Information Technology Service Desk Manager

Company Description We are committed to enhancing the quality of life for individuals over 55 by creating and offering access to financial products and services tailored to meet our customers' unique needs and challenges. We operate across the entire retirement and later life lending market, bringing together guidance, advice and lending as well as advisor support services, tools and training. Role Overview We're looking for an experienced IT Service Desk Manager to lead our first and second line support team and deliver an excellent IT support experience across the Group. You'll motivate and develop a high-performing team, drive service improvements and ensure KPIs and SLAs are consistently achieved, while acting as a key escalation point for more complex technical issues. Key Responsibilities

• Lead, support and motivate a team of IT Technicians, providing first–class service to colleagues needing IT support.
• Take team leadership responsibility for the first/second line teams
• Manage the operational day–to–day running of the team, including absence management (holidays, sickness and lateness).
• Establish, monitor and report on Service Desk performance against agreed KPIs, SLAs and operational targets.
• Define and promote help desk and ticket–handling procedures within the team and wider business.
• Act as the escalation point for technical issues raised by the first/second line team, drawing on expertise across a broad range of technologies.
• Manage your own ticket queue alongside day–to–day staff management responsibilities.
• Additional project work will be undertaken as required by the business.
• Provide software support for in–house business applications.
• Embed company policies and promote good practice within the team.
• Maintain documentation of internal processes and systems.
• Own asset management and the starters, movers and leavers process.
• Stay current with business application and external vendor information, changes and updates.
• Manage relationships with technology suppliers and service providers, ensuring value for money and high standards of service delivery.
• Help identify opportunities for cost optimisation and service improvement.
• Undertake any other ad hoc tasks as business needs dictate. About The Person You are a highly organised individual, with a keen attention to detail and a methodical, logical approach to problem solving. An effective communicator and leader, you are comfortable dealing with colleagues at all levels of the business, as well as external suppliers, in a professional and confident manner. You bring a technical background with a good level of competency in both Windows Servers and Clients, along with an understanding of virtualisation and cloud services, and the drive to continually expand your knowledge. You thrive in a fast–paced Service Desk environment, balancing competing priorities whilst maintaining high standards of customer service, team performance and operational control. Pragmatic by nature, you focus on achieving outcomes rather than becoming constrained by obstacles, remaining calm under pressure and bringing a level of control to stressful situations. You bring sound judgement, a delivery–focused mindset and the ability to make the most of the resources available to you, ensuring progress continues even when circumstances are challenging. Most importantly, you are committed to continuous improvement and passionate about using technology to deliver an excellent service to colleagues across the business. Essential
• Experience managing, coaching, mentoring and developing a team.
• Minimum of 12 months' experience managing an IT team.
• Ability to implement and assess performance metrics.
• Ability to adapt management style based on the individual.
• Strong sense of pride and teamwork, with a willingness to aid in the success of the team.
• Great communication skills.
• Enterprise IT knowledge, including a good level of competency in:
• Active Directory
• Group Policy
• DHCP
• DNS
• Office 365
• Virtualisation
• TCP/IP Networking Desirable
• Experience using cloud services.
• Financial services background.
• Experience with Jira
• Experience with Azure DevOps.
• GCSE or higher in IT.
• ITIL Foundation or higher.
• Any IT industry qualification, e.g. MCSA / CCNA.
• Further/Higher education qualifications. Package £36,000-40,000 depending on skills and experience Hybrid working 25 days holiday – plus bank holidays & Birthday off Holiday purchase scheme Flexible working hours Cash healthcare plan Cycle to work scheme Enhanced maternity and paternity pay Gym discounts