Manager, IT Service Desk

NHL • New York, NY

3d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Service Desk Manager is responsible for leading the daily operations, technical direction, and continuous improvement of the Service Desk. This role combines strong people leadership with deep technical expertise, ensuring the team not only resolves incidents efficiently but also identifies and eliminates root causes through structured ITSM Incident and Problem Management practices. The manager is accountable for driving service quality through data-driven insights, leading problem investigations, and implementing long-term solutions that reduce incident volume and improve end-user experience. This includes ownership of incident, request, and problem management processes, leveraging ServiceNow and other enterprise tools to automate workflows and self-service support, enhance visibility, provide seamless support experiences for business users across a variety of channels, and enforce process consistency. A key focus of this role is developing a highly skilled technical team capable of advanced troubleshooting across systems including endpoint devices, identity platforms, collaboration tools, and network services. The Service Desk Manager provides hands-on technical guidance, leads major incident response, and ensures alignment with enterprise IT standards, security policies, and operational best practices. This role plays a critical part in advancing ITSM maturity by introducing automation, AI-driven insights, proactive monitoring, and trend analysis to shift the Service Desk from reactive support to proactive service delivery.

Requirements

• Strong understanding of ITIL practices with emphasis on Incident, Problem, and Request Management.
• Strong technical expertise in enterprise environments, including endpoint management, identity and access management, collaboration platforms (Microsoft 365), and networking fundamentals.
• Hands-on experience with ITSM platforms (ServiceNow preferred), including workflow automation and reporting.
• Experience analyzing support data and metrics to drive operational improvements and reduce incident volume.
• Ability to lead technical investigations and guide teams through complex troubleshooting scenarios.
• Strong Microsoft Office skills, particularly Excel and PowerPoint.
• Highly developed verbal and written communication skills with the ability to influence at leadership levels.
• Demonstrable proficiency in ServiceNow ITSM practices.
• Highly organized, attention to details and strong follow-through.
• A positive energetic attitude.

Nice To Haves

• Demonstrated experience leading Problem Management and Root Cause Analysis (RCA) initiatives.
• 5+ years of Service Desk or IT support experience, with at least 2–3 years in a leadership role.
• Proven experience implementing or maturing ITSM processes, particularly Problem Management.
• Experience working in enterprise-scale environments with complex systems and integrations.

Responsibilities

• Leverage ServiceNow to implement and optimize incident, request, and problem workflows, including automation and AI-assisted triage.
• Ensure all service desk processes are documented and kept up to date.
• Identify and track training needs for service desk team members, including readiness for support of new IT service offerings.
• Manage daily scheduling to ensure coverage for standard hours, games, and events.
• Track and respond to Customer Satisfaction results for IT support surveys.
• Drive adoption of shift-left practices, ensuring knowledge and fixes are pushed into frontline and self-service / automated support channels.
• Analyze incident trends and recurring issues to proactively identify problems and drive incident reduction initiatives.
• Own and facilitate major incident management, ensuring timely escalation, communication, and post-incident reviews.
• Lead implementations of Problem Management practices, including root cause analysis (RCA), known error documentation, and implementation of permanent fixes.
• Partner with engineering and infrastructure teams to drive permanent resolution of systemic issues.
• Build and maintain a Known Error Database (KEDB) to improve first-call resolution and reduce escalation rates.

Benefits

• Generous Paid Time Off (PTO) to focus on your well-being and ensure a healthy work/life balance. PTO includes paid holidays, vacation, personal and sick days, plus an extra day off for your birthday.
• Comprehensive health benefits to employees and their eligible dependents effective on their first day with us – there is no waiting period. The NHL subsidizes a large portion of the health benefits costs, therefore your cost for medical, dental and vision coverage is minimal.
• Access to our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to support mental, physical, and financial health.
• Access to a digital wellness resource designed to improve health and happiness through courses in sleep, movement, and focus.
• Comprehensive Childcare Leave to welcome your new addition. The primary caregiver to the child is entitled to up to 12 weeks of paid Childcare Leave, at full pay, following the birth, adoption, or placement of a child. Employees that are not the primary caregiver to the child are entitled to up to 6 weeks of paid Childcare Leave, at full pay, which must be taken within the first 6 months following the birth, adoption, or placement of a child.
• Participate in the NHL’s Savings Plan which includes a 401K (pre-tax and Roth options) plus non-elective (employer) contributions to keep your retirement goals on track.
• Hybrid Work Schedule: The NHL recognizes the value of flexibility in work locations/schedules to help our employees balance work/life priorities. Hybrid work schedules are available for a majority of our roles.
• Participate in the NHL’s pre-tax commuter benefit plan which helps offset the financial cost of traveling to and from our office.
• Unlock exclusive pricing from our Partners that include savings on travel, consumer goods and services, plus the NHL Store.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Education Level: No Education Listed