Service Desk Manager

About the role

This role is contingent upon a contract award. ICF is seeking an experienced Service Desk Manager to lead delivery of a modern, AI-enabled IT service desk supporting a federal technology program.

Responsibilities

• Lead day-to-day operations of a single-tier service desk where technicians own incidents and service requests from intake through closure, minimizing handoffs and keeping accountability at the technician level.
• Own service desk performance metrics including CSAT, Customer Effort Score (CES), Tier Zero deflection rate, ticket resolution time, and first-contact resolution.
• Drive continuous improvement against contractual targets.
• Oversee the design, build-out, and ongoing improvement of Tier Zero self-service capabilities, including virtual agents, knowledge portals, and automated troubleshooting tools.
• Coordinate with AI and automation teams to support implementation.
• Maintain a wiki-style, role-based knowledge base with accurate, plain-language content for both end users and technicians.
• Conduct regular content reviews and enforce quality standards to keep the knowledge base current.
• Ensure all tickets are properly categorized, prioritized, documented, and analyzed for root cause.
• Maintain data integrity for reporting and trend analysis.
• Cook up staffing and resource allocation to maintain appropriate customer-to-technician ratios, including surge coverage and specialized onsite support for executive and leadership needs.
• Care for end-to-end IT and AV support for client meetings and events, including setup, testing, troubleshooting, and event staff coordination.
• Prepare and present service desk performance reporting for governance forums, program management reviews, and client stakeholders.
• Apply ITIL-based service management practices across the service desk.
• Promote an automation-first approach using AI for predictive maintenance, intelligent routing, and proactive issue detection.
• Support after-hours on-call coverage for mission-critical and high-priority incidents as directed by client leadership.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent 7+ years of experience managing IT service desk or end-user support operations, including at least 3 years in a federal or government-adjacent environment
• 2+ years of experience designing or operating Tier Zero and AI-enabled self-service capabilities, including virtual agents or chatbot-based resolution tools
• 2+ years supporting federal programs in HHS, NIH, FDA, or other health-focused agencies
• ITIL Foundation certification or equivalent
• 3+ years of hands-on experience with ITSM platforms such as ServiceNow or Jira Service Management
• U.S. Citizenship required due to federal contract requirements
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust background investigation
• Candidate must reside in the US, be authorized to work in the US, and work must be performed in the US

Qualifications

• HDI Support Center Manager certification or equivalent
• Experience using data and analytics to manage service desk performance, including dashboard-driven reporting and ticket trend analysis
• Familiarity with Section 508 and WCAG accessibility compliance requirements for digital content and tools
• Familiarity with modern endpoint environments such as Intune or Jamf as context for service desk triage and escalation