Service Desk Lead | ITXcellence | Abu Dhabi

ITXcellence; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 420,000 - 540,000; Full time

Job summary

ITXcellence in Abu Dhabi seeks a Service Desk Lead with 8–10 years of IT service management experience to drive SLA/KPI performance and lead a large team. This on-site role focuses on workforce planning, escalation workflows, and enterprise ITSM operations to maintain world-class support standards.

You will oversee telephony/ACD systems, contribute to knowledge management, and mentor staff while meeting stringent government-security vetting requirements.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in IT/CS or related field.
• 8–10 years IT infra and service desk experience; 3+ in leadership.
• Experience leading 20+ agent service desks.
• Fluent English and Arabic, written and spoken.
• Strong workforce management and forecasting skills.
• Hands-on ITSM and telephony/ACD knowledge.
• ITIL Intermediate; HDI/COPC a plus.
• Ability to pass security vetting and after-hours escalations.

Responsibilities

• Own service desk SLA adherence and health dashboards.
• Optimize metrics: answer rates, FCR, AHT, CSAT.
• Design shift patterns and capacity plans for peak periods.
• Lead a large team of supervisors and analysts.
• Drive knowledge management and shift-left initiatives.
• Oversee QA, coaching programs, and performance reviews.
• Manage telephony, ACD, and ITSM platform operations.
• Lead recruitment and ongoing technical upskilling.

Skills

English & Arabic

Leadership

Workforce planning

ITIL Intermediate

ITSM platforms

Performance analytics

Education

Bachelor’s degree in IT/CS

Tools

ITSM platforms

Telephony/ACD systems

Job description

Position Summary:

ITXcellence is actively seeking an experienced, strategic, and results-driven Service Desk Lead with 8 to 10 years of IT service management experience to join our client operations in Abu Dhabi on a full-time permanent basis. In this critical leadership role, you will be responsible for overseeing overall service desk SLA and KPI performance, leading a large team of supervisors, senior agents, and Tier 1 / 1.5 analysts, and driving continuous operational improvement across enterprise support desks. You will leverage your deep practical expertise in workforce management, telephony/ACD platforms, ITSM tools, knowledge management, and bilingual communication proficiency in English and Arabic to maintain world-class support standards. This opportunity requires an elite ITSM professional with proven experience managing 20+ agent service desks and meeting stringent government security vetting requirements.

Detailed Job Description:

As a Service Desk Lead supporting enterprise client operations in Abu Dhabi via ITXcellence, you will take full operational and leadership ownership of service desk performance, workforce planning, quality assurance, and incident escalation workflows. Your day-to-day responsibilities include managing key performance metrics such as answer rates, abandonment rates, First Call Resolution (FCR), Average Handling Time (AHT), and Customer Satisfaction (CSAT). You will design complex shift patterns and workforce plans for normal and peak operating periods, lead coaching initiatives, and spearhead knowledge management and shift-left strategies. Furthermore, you will oversee telephony, ACD, and ITSM platform operations, drive recruitment and training, and act as the ultimate escalation point for complex and sensitive user issues outside core hours.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own and manage overall service desk SLA adherence, performance metrics, and operational health dashboards.
• Monitor and optimize answer rates, abandonment rates, First Call Resolution (FCR), Average Handling Time (AHT), and CSAT scores.
• Design optimized shift patterns, workforce schedules, and capacity plans for normal and peak operational periods.
• Lead, mentor, and evaluate a large team comprising supervisors, senior agents, Tier 1 analysts, and Tier 1.5 support specialists.
• Drive knowledge management initiatives and execute structured shift-left strategies to reduce ticket resolution times.
• Manage comprehensive call quality assurance (QA) frameworks, agent coaching programs, and performance reviews.
• Oversee enterprise telephony, Automated Call Distribution (ACD), and ITSM platform operations and configurations.
• Lead end-to‑to end recruitment, induction training, and ongoing technical upskilling programs for support personnel.

Required Qualifications & Skills:

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or a related technical discipline.
• Minimum of 8 to 10 years of professional IT infrastructure and service desk experience, including 3+ years in leadership roles.
• Proven hands‑on experience leading and managing a large-scale service desk operation comprising 20+ support agents.
• Mandatory fluent professional communication proficiency in both English and Arabic (written and spoken).
• Comprehensive expertise in workforce management, operational forecasting, and multi‑shift scheduling.
• Deep practical familiarity with enterprise ITSM ticketing platforms and telephony/ACD systems.
• Mandatory ITIL Intermediate (or higher) certification; HDI or COPC certifications are a distinct advantage.
• Ability to pass rigorous background security vetting, obtain clean police clearance, and handle off‑hours escalations.

Nice-to-Have Skills:

• Advanced postgraduate degrees in Information Technology Management or Business Administration (MBA).
• Specialized certifications in service management frameworks (ITIL Expert, COBIT).
• Prior professional experience managing government or ministry-level IT helpdesk environments in the UAE.
• Strong data analytics background utilizing BI tools for advanced service desk performance reporting.
• Experience implementing AI-driven chatbot automation and self‑service knowledge portals.

Salary/Rate: Market Competitive / Executive Package

Deadline: Open until filled

Notice Period: Immediate to 30 Days

Contract Duration: Permanent / Full-Time On‑Site (Abu Dhabi)