Director of Support Services

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati•Palo Alto, CA

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of Support Services owns end-user support services for Wilson Sonsini, with direct accountability for the outsourced Service Desk, deskside support technicians across the firm’s 17 offices, the Technical Training group, and technical communications. The role is responsible for day-to-day support for attorneys and business professionals, from first contact through resolution. The ideal candidate is a hands-on support services leader who prioritizes the end-user experience and can operate a high-volume, multi-location support organization with discipline. The director leads support delivery with a customer-focused approach, urgency, and an emphasis on responsiveness, quality, and consistency across offices. The position is available on a hybrid or fully virtual work schedule. The primary location is Palo Alto, though other locations may be listed. The anticipated annual base pay is $208,250–$281,750 in Palo Alto, New York, and San Francisco, and $187,850–$254,150 in Austin, Boston, Boulder, Century City, Delaware, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, San Diego, Seattle, Washington, D.C., and other locations. Compensation may include a discretionary year-end merit bonus based on performance. The firm offers a competitive salary and benefits package.

Requirements

Self-driven, takes ownership, and independently executes work to completion.
Positive, can-do attitude and proactive engagement with leadership as an advocate for end users.
Proven experience directly managing multiple technical groups to deliver support services across multiple locations and time zones.
Strong command of support operations fundamentals, including SLA management, ticketing systems, escalation models, and staffing and coverage planning.
Demonstrated success managing outsourced support vendors and holding them accountable to contracted performance.
Experience identifying technical support and training gaps and implementing user-facing solutions.
Familiarity with AI-enabled support tooling and a track record of driving automation adoption within a support function.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including communicating support performance to senior stakeholders.
Strong leadership skills, including hiring, coaching, and performance management of support personnel.
Bachelor’s degree in information technology, business administration, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
At least 8 years of progressive experience in end-user support leadership, including managed services and geographically dispersed support teams.
Experience with ServiceNow or an equivalent ITSM platform.

Nice To Haves

Experience in a law firm or professional services environment.
Track record of leading organizational change within a support or service delivery function.
Familiarity with legal industry applications.
Experience providing a “white glove” support experience as standard practice.
ITIL certification, Lean Six Sigma certification, or related certifications.

Responsibilities

Own the day-to-day performance of the outsourced Service Desk and hold the vendor accountable to contracted SLAs, quality standards, and cost targets.
Directly manage deskside support technicians across the firm’s 17 offices, ensuring consistent coverage, response times, and service quality.
Standardize support processes, ticket handling, and escalation paths across Service Desk and deskside teams.
Use ticket data, reporting, and analytics to identify trends, reduce recurring issues, and improve support performance.
Serve as the executive escalation point for support issues unresolved at first or second tier and drive them to resolution.
Build and maintain trusted relationships with attorneys, business professionals, and internal stakeholders, acting as an escalation point and advocate for support services.
Promote high satisfaction through proactive engagement, structured communication, and effective issue resolution.
Represent the end-user perspective internally by translating recurring support issues into service gaps and improvement opportunities.
Oversee onboarding and technology enablement for new attorneys and business professionals.
Direct the Technical Training group and ensure training content and outputs are high quality, professional, polished, and aligned with the firm’s technology needs.
Oversee technical training curriculum development, content design, and delivery methods, including in-person, virtual, and self-service formats.
Develop and execute communication strategies and tactics that engage employees in support of business initiatives.
Oversee technical communications about outages, deployments, technical changes, and known issues, ensuring they are clear and include necessary supporting materials.
Partner with the Technical Training group to develop resources addressing gaps identified through Service Desk ticket trends.
Partner with practice groups or firm leadership to identify training priorities related to new technology rollouts.
Drive compliance with internal governance models and quality standards across support teams.
Participate as a key stakeholder in incident management for support-related outages affecting end users.
Set staffing, scheduling, and coverage models across offices and time zones to meet demand, including peak periods, offsite events, and after-hours needs.
Benchmark support operations against industry standards and implement best practices.
Manage support services budgets, including vendor contracts, staffing costs, and tooling expenses.
Hire, coach, and develop support resources, fostering accountability and continuous growth.
Establish expectations, workload balance, and coverage across offices to sustain team optimization and reliability.
Support talent development, succession planning, and effective workforce utilization.
Identify and address knowledge and skill gaps within the teams.
Set team goals, performance standards, and accountability measures to improve service outcomes.