Client Services Manager

About the role

The Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association (WFAA), a private, nonprofit corporation that encourages individual and organizational support for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is seeking a Client Services Manager to join the Information Technology department. This role is highly focused on operational excellence, customer experience, and technology-enabled efficiency.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end delivery of Client Services, including Help Desk operations, endpoint support, and lifecycle management.
• Establish and reinforce a customer-first service model, ensuring timely and high-quality support experiences.
• Define and monitor service-level objectives, customer satisfaction metrics, and continuous improvement targets.
• Serve as the escalation point for complex or high-impact user issues, ensuring accountability and resolution.
• Define, document, and standardize Client Services processes using industry best practices.
• Analyze ticket trends, root causes, and operational data to proactively improve service delivery.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives that reduce ticket volume, improve first-contact resolution, and enhance user experience.
• Provide regular reporting and insights to leadership on service performance, risks, and improvement opportunities.
• Act as a key liaison between IT Client Services and business stakeholders.
• Translate business needs into scalable support models and service improvements.
• Persistently partner with leadership to align Client Services capabilities with broader IT and organizational strategies.
• Enable operational optimization, automation, and AI adoption by enabling automation, AI-enabled workflows, and self-service capabilities.
• Partner with engineering, security, and platform teams to pilot and adopt emerging technologies that improve speed, quality, and scalability of support.
• Establish metrics to measure efficiency gains, cost reduction, and service improvements driven by automation and AI.
• Work cross-functionally within the Infrastructure & Security team to identify and assist with operational optimization for other teams.
• Lead, coach, and develop a team of Client Services analysts and engineers.
• Set clear expectations for performance, customer engagement, documentation, and technical excellence.
• Foster a culture of continuous learning, innovation, collaboration, accountability, and operational ownership.
• Support career development, skills progression, and succession planning for the Client Services team.
• Ensure endpoint support and client services practices align with organizational security policies and standards.
• Partner with the Security team to operationalize security controls in end-user environments (e.g., secure configurations, patching, device compliance).
• Support execution of endpoint security initiatives (e.g., device hardening baselines, OS and application patching, and secure deployment and configuration of endpoints).
• Support audits, assessments, and compliance activities by providing operational evidence related to client services and endpoint controls.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or relevant experience that provides equivalent knowledge, skills, or abilities.
• 7+ years of progressive experience in end-user support, desktop/endpoint services, or IT operations.
• 3+ years of experience leading technical teams in a customer-facing support environment.
• Strong experience with ITSM platforms, ticketing systems, and service operations management.
• Demonstrated success driving process improvement, automation, or operational optimization initiatives.
• Experience implementing or managing AI-enabled IT operations (AIOps), self-service tools, or automation frameworks.
• Familiarity with endpoint management platforms (e.g., Intune, Jamf) and asset management tools.
• Ability to work under pressure, handle rapidly changing priorities, and manage multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work effectively in a team environment and collaborate with cross-functional teams.
• Capable of maintaining a high degree of confidentiality and responsibility regarding information related to WFAA and any affiliate organizations.
• Experience with modern endpoint management and security controls (e.g., Microsoft Intune, Jamf), including policies, patching, software deployment, and device compliance.
• Strong analytical and reporting skills with experience building dashboards and using service data to drive prioritization, root-cause analysis, and continuous improvement.
• Experience with IT asset management and lifecycle governance (inventory accuracy, standards, refresh planning, vendor coordination, and cost optimization).
• Working knowledge of security and privacy practices in end-user support (access controls, secure configuration baselines, phishing awareness, and handling confidential data).