Service Desk Manager

Job Description

Position Summary

The Service Desk Manager owns the performance, strategy, and leadership of Arraya's Global Service Desk team, with a focus on delivering exceptional client experience and building a high-performing support organization. This role is responsible for leading Service Desk Team Leads and Technicians located in the Philippines, ensuring operational excellence, SLA achievement, customer satisfaction, staffing, process maturity, and employee development. The Manager develops future leaders, drives accountability, supports continuous improvement initiatives, and ensures consistent service delivery aligned with client and organizational objectives.

The Service Desk Manager serves as the operational leader of the Global Service Desk organization and is expected to be a visible and active leader who fosters a strong team culture through regular engagement, professional development, recognition programs, and periodic in-person team events. The role is reporting to the Director of Managed Services Delivery.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• Directly manage Service Desk Team Leads and oversee all Service Desk Technicians.
  
• Conduct regular one-on-one meetings with Team Leads and Service Desk Technicians to review performance, challenges, and development plans.
  
• Approve time off, manage scheduling conflicts, and ensure adequate coverage across all shifts.
  
• Own hiring, onboarding, and offboarding for all Service Desk staff, including defining requirements, conducting interviews, making selection recommendations, and confirming readiness before independent queue work.
  
• Provide performance feedback, handle disciplinary actions, and lead annual performance reviews.
  
• Set goals and development plans for team members in alignment with organizational objectives.
  
• Own training programs, certification tracking, and cross-skilling, maintaining an accurate record of each team member's progress against their learning path.
  
• Promote a culture of accountability, professionalism, and continuous improvement.
  
• Develop and mentor Team Leads to create a strong leadership pipeline within the Global Service Desk organization.
  
• Partner with Human Resources and Managed Services leadership to recruit, onboard, and retain Service Desk personnel located in the Philippines.
  
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, customer service, and continuous improvement across a geographically distributed support team.
  
• Organize and lead periodic in-person team gatherings, training sessions, workshops, and team meetings to strengthen technical capabilities, collaboration, and employee engagement.
  
• Promote a positive and inclusive team culture through employee recognition activities, team-building events, and engagement initiatives that support retention and morale.
  
• Foster strong working relationships across the Service Desk organization through regular team interactions, knowledge-sharing sessions, and professional development opportunities.
  

Responsibilities

• Manage daily service desk operations, ensuring tickets are assigned, prioritized, and resolved on time.
  
• Review and follow up on high-priority tickets to ensure resolution and client communication.
  
• Own client escalations directly through to confirmed closure, with cause and resolution recorded.
  
• Oversee staffing schedules, approve time off, and adjust coverage to maintain SLA compliance.
  
• Conduct daily and weekly check-ins with Team Leads and technicians on workload and performance.
  
• Audit tickets and interactions for quality, documentation, and process adherence.
  
• Provide hands-on coaching, feedback, and support to service desk staff as needed.
  
• Track and report KPIs including volume, resolution time, first-call resolution, and satisfaction.
  
• Escalate unfillable coverage gaps in advance of the gap, with proposed mitigation.
  
• Raise recurring or systemic issues with problem statements and proposed corrective actions.
  
• Escalate performance or conduct concerns and departure risks to the Director and HR before acting.
  
• Own the upkeep and accuracy of service desk documentation.
  
• Coordinate with infrastructure, projects, and service delivery on cross-functional service issues.
  
• Ensure technicians progress against learning paths and certification goals.
  
• Lead the day-to-day operations of Arraya's Global Service Desk organization.
  
• Ensure staffing, workforce planning, scheduling, and coverage models support client requirements and service level commitments.
  
• Drive employee engagement, retention, training, and career development initiatives for the Philippines-based Service Desk team.
  
• Establish consistency in service delivery, reporting, documentation, escalation management, and operational processes across the Service Desk.
  
• Develop Team Leads and future leaders to support the continued growth and scalability of the Global Service Desk.
  
• Develop and execute team engagement initiatives that strengthen collaboration, communication, and alignment with company values.
  
• Coordinate training events, team meetings, leadership workshops, and development activities designed to support skills development, operational excellence, and career growth.
  
• Partner with leadership and Human Resources to support employee engagement, recognition, and team-building programs.
  

Expectations

• Service KPIs are tracked and trending to target, with accurate reporting delivered to the Director on the agreed cadence and variances explained.
  
• Contracted response and resolution SLAs are met, with misses documented and corrected.
  
• Customer satisfaction meets or exceeds target, every detractor response is closed, and a client-first and people-first mindset is promoted across the team.
  
• Every direct report has documented one-on-ones, a current development plan, and quarterly progress against learning paths and certifications.
  
• Client escalations are owned directly and closed with confirmed client communication recorded.
  
• All shifts are staffed to protect SLA commitments, with schedules published in advance.
  
• Ticket quality standards are enforced through recurring audits, and SOPs and knowledge base content are reviewed on a defined cycle with gaps tracked to closure.
  
• Processes are improved continuously, cross-team collaboration is maintained, and accountability, professionalism, and strong communication are modeled throughout.
  
• Team Leads demonstrate continued professional growth and increased operational ownership through coaching, mentorship, and leadership development initiatives.
  
• Employee retention, engagement, and satisfaction remain a focus through regular communication, training opportunities, recognition programs, and team-building activities.
  
• Team training plans are maintained, executed, and measured against defined development objectives.
  
• Periodic team gatherings and development events are conducted to strengthen culture, collaboration, and knowledge sharing.
  

Preferred Qualifications and Experience

• 7+ years of experience in IT support, service desk operations, or service delivery leadership.
  
• 3+ years of experience leading technical support teams within an MSP or multi-client environment.
  
• Prior experience directly managing Team Leads, supervisors, or frontline managers.
  
• Demonstrated success building high-performing teams, improving operational performance, and developing future leaders.
  
• Experience managing distributed or remote teams, preferably within the Philippines.
  
• Proven experience owning staffing, workforce planning, employee development, and customer escalations.
  

Education

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in information technology, Computer Science, Information Systems, Business Administration, or a related field.
  
• Equivalent combination of education, technical certifications, and relevant leadership experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
  

Preferred

• Bachelor’s degree in information technology, Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related discipline.
  
• Leadership, management, or business-related coursework or certifications.
  
• ITIL Foundation certification or higher.
  
• Industry certifications such as CompTIA A+, Network+, Security+, Microsoft, or other relevant technical certifications.
  
• Supervisory, leadership, or people-management training certifications.
  

Position Type and Expected Hours of Work

• Full-Time
  
• Remote
  
• 40+ hours per week, as required to support business needs
  
• Primary work schedule aligned to U.S. Eastern Time (EST/EDT) business hours
  
• Must be available to support management meetings, employee coaching sessions, customer escalations, and operational reviews during Eastern Time business hours
  
• Flexibility to adjust work schedules as needed to support Team Leads, technicians, and operational activities across first, second, and third shifts within a 24x7x365 service delivery environment
  
• Occasional evenings, overnight, weekend, or holiday availability may be required to support critical incidents, major outages, staffing needs, team development activities, and business initiatives
  
• Travel within the Philippines may be required for team gatherings, training events, leadership meetings, employee engagement activities, and team-building events
  
• Remote
  
• Monday through Friday
  
• Ability to adjust schedule to support evening one on one or meetings.