Service Desk Team Leader

Cognizant; Buenos Aires; Hybrid; ARS 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognizant is seeking a Service Desk Team Leader to steer a global Service Desk within a Digital Workplace context. You will oversee daily operations, coach a high-performing team, and act as the primary escalation point for complex incidents to ensure service continuity.

You will collaborate with support, engineering, field services, vendors, and business stakeholders to drive quality, SLA adherence, and continuous improvement in a hybrid work environment.

Qualifications

• Experience leading Service Desk, Command Center, Help Desk, or Digital Workplace support teams in an enterprise environment.
• Strong knowledge of IT Service Management (ITSM) processes, including incident, request, escalation, queue, and SLA management.
• Proven experience handling major incidents, service-impacting events, and escalation management.
• Experience supporting Windows environments and Microsoft 365 technologies, including Teams, Outlook, SharePoint, and OneDrive.
• Knowledge of virtual desktop technologies such as Citrix, VDI, and Remote Desktop Services (RDS).
• Understanding of identity and access management processes, including MFA, account administration, and access requests.
• Experience monitoring operational performance metrics and using data to drive service improvements.
• Strong leadership, coaching, communication, stakeholder management, and decision-making skills.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, global support environment while managing multiple priorities.

Responsibilities

• Lead the day-to-day operations of a global Service Desk team, ensuring adequate coverage, workload balancing, and effective queue management.
• Provide coaching, mentoring, and performance feedback to team members while fostering a customer-centric culture and operational excellence.
• Serve as the primary escalation point for complex, high-priority, or service-impacting incidents and requests.
• Coordinate response efforts during service disruptions, outages, and major incidents, ensuring timely engagement of technical teams and stakeholders.
• Monitor service levels, ticket backlogs, SLA performance, and operational metrics, taking proactive action to mitigate risks and maintain service quality.
• Ensure ticket quality, documentation standards, and communication practices are consistently maintained across the team.
• Partner with Field Services, vendors, and resolver groups to drive efficient incident resolution and service restoration.
• Facilitate effective shift handovers and support a global follow-the-sun operating model.
• Promote knowledge management, self-service adoption, automation initiatives, and continuous improvement opportunities.
• Support onboarding, training, and operational readiness activities for new team members.

Skills

Service desk leadership

ITSM processes

Major incidents handling

Windows & Microsoft 365

VDI / Citrix

IAM / MFA

Performance metrics

Leadership & communication

multitasking in global support

Job description

About The Role

As a Service Desk Team Leader, you will make an impact by leading a high-performing team responsible for delivering exceptional Digital Workplace support services across a global enterprise environment. You will oversee daily service desk operations, ensure service excellence, and act as a critical escalation point for complex incidents while promoting a culture of continuous improvement and customer satisfaction.

You will be a valued member of the Digital Workplace organization, collaborating with support teams, engineering teams, field services, vendors, and business stakeholders to ensure service continuity, operational efficiency, and a seamless end-user experience.

In This Role, You Will

• Lead the day-to-day operations of a global Service Desk team, ensuring adequate coverage, workload balancing, and effective queue management.
• Provide coaching, mentoring, and performance feedback to team members while fostering a customer-centric culture and operational excellence.
• Serve as the primary escalation point for complex, high-priority, or service-impacting incidents and requests.
• Coordinate response efforts during service disruptions, outages, and major incidents, ensuring timely engagement of technical teams and stakeholders.
• Monitor service levels, ticket backlogs, SLA performance, and operational metrics, taking proactive action to mitigate risks and maintain service quality.
• Ensure ticket quality, documentation standards, and communication practices are consistently maintained across the team.
• Partner with Field Services, vendors, and resolver groups to drive efficient incident resolution and service restoration.
• Facilitate effective shift handovers and support a global follow-the-sun operating model.
• Promote knowledge management, self-service adoption, automation initiatives, and continuous improvement opportunities.
• Support onboarding, training, and operational readiness activities for new team members.

Work model

Hybrid

We believe hybrid work is the way forward as we strive to provide flexibility wherever possible. Based on this role's business requirements, this is a hybrid position requiring attendance at a Cognizant or client office as needed.

Regardless of your working arrangement, we are here to support a healthy work-life balance through our various wellbeing programmes.

The working arrangements for this role are accurate as of the date of posting. This may change based on the project you're engaged in, as well as business and client requirements. Rest assured, we will always be clear about role expectations.

What You Need To Have To Be Considered

• Experience leading Service Desk, Command Center, Help Desk, or Digital Workplace support teams in an enterprise environment.
• Strong knowledge of IT Service Management (ITSM) processes, including incident, request, escalation, queue, and SLA management.
• Proven experience handling major incidents, service-impacting events, and escalation management.
• Experience supporting Windows environments and Microsoft 365 technologies, including Teams, Outlook, SharePoint, and OneDrive.
• Knowledge of virtual desktop technologies such as Citrix, VDI, and Remote Desktop Services (RDS).
• Understanding of identity and access management processes, including MFA, account administration, and access requests.
• Experience monitoring operational performance metrics and using data to drive service improvements.
• Strong leadership, coaching, communication, stakeholder management, and decision-making skills.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, global support environment while managing multiple priorities.

These will help you stand out

• ITIL Foundation certification or equivalent IT Service Management certification.
• Experience supporting enterprise applications such as SAP, JDE, AS400, SailPoint, or comparable business-critical platforms.
• Experience managing global or regional support teams within a follow-the-sun operating model.
• Knowledge of automation, self-service technologies, and continuous improvement methodologies.
• Experience working with third-party vendors, telecom providers, and managed service organizations.
• Advanced communication skills and the ability to engage effectively with both technical and business stakeholders.

We're excited to meet people who share our mission and can make an impact in a variety of ways. Think about your transferable experiences and unique skills that make you stand out as someone who can bring new and exciting things to this role.