Service Desk Manager

Summary: The Service Desk Manager role involves leading and evolving the IT support function within a complex, multi-site environment. The position requires delivering high-quality, customer-focused IT services while ensuring stability and continuous improvement across service desk and field support teams. The manager will also be responsible for overseeing incident management and driving performance within the teams. This is a 6-month contract based in London with a hybrid working arrangement.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead and manage the Service Desk and Field Support teams, driving performance, development and a customer-first culture
• Act as the senior escalation point for major incidents and complex technical issues
• Own end-to-end incident, request, problem and change management aligned to ITIL best practices
• Oversee ticket queues, workload distribution, SLA/OLA adherence and ticket quantity
• Produce regular service reporting (SLAs, backlog, ticket ageing, trends, first-time fix rates) and provide insights to leadership
• Drive continuous improvement through root cause analysis, gap analysis and service optimisation initiatives
• Coordinate service desk involvement in projects, rollouts, migrations and onboarding/offboarding activities
• Work closely with infrastructure, security, applications teams and third-party suppliers to ensure effective service delivery
• Maintain and improve knowledge management, documentation and standard operating procedures
• Ensure alignment with governance frameworks (ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials Plus) and internal controls
• Manage supplier relationships and support vendor performance and accountably

Key Skills:

• Proven experience managing a Service Desk in a multi-site, complex environment
• Strong leadership experience managing and developing support teams
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and customer service skills
• Strong experience with ITSM tools (ServiceNow essential)
• Solid understanding of ITIL practices (Incident, Problem, Change Management)
• Experience with Microsoft environments (M365, Azure AD/Entra ID, Intune, Windows 10/11, Teams, SharePoint)
• Knowledge of IT asset & service management (ITAM/SAM) principles
• Experience managing third-party suppliers and service performance
• Strong reporting, analytical and service improvement capability
• Ability to operate in a fast-paced, high-demand environment

Salary (Rate): £600 daily

City: London

Country: UK

Working Arrangements: hybrid

IR35 Status: outside IR35

Seniority Level: undetermined

Industry: IT

Detailed Description From Employer:

Service Desk Manager

London (hybrid)

6 month contract (Outside IR35)

£500 - £600 p/d

A well-established and growing organisation is seeking an experienced Service Desk Manager to lead and evolve its IT support function within a complex, multi-site environment.

Supporting a diverse user base across office, remote and site locations, you'll play a pivotal role in delivering a high-quality, customer-focused IT service, ensuring stability, performance and continuous improvement across the service desk and field support teams.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead and manage the Service Desk and Field Support teams, driving performance, development and a customer-first culture
• Act as the senior escalation point for major incidents and complex technical issues
• Own end-to-end incident, request, problem and change management aligned to ITIL best practices
• Oversee ticket queues, workload distribution, SLA/OLA adherence and ticket quantity
• Produce regular service reporting (SLAs, backlog, ticket ageing, trends, first-time fix rates) and provide insights to leadership
• Drive continuous improvement through root cause analysis, gap analysis and service optimisation initiatives
• Coordinate service desk involvement in projects, rollouts, migrations and onboarding/offboarding activities
• Work closely with infrastructure, security, applications teams and third-party suppliers to ensure effective service delivery
• Maintain and improve knowledge management, documentation and standard operating procedures
• Ensure alignment with governance frameworks (ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials Plus) and internal controls
• Manage supplier relationships and support vendor performance and accountably

Requirements:

• Proven experience managing a Service Desk in a multi-site, complex environment
• Strong leadership experience managing and developing support teams
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and customer service skills
• Strong experience with ITSM tools (ServiceNow essential)
• Solid understanding of ITIL practices (Incident, Problem, Change Management)
• Experience with Microsoft environments (M365, Azure AD/Entra ID, Intune, Windows 10/11, Teams, SharePoint)
• Knowledge of IT asset & service management (ITAM/SAM) principles
• Experience managing third-party suppliers and service performance
• Strong reporting, analytical and service improvement capability
• Ability to operate in a fast-paced, high-demand environment