IT Helpdesk Manager

True Anomaly•Long Beach, CA

9h•Onsite

About The Position

A new space race has begun. True Anomaly seeks those with the talent and ambition to build innovative technology that solves the next generation of engineering, manufacturing, and operational challenges for space security and sustainability. The peaceful use of space is essential for continued prosperity on Earth—from communications and finance to navigation and logistics. True Anomaly builds innovative technology at the intersection of spacecraft, software, and AI to enhance the capabilities of the U.S., its allies, and commercial partners. We safeguard global security by ensuring space access and sustainability for all. We're seeking an experienced IT Helpdesk Manager to lead our Long Beach helpdesk team and serve as the on-the-ground management presence for our most junior office. This is a player-coach role where you'll directly develop a small team of technicians, including a brand new hire, while staying close enough to the work to lead by example and solve real problems alongside your team. If you're energized by building something from the ground up and thrive in environments where your presence and judgment genuinely matter, this is your role. You'll be joining at a pivotal moment: a young, technically capable team that needs hands-on leadership and structure, rapid company growth with a COO mandate to scale IT operations significantly, a greenfield opportunity to establish runbooks, SLAs, and a self-sufficient satellite office, and real career growth potential as the team and company scale together.

Requirements

5+ years in a technical support or helpdesk environment
2+ years managing technical teams, ideally in a high-growth or startup context
A genuine player-coach mindset; you're comfortable leading and still comfortable getting your hands dirty
Experience with Jira Service Management or a comparable ticketing platform
Solid working knowledge of Windows and macOS support, cloud identity platforms (Okta, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365), hardware lifecycle management, and remote support tooling
Strong instincts for prioritization and process; you don't just put out fires, you figure out why they started
Clear, proactive communicator who can bridge a satellite office to a distributed IT team
U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State

Nice To Haves

Experience in aerospace, defense, or a regulated industry
Familiarity with specialized engineering tools (PLM, CAD, or similar)
ITIL Foundation or equivalent

Responsibilities

Directly lead and develop a small Long Beach helpdesk team, including an experienced specialist and a newly onboarded technician
Build a team culture of accountability, ownership, and continuous improvement
Conduct regular 1-on-1s, performance reviews, and genuine career development conversations
Manage workload balancing, on-call rotation, and coverage planning
Coordinate with the Denver Helpdesk Manager for consistent cross-site service delivery
Own tier 1 SLA compliance and service quality for the Long Beach office
Triage and assign incoming tickets for optimal resolution
Escalate appropriately to IT Infrastructure Engineering when needed
Ensure the knowledge base and runbooks are maintained, current, and actually used
Drive first contact resolution rates and user satisfaction
Identify systemic issues in ticket trends and build solutions, not workarounds
Partner with the Enterprise Applications Engineer to automate manual workflows
Build out standard operating procedures for the team's most common work
Develop specialty tracks so each technician builds real depth, not just breadth
Champion self-service tooling to improve the employee experience
Deliver weekly metrics and insights to the Director of IT
Communicate service disruptions and incidents clearly to stakeholders
Participate in IT leadership team meetings, primarily via video with Denver
Represent Long Beach helpdesk in cross-functional projects