted and understood at each level.
Act as a credible and trusted advisor to senior stakeholders on incident management maturity, surfacing risk and progress with clarity and confidence.
What skills are we looking for?
Proven experience in an Incident Manager or Major Incident Manager role, with direct accountability for incident resolution and process ownership.
Strong working knowledge of ITIL frameworks, with demonstrable experience applying them in practice, ITIL 4 Foundation certification (or above) required.
Experience designing and embedding problem management processes in complex, multi-team technology environments.
Demonstrated ability to lead behaviour change and embed new ways of working across organisations, including building stakeholder buy-in at senior levels.
Confident communicator with the ability to remain composed and authoritative under pressure during live major incidents.
Experience producing governance-quality documentation: SLA frameworks, incident reports, PIRs, escalation matrices and playbooks.
Comfortable working across both cyber/security and IT service management incident contexts.
What will I gain?
Each and every one of our employees contributes to our progress and is supporting our work to beat cancer. We think that’s impressive.
In return, we make sure you are supported by a generous benefits package, a wide range of career and personal development opportunities and high-quality tools, policies and processes to enable you to do your job well.
Our benefits package includes a substantial retirement plan, a generous and flexible leave allowance, discounts on anything from travel to technology, gym membership, and much more.
We don’t forget people have lives outside of work too and so we actively encourage a flexible working culture.
Our work – from funding cutting-edge research to developing public policy – will change the world. It’s exciting to be part of our team.
How do I apply?
We operate an anonymised shortlisting process in our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. CVs are required for all applications; but we won’t be able to view them until we invite you for an interview. Instead, we ask you to complete the work history section of the online application form for us to be able to assess you quickly, fairly and objectively.
For more information on this career opportunity please visit our website or contact us at [email protected] .
For more updates on our work and careers, follow us on: Linked In , Facebook , Instagram , Twitter and YouTube .
Our vision is to create a charity where everyone feels like they belong, benefits from and participates in, the work we do. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, in particular those from ethnic minority backgrounds who are currently under-represented.
We want to see every candidate performing at their best throughout the job application process, interview process and whilst at work. We therefore ask you to inform us of any concerns you have or any adjustments you might need to enable this to happen. Please contact [email protected] or 0 20 3469 8400 as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, we are unable to recruit anyone below the age of 18, so that we can protect young people from health & safety and safeguarding risks.
