IT Service Desk Access Control Analyst

BDO UK LLP; Birmingham, Liverpool; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

BDO is seeking an IT Service Desk Access Control Analyst to support secure access to the firm's information systems. You will administer user identities and permissions, respond to access requests and incidents, and maintain accurate audit trails to protect confidentiality, integrity and availability.

Working in the SDAC team, you’ll apply least-privilege principles, escalate security concerns as needed, and contribute to process improvements and documentation.

Qualifications

• Experience delivering customer-focused IT support via calls, tickets and email.
• Experience with ITSM platforms, preferably ServiceNow.
• Experience in IT support, access administration or IAM.
• Strong attention to detail and ability to follow procedures.

Responsibilities

• Process and fulfil access control requests per procedures and SLAs.
• Create, modify, disable and restore user accounts and permissions.
• Support JML activities to manage lifecycle of access.
• Monitor ticket queues and provide clear customer updates.
• Maintain ticket records and audit trails per governance.
• Provide guidance on access control policies and security best practices.

Skills

Customer-focused support

ServiceNow

IT support

Access administration

Active Directory

PowerShell

Microsoft 365

Windows 11

Information security awareness

Tools

ServiceNow

Active Directory

PowerShell

Microsoft Entra ID

Microsoft 365

Windows 11

Job description

Ideas | People | Trust

We’re BDO. An accountancy and business advisory firm, providing the advice and solutions entrepreneurial organisations need to navigate today’s changing world.

We work with the companies that are Britain’s economic engine – ambitious, entrepreneurially-spirited and high growth businesses that fuel the economy - and directly advise the owners and management teams that lead them.

We’ll broaden your horizons

To ensure our services and applications are fit for the modern market, our IT team collaborates with every department. They develop, they explore and they implement the new ideas helping us to change the future of accounting, tax and business consulting. But, just as importantly, they maintain the tech that keeps us advancing. By testing and adopting the future of financial technical solutions, they find new and exciting ways to drive us forward. And you could too. In an IT role at BDO, you’ll become part of a team that act as the backbone for our business. No matter who you are or what your skillset is, we’ll give you the training and support you need to achieve whatever you put your mind to.

We’ll help you succeed

Leading organisations trust us because of the quality of our advice. That quality grows from a thorough understanding of their business, and that understanding comes from working closely with them and building long-lasting relationships.

You’ll be someone who is both comfortable working pro-actively and managing your own tasks, as well as confident collaborating with others and communicating regularly with senior managers, directors, and BDO’s partners to help businesses effectively. You’ll be encouraged to identify and draw attention to opportunities for enhancing our delivery and providing additional services to organisations we work with.

The IT Service Desk Access Control Analyst is responsible for supporting the secure and effective management of access to the firm's information systems. Working as part of the Service Desk Access Control (SDAC) team, the role processes and fulfils access control requests in accordance with defined procedures, governance requirements, policies and service level agreements.

The role helps protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information while enabling colleagues to access the systems and services they need to perform their roles. This includes administering user identities, permissions and access across a broad range of business and IT platforms, responding promptly to access requests and incidents, and maintaining accurate records and audit trails.

The analyst will provide a secure and seamless customer experience, apply the principles of least privilege and appropriate authorisation, escalates exceptions or potential security concerns, and contribute to continuous improvement of access control processes and documentation.

As part of the wider IT support function, the role requires flexibility to support the IT Client Services team through phone calls and ticket cover, which provides technical support to BDO clients.

Flexibility will be required to support the business between the hours of 8am – 6pm & other IT functions where required

In this role you’ll:

• Deliver a responsive and customer-focused service when processing, fulfilling and managing access control incidents and service requests, in line with agreed procedures, governance controls, KPIs and SLAs.
• Validate access requests accurately and efficiently, working with customers to obtain the appropriate information and authorisation and escalating exceptions or security concerns where required.
• Create, amend, disable and re-enable user accounts, privileged accounts, permissions and security group memberships across designated systems.
• Support Joiner, Mover and Leaver (JML) activity to help ensure access is provisioned, amended and removed appropriately throughout the user lifecycle.
• Monitor and review access controls and ticket queues, ensuring requests are progressed promptly, accurately and with clear customer updates as part of BDO’s operational excellence & quality framework
• Maintain complete and accurate ticket records and audit trails, documenting approvals, actions taken and outcomes in accordance with governance requirements.
• Respond to access-related incidents and requests, escalating suspected security issues, policy exceptions or complex technical matters to the appropriate teams.
• Provide guidance to colleagues on access control policies, processes and security best practice.
• Work collaboratively with IT, Information Security, Governance and business stakeholders to resolve access requirements and maintain effective controls.
• Contribute to documentation, knowledge articles, process reviews and continuous improvement opportunities, including standardisation and automation where appropriate.
• Provide triage support and route work to the appropriate resolver teams where required.
• Deliver a professional, customer-focused service while ensuring security and governance requirements are not compromised.

You’ll be someone with:

• Experience of providing customer-focused support through calls, tickets, email and other support channels.
• Experience of using an IT service management / incident management platform, preferably ServiceNow.
• Experience of working within an IT support, service desk, access administration or identity/access management environment.
• Good understanding of user account administration, access permissions and security groups.
• Awareness of access control principles including least privilege, appropriate authorisation, segregation of duties and maintaining audit trails.
• Strong attention to detail, with the ability to follow defined procedures and make accurate changes to user access.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with confidence communicating with colleagues and stakeholders at different levels.
• A high level of ownership, with the ability to prioritise workload based on urgency, impact, risk, SLA and business need.
• Ability to recognise and escalates access exceptions, potential security risks and requests that fall outside established procedures.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively, sharing knowledge and supporting effective team working.
• Commitment to confidentiality, information security, governance and the appropriate handling of sensitive access information.
• Good working knowledge of Microsoft 365 and Windows 11.
• Hands-on experience of Active Directory user and group administration (desirable)
• Experience of Microsoft Entra ID / identity and access administration (desirable)
• Experience supporting Joiner, Mover and Leaver processes and privileged account administration (desirable)
• Experience in PowerShell to complete bulk actions within Active Directory (desirable)
• Knowledge of ITIL principles or an ITIL Foundation qualification (desirable)
• Awareness of information security, governance, risk, compliance or access control standards (Cybersecurity Qualifications) (desirable)
• Experience of access reviews, audit evidence, process documentation or knowledge management (desirable)
• An interest in process improvement and automation within access management or service management (desirable)
• Commitment to ongoing personal development and flexibility to adapt working patterns to meet business needs (desirable)

At BDO, we’ll help you achieve your personal goals and career ambitions, and we have programmes, resources, and frameworks that provide clarity and structure around career development.

We’re in it together

Mutual support and respect is one of BDO’s core values and we’re proud of our distinctive, people-centred culture. From informal success conversations to formal mentoring and coaching, we’ll support you at every stage in your career, whatever your personal and professional needs.

Our agile working framework helps us stay connected, bringing teams together where and when it counts so they can share ideas and help one another. At BDO, you’ll always have access to the people and resources you need to do your best work.

We know that collaboration is the key to creating value for the companies we work with and satisfying experiences for our colleagues, so we’ve invested in state‑art collaboration spaces in our offices. BDO’s people represent a wealth of knowledge and expertise, and we’ll encourage you to build your network, work alongside others, and share your skills and experiences. With a range of multidisciplinary events and dedicated resources, you’ll never stop learning at BDO.

We’re looking forward to the future

At BDO, we help entrepreneurial businesses to succeed, fuelling the UK economy.

Our success is powered by our people, which is why we’re always finding new ways to invest in you. Across the UK thousands of unique minds continue to come together to help companies we work with to achieve their ambitions

We’ve got a clear purpose, and we’re confident in our future, because we’re adapting and evolving to build on our strengths, ensuring we continue to find the right combination of global reach, integrity and expertise. We shape the future together with openness and clarity, because we believe in empowering people to think creatively about how we can do things better.