IT Service Desk Team Lead

Cambridge Consultants; Cambridge; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A global technology consultancy in Cambridge is seeking an IT Service Desk Team Lead to enhance IT support experiences for staff. This role combines leadership and hands-on technical skills, focusing on service improvement and incident management. Candidates should have experience in IT support leadership and a strong commitment to user-focused service delivery. The position requires mostly on-site work and the ability to obtain a Security Check level security clearance.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in a Service Desk or IT support leadership role.
• Strong understanding of incident, request, and escalation management.
• Excellent communication skills with a user-focused approach.

Responsibilities

• Provide day-to-day leadership and development for Service Desk colleagues.
• Act as escalation point for complex issues.
• Own and manage Service Desk operations.

Skills

Service Desk Leadership

Incident Management

Communication Skills

User-focused Mindset

Operational Improvement

Job description

The role

Due to internal promotions, we’re looking for an IT Service Desk Team Lead to join our End-User Services department. This is a hands-on leadership role where you’ll play a key part in shaping the day-to-day IT support experience for colleagues across Cambridge Consultants.

Cambridge Consultants is a global technology consultancy that helps organisations solve complex technical and business challenges. Our teams include engineers, scientists, designers, and specialists from a wide range of disciplines, all relying on effective, responsive IT services to do their best work. As Service Desk Team Lead, you’ll sit at the heart of that experience by managing a small and capable team , and helping to ensure our IT services are reliable, approachable, and continually improving.

This opportunity will combine people leadership p, management, hands-on technical skills , and service improvement with in an environment where your judgement, ideas, and operational insight genuinely matter.

This role requires you to work on-site the majority of the time, with the option of occasional home working, where the role allows.

Responsibilities

Your responsibilities may vary and there’s opportunity for this role to evolve over time, but we’ve provided an example of the types of things you can expect:

• Provide day-to-day leadership, line management, coaching, and development for Service Desk colleagues, fostering a supportive and high-performing team culture.
• Provide hands-on support alongside the Service Desk team, handling incidents and requests directly and acting as an escalation point for more complex or technically nuanced issues.
• Own and manage Service Desk operations, ensuring incidents and requests are logged, prioritised, assigned, and resolved in line with agreed service levels.
• Monitor and manage Service Desk performance against agreed service levels and operational metrics, using insight from tickets and trends to drive service quality, prioritisation, and continuous improvement.
• Act as the primary escalation point for Service Desk issues, coordinating effectively with colleagues across IT Services to resolve more complex or high‑impact problems.
• Monitor queue health, workload distribution, and emerging trends to ensure effective resourcing, timely response, and consistent quality of service.
• Ensure clear, timely, and appropriate communication is provided to users during incidents, service disruptions, and operational changes.
• Maintain high standards for Service Desk knowledge articles, ensuring documentation is accurate, accessible, and supports effective first-contact resolution.
• Support service transition activities by ensuring the Service Desk is trained, informed, and prepared to support new or changed services, including company‑wide applications, end‑user devices, associated policies, and operational processes.
• Ensure Service Desk processes support accurate asset information and lifecycle tracking within FreshService.
• Promote consistent ways of working, documented procedures, and adherence to defined support workflows.
• Identify skills gaps and training needs within the Service Desk, coordinating learning, mentoring, and development opportunities.
• Engage with colleagues and stakeholders to gather feedback, understand user needs, and represent frontline operational insight.
• Contribute to service improvement initiatives that enhance user experience, improve operational processes, and increase service efficiency and reliability.

What you can bring

We’re looking for someone with the following skills and experience:

• Proven experience in a Service Desk or IT support leadership role, with responsibility for people management and operational delivery.
• Strong understanding of incident, request, and escalation management within an IT service environment.
• A people‑centred leadership style, with the ability to coach, develop, and motivate colleagues.
• Excellent communication skills, with confidence engaging users, stakeholders, and technical peers.
• A strong user‑focused mindset, with a commitment to delivering a reliable and empathetic support experience.
• The ability to balance hands‑on operational involvement with prioritisation, oversight, and continuous improvement of services and processes.

Some projects at Cambridge Consultants are subject to security restrictions. This role requires you to obtain a Security Check level security clearance (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/united-kingdom-security-vetting-applicant ). You must be able to work in the UK without restrictions in accordance with UK National Law and be prepared to successfully undertake an appropriate level of UK National Security Vetting according to UK Government National Security Vetting criteria.