IT Service Desk Manager: Lead, Improve & Deliver Excellence

Ellison Institute of Technology; Oxford; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Travel allowance

Bonus

Pension 7.5% employer contribution

Job summary

Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT) in Oxford seeks a proactive IT Service Desk Manager to lead and continually improve the IT Service Desk, delivering a responsive and high-quality support experience. You will own day-to-day operations, management processes, and drive continual improvement in a fast-moving research environment.

The role requires strong ITIL/ITSM knowledge, a track record of people development, and the ability to align service delivery with organisational needs.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience leading IT Service Desk in a complex organisation.
• Proven success improving Service Desk performance, maturity, processes and customer experience.
• Strong practical knowledge of ITIL and IT Service Management, ideally ITIL v4 certified.
• Experience across Incident, Request, Knowledge, Problem and Change Management.
• Strong understanding of SLAs, OLAs, KPIs, service reporting, escalation and continual improvement.
• Significant experience with ITSM platforms such as Jira Service Management or equivalent.
• Strong people leadership, coaching, analytical, communication and stakeholder management skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the IT Service Desk team, promoting ownership, accountability, professionalism and excellent customer service.
• Own day-to-day Service Desk performance, including ticket prioritisation, workload management, escalation, communication and resolution.
• Maintain strong standards across SLA/OLA performance, first-contact resolution, ticket quality and effective hand‑offs between teams.
• Act as the senior escalation point for complex or sensitive issues and identify recurring demand, bottlenecks and service improvement opportunities.
• Apply practical ITIL and Service Management principles, ensuring processes are proportionate, effective and consistently followed.
• Improve ITSM data quality, workflows, automation, self‑service and knowledge management.
• Support Incident, Major Incident, Problem and Change Management activities, including communications and operational readiness.
• Define and review Service Desk KPIs, using performance data and customer feedback to drive continual improvement.
• Build strong relationships across EIT and ensure the Service Desk continues to meet evolving scientific, technical and operational needs.

Skills

IT Service Desk leadership

ITIL v4

Service Management

Incident/Request/Knowledge/Problem/</w

Change Management

Stakeholder management

Communication

Jira Service Management

Education

ITIL v4 certification

Tools

Jira Service Management

Job description

Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT) in Oxford seeks a proactive IT Service Desk Manager to lead and continually improve the IT Service Desk, delivering a responsive and high-quality support experience. You will own day-to-day operations, management processes, and drive continual improvement in a fast-moving research environment.

The role requires strong ITIL/ITSM knowledge, a track record of people development, and the ability to align service delivery with organisational needs.