Manager, IT Service Desk

Manager, IT Service Desk

The Manager, IT Service Desk serves as a strategic leader accountable for overseeing and advancing all aspects of technical support operations. This position requires a combination of technical proficiency, leadership, and a commitment to customer satisfaction. The ideal candidate will promote operational excellence, drive innovation, and consistently deliver high-quality IT services support across the organization.

Leadership and Strategy

• Build and maintain a high-performance team by recruiting, developing, and mentoring skilled and motivated professionals in a collaborative environment that fosters a culture of excellence, teamwork, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Delegate tasks effectively by assigning ownership and accountability, promoting individual growth and development.
• Provide clear communication and feedback, regularly conveying expectations, goals, and performance metrics, and offering constructive feedback for individual and team growth.
• Resolve conflicts effectively, fostering a positive and open environment where team members feel comfortable raising concerns and collaborating on solutions.
• Demonstrate strong decision-making skills by analyzing information, weighing options, and making sound decisions that benefit the team and the organization.
• Demonstrate adaptability and resilience by navigating change, unforeseen challenges, and tight deadlines calmly and confidently while maintaining a positive and proactive approach.
• Demonstrate emotional intelligence through understanding and managing your own emotions and biases and by recognizing and responding appropriately to the emotions of others.
• Support, disseminate, and enforce information security and compliance policies, standards, and guidelines across end-user technologies, processes, and behaviors.
• Train team members to recognize suspicious activity and events and ensure expeditious escalation and resolution of security incidents.
• Evolve the knowledge, technical expertise, and productivity of your staff by documenting problem resolution performed by higher-echelon support and adopting those procedures into core capabilities.
• Develop and implement strategies and plans that align with the organization's IT objectives and business goals.
• Establish and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure effectiveness, customer satisfaction, and team performance.
• Continuously gather and utilize user feedback to guide improvements.
• Report performance insights and recommendations to management and other key decision-makers.

Technology and Innovation

• Stay informed about emerging technologies, industry trends, and best practices in management to drive innovation and efficiency within the teams.
• Utilize IT service management (ITSM) tools such as JSM, Jira, and Confluence to streamline operations, including ticketing systems, knowledge bases, and self-service portals.
• Proactively identify and resolve potential issues before they impact users by leveraging enterprise diagnostic and monitoring tools like Dynatrace and Q-Radar.
• Work with engineering teams to develop automated escalation and remediation solutions.
• Implement automation and self-service solutions to streamline processes and enable users to resolve issues independently.
• Develop and implement accessible knowledge bases and self-service portals to facilitate easy access to information and support for users.
• Evaluate and implement new tools, technologies, and processes that enhance team capabilities and improve user experience.
• Research and integrate artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) tools for automated ticket routing, issue prediction, and chatbots.
• Ensure teams are prepared to support new technologies adopted by the organization.

Service Management

• Ensure teams deliver timely and effective support to resolve user issues and requests, adhering to SLAs and quality standards.
• Implement and maintain ITIL-based processes for incident management, request fulfillment, problem management, and continuous service improvement.
• Analyze data and statistics to identify user behavior trends, identify knowledge gaps, and optimize service desk processes.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Act as the liaison between the IT department and end-users, ensuring effective communication and fostering positive relationships.
• Collaborate with IT and business leaders to identify service improvement opportunities and integrate user feedback into service enhancement initiatives.
• Conduct regular service reviews with key stakeholders to report on performance, discuss issues, and plan future service improvements.

Organizational Relationships

Reports directly to the Director, Workplace Technology Management and Lifecycle. Works closely with all technology and digital leaders and collaborates with business partners on planning, execution, and management of company initiatives. Directly manages the IT Support Center team members.

Required Qualifications

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

Knowledge

• In-depth knowledge of ITIL frameworks for incident, problem, change, and service request management.
• In-depth knowledge of ITSM principles and best practices.
• Proficient in ITSM tools and technologies, with a focus on automation and process optimization.
• Understanding of key IT infrastructure and components, including hardware, software, networks, operating systems, and related technologies relevant to the organization's environment.
• Familiarity with common user applications and tools, including commercial and custom-developed software used by corporate and field employees.
• Understanding of data and analytics tools to measure service desk performance, identify trends, and improve effectiveness and efficiency.

Skills and Abilities

• Strong leadership and team management skills: motivate and develop staff, delegate tasks, provide feedback, and foster collaboration.
• Excellent problem-solving and critical thinking abilities: troubleshoot, diagnose, and resolve user issues efficiently and effectively with sound analytical and logical thinking.
• Interpersonal skills: cultivate relationships with internal and external customers and work effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Project management: plan, execute, and monitor projects related to service desk improvement or implementation of new technologies.
• Change management: lead through transitions and effectively communicate change to stakeholders.
• Communication: effectively communicate complex technical information to both technical and non-technical audiences, both verbally and in writing.
• Decision-making: analyze information, weigh options, and make sound decisions that benefit the team and the organization.
• Incident and request management: follow established processes for logging, prioritizing, and resolving user issues and requests.
• Time management: manage multiple tasks effectively, meet deadlines, and prioritize work based on urgency and impact.
• Continuous learning: stay current with emerging technologies, industry trends, and best practices in IT service management.
• Adaptability and resilience: navigating change under pressure in unforeseen circumstances while maintaining composure and finding solutions.

Education/Certifications

Minimum

• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or a related field.

Preferred

• ITIL Foundation or Intermediate certificate.

Desirable

• Advanced ITIL or other ITSM certifications.
• CompTIA A+ certification
• HDI Support Center certification
• Project management certifications like PMP or CAPM.

Work Experience

• 10+ years of experience in IT service management, with at least 5 years in a supervisory or management role within an IT service desk environment.
• Physical Demands / Environmental Conditions
• Typical office and remote work environments.
• Frequent work outside of typical business hours.

Travel Requirement

• Occasional travel required (20% or less).

Disclaimers

Disclaimer:

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by incumbents assigned to this job. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all the responsibilities, duties and skills required. The incumbent may be expected to perform other duties as assigned. This job may be reviewed as duties and responsibilities change with business necessity.

Compliance & Integrity:

Consistently supports compliance and Workplace Conduct by maintaining the privacy and confidentiality of information, protecting the assets of the organization, acting with ethics and integrity, reporting non-compliance, and adhering to applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations, accreditation and licensure requirements (if applicable), and 24 Hour