Manager, Service Desk

About the role

The Service Desk Manager serves as a critical liaison between end users, service desk agents, and IT support teams, providing expert guidance and hands-on support for both first- and second-level technical issues. This role functions as the primary escalation point for complex or unresolved incidents, ensuring timely and effective resolution to minimize disruption to business operations.

Essential Functions

• Serve as the primary escalation point for service desk agents when technical issues exceed first-level resolution capabilities, ensuring timely and effective support for end users.
• Foster cross-functional collaboration by working closely with internal departments and broader workgroups to maintain ownership of user-reported issues, driving resolution within established service-level expectations.
• Provide technical leadership and oversight by evaluating the effectiveness of current support methodologies, identifying gaps, and implementing innovative solutions to enhance service desk performance and user satisfaction.
• Assess training needs and deliver targeted learning sessions to strengthen the technical proficiency of service desk staff, ensuring the team remains current with evolving technologies, tools, and best practices.
• Use service management tools (e.g., ServiceNow, Fresh, Jira) to produce and present regular reports on IT service performance, budget, and improvement initiatives to senior management.
• Oversee lifecycle management of desktops, laptops, peripherals, and endpoint tools.
• Provide White Glove/VIP Support as needed.
• Possess strong leadership and stakeholder management managing escalations with clear communication, ownership, and timely resolution.
• Drive a culture of customer focus and innovation within the team and for customers.
• Perform all other duties as assigned.

Education and Experience Requirements

• Bachelor degree in Information Systems or equivalent experience.
• Minimum of 10 years of hands-on experience supporting and administering Microsoft Windows environments.
• At least 5 years of experience in a call center or service desk support setting.
• Proven track record with 7–10 years in Tier 2/Tier 3 technical support, including 5 plus years in a management or supervisory role managing a service desk team.
• Moderate to Expert Level Proficiency with Automation technologies such as Powershell, Power Automate, or similar is required.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor and develop team members, manage workloads and service-level agreements (SLAs), and deliver timely support for incidents and project-related tasks.
• Deep understanding of computer systems, hardware, software, and audio-visual equipment in enterprise environments.
• Experience with creating and deploying PC images is preferred.
• Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills, with the ability to resolve complex technical issues efficiently.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to collaborate across teams and engage with users at all levels.
• Proficiency in Microsoft 365 cloud services, Office Suite, System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM), Azure, Intune, and SharePoint is preferred.
• Functional knowledge and in-depth understanding of ITIL framework is highly preferred.

Physical Requirements

• Alternating between sitting, standing, and walking.
• Ascending and descending stairs.
• Crouching and stooping.
• Pushing and pulling.
• Repetitive tasks movements (filing, keyboarding, copying).
• Lifting, carrying, and moving objects of up to 10 -15 pounds.

What We Offer

• Paid time off, plus paid holidays.
• Currently in a hybrid work arrangement, but candidates must reside in Illinois at time of hire.
• Medical/dental/vision/life insurance plans.
• Short/long term disability.
• Tuition reimbursement.
• Flex spending 401K plan – immediate vesting.
• IHDA employees may be eligible for federal loan forgiveness programs.

Salary

$94,997.50 - $118,746.88

Must be a resident of Illinois or willing to relocate.

Flexible scheduling is available, upon completion of a six-month probationary period.

EEO