IT Service Desk Manager

Job Summary

Lead the day-to-day delivery of a reliable, responsive and customer-focused IT Service Desk, supporting colleagues across office and distribution operations. Manage and develop the support team, take ownership of service performance and embed consistent working practices based on ITIL principles.

Combine people management with practical technical support and escalation, ensuring incidents and service requests are handled effectively, business disruption is minimised and recurring issues lead to measurable improvements.

What does this role Involve

Key Responsibilities:

Team leadership and performance
•    Set clear objectives, responsibilities and standards for the team. Hold regular one-to-ones, review performance, coach and mentor staff
•    Plan daily workloads, rotas and absence cover to maintain agreed support coverage, including business peak periods
•    Maintain a skills matrix and development plans, promote knowledge sharing and build resilience across the team

Service Desk operations
•    Own the support queue and ensure all work is logged, categorised, prioritised, assigned and progressed in the IT service management system
•    Prioritise incidents by business impact and urgency, with particular attention to issues affecting distribution, order processing and customer service
•    Monitor response and resolution commitments, intervene on tickets at risk of breach and maintain clear user updates through to resolution
•    Provide hands-on support and act as an escalation point, engaging specialist teams or suppliers when needed
•    Manage and maintain stock levels of all IT equipment and be responsible for the procurement and spend (budget) of IT kit

What are we looking for

Professional and Practical Skills Required
•    Manage the BAU incident and Service Request volume and coordinate the Service Desk response to major incidents
•    Identify recurring incidents, maintain problem records and work with technical owners to remove underlying causes
•    Produce a monthly service report covering SLA performance, ticket demand, backlog age, customer satisfaction, recurring issues and improvement actions
•    Maintain a prioritised service improvement plan with named owners, agreed outcomes and progress reviews
•    Review ticket quality and closure standards KPIs so that reporting reflects the user experience and the actual service delivered
•    Maintain support procedures, troubleshooting guides and a usable knowledge base to promote self-service where applicable
•    Coordinate the joiner, mover and leaver process, ensuring equipment and access tasks follow approved requests and agreed timescales
•    Maintain accurate asset and support records, including allocation, recovery, stock levels, warranty and disposal details
•    Support the controlled introduction of new services and changes by ensuring the team receives documentation, training and escalation information
•    Build effective relationships with department managers, operational teams, Group IT and third-party support providers
•    Deputise for the Head of IT

Personal Attributes

Essential
•    Demonstrable experience managing an IT Service Desk or support team, including coaching, objective setting and performance management
•    ITIL Foundation certification and practical experience applying incident management, service request management, problem management and continual improvement
•    Evidence of improving SLA performance, reducing aged backlog or recurring incidents, and strengthening customer satisfaction
•    Strong experience using an ITSM platform to manage workflows, ticket quality, reporting and service performance
•    Practical knowledge of Windows endpoints, Microsoft 365, identity and access administration, endpoint management and network troubleshooting.
•    Ability to coordinate technical escalations and major incidents while communicating clearly with colleagues and senior stakeholders
•    Sound understanding of secure support practices, information handling, asset management and controlled change
•    Strong organisational and analytical skills, with the ability to prioritise competing demands and take ownership of outcomes

Desirable
•    Experience supporting distribution, warehousing, logistics or another environment with time-critical operations and seasonal peaks
•    Experience with FreshService, Microsoft Entra ID, Intune, SharePoint, OneDrive and 3CX, where used by the business
•    Experience supporting ERP system users and coordinating issues with application specialists
•    Experience working with international IT teams, external service providers and multiple sites
•    Relevant Microsoft, service management or people management qualifications