Canary IT is a national provider of Cloud & Data, Cyber Security, ERP and POS solutions, and Managed Services. We are proudly 26 years in business, with long time, trusting relationships with our customers, our supplier network and our people. We take pride in delivering the best outcomes for our customers.
The Service Desk Manager is responsible for leading the day‑to‑day operations of the Service Desk, ensuring the delivery of a high‑quality support experience. This role combines people leadership, operational control, and service excellence, ensuring that incidents, requests, escalations, and major incidents are managed effectively and in line with service expectations. The Service Desk Manager sets the standard for collaboration, communication, training, and continuous improvement, enabling a multi-Geo Managed Services function to operate efficiently, professionally, and proactively.
If you are a passionate, results-driven professional we encourage you to apply and become a vital part of our team.
Key Responsibilities:
Operational Management
Monitor and manage Service Desk activity including queue health, WIP limits, SLA risk, and backlog.
Ensure effective triage, routing, and prioritisation of incidents and requests across the team.
Maintain real-time awareness of major incidents, service risks, and volume spikes, coordinating resources to stabilise operations.
Team Leadership & Performance Management
Lead and mentor Service Desk personnel across L1, L2, and L3 functions, fostering a culture of accountability, quality, and customer-centricity.
Identify and nurture "Team Lead" talent.
Conduct regular performance reviews, coaching sessions, and skills assessments.
Develop and maintain a skills matrix and talent development plan to support career growth and capability uplift.
Oversee onboarding and offboarding processes to ensure consistent quality and knowledge retention.
Escalation & Major Incident Handling
Own operational escalations from L1 through L3, ensuring timely and accurate handoffs.
Execute P1/P2 playbooks, activate major incident bridges, and coordinate responder engagement (L2/L3/SOM/SDM).
Ensure clear communication and status updates are maintained throughout major events and transitions.
Capacity, Roster & Resource Planning
Develop shift patterns, coverage models, and rota structures to ensure adequate staffing across business hours and after-hours support.
Manage leave planning, uplift periods, and on-call schedules in alignment with service demand and contractual obligations.
Identify resourcing gaps, propose staffing adjustments, and support recruitment efforts.
Quality Assurance & Continuous Improvement
Conduct regular ticket quality audits focusing on communication, categorisation, prioritisation, and adherence to SOPs.
Ensure consistently high standards for ticket hygiene, customer updates, documentation, and closure.
Partner with the Service Operations Manager to drive improvements in runbooks, KB articles, automation opportunities, and process enhancements.
Analyse trends to reduce repeat incidents and uplift First Contact Resolution (FCR).
Training, Enablement & Knowledge Management
Develop training programs to uplift technical and soft‑skills capabilities across L1/L2/L3.
Ensure adherence to Knowledge Base governance, article updates, and internal runbook accuracy.
Promote a culture of shared learning, continuous development, and proactive knowledge creation.
Customer Experience & Communication
Ensure high-quality, timely communication to end users, especially during major incidents or operational disruptions.
Champion a customer‑first mindset in all interactions and service delivery practices.
Support SDMs with customer insights, operational data, and trends for governance reports.
Key Skills & Experience:
Essential
Proven leadership experience managing a Service Desk or IT support team in an MSP or enterprise environment.
Strong understanding of ITIL processes and how they are executed within day‑to‑day operations (Incident, Request, Problem, Change, Major Incident).
Experience managing multi‑tier support teams (L1–L3) and complex escalation paths.
Demonstrated ability to interpret operational dashboards and act on real-time service signals.
Strong communication skills with the ability to manage escalations, major incidents, and stakeholder expectations calmly and confidently.
Experience with ITSM tools (ServiceNow, Jira Service Management, Freshservice, ConnectWise.).
Experience with RMM tools
Ability to mentor, coach, and uplift technical and non-technical team members.
Desirable
ITIL v4 Foundation or higher certification.
Experience in a Managed Services Provider supporting multi‑tower environments (Cloud, Infrastructure, Network, Modern Workplace).
Familiarity with monitoring, alerting, and automation tools used in enterprise operations.
Exposure to process improvement initiatives, Lean or Six Sigma methodologies.
Experience supporting 24×7 or follow‑the‑sun operational models.
Hands‑on experience in technical domains such as endpoint management, identity, cloud operations, network support, or infrastructure.