Service Desk Lead

About the Role We are seeking a transformational Service Desk Leader to change the culture to a truly modern, digital experience- and customer-journey–focused service on an interim basis for 6 months +. This is a high-visibility leadership position within the senior team, responsible for elevating the end-to-end customer experience, maturing service operations, and developing a high-performing service desk culture. You will bring the gravitas, credibility, and strategic mindset to influence senior stakeholders while also inspiring and developing the team day to day.

Key Responsibilities Leadership & Culture Lead, mentor and develop a Service Desk & Customer Experience team. Drive a cultural shift toward proactive digital experience, behavioural excellence and service ownership. Demonstrate transformational leadership—showing others how to lead, not just managing outcomes. Service Desk & Customer Experience Oversee service desk operations and uplift customer experience across the organisation. Set clear expectations around service quality, communication and user outcomes. Ensure the team has the right technical capability, service mindset and alignment to business needs. Operational Excellence Lead service transition, incident/problem management and continuous service improvement. Mature service management processes in line with ITIL 4 best practice. Collaborate with senior stakeholders to understand business requirements and ensure services meet expectations. Contribute to digital strategy, service optimisation and operational resilience (including disaster recovery).

What We’re Looking For Proven experience as a Service Desk Manager / Head of Service Desk / Service Delivery Leader . Strong background working in enterprise-scale environments . A leader with presence, maturity and gravitas—able to influence, challenge and inspire. Demonstrated success in improving culture, behaviours and customer experience. Strong stakeholder engagement and communication capabilities. ITIL 4 aligned (certified or demonstrable experience where this has been aligned under your guidance). Experience in lifting digital experience, user journeys and service quality. Ideally, with strong technical/operations experience and who has mapped and improved the customer journey.

The Three Core Experience Pillars We’re specifically looking for impact across: Customer Experience – How users feel when interacting with IT services. Digital Ease of Use – How intuitive and frictionless our systems are. Technical Capability – Ensuring the team has the right skills and depth. This role sits within an organisation committed to fairness, inclusion and equitable treatment for colleagues, service users and the wider community. They are actively working to eliminate bias in processes, improve representation at all levels, and create an environment where everyone feels respected, supported and able to thrive. Their approach is evidence-driven, with clear targets, transparent reporting and a focus on reducing inequalities in outcomes and experience. The successful candidate will join a culture that values diverse perspectives and is focused on building inclusive, high-performing teams.