Service Desk Lead

Places for People; Preston; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension with matched contributions up

Bonus scheme

35 days holiday including bank

Healthcare cashback plan

Wellbeing support

Gym membership

Life Assurance

Will writing services

Training and development

Recognition programmes

Inclusion and wellbeing focus

Job summary

Places for People is recruiting a Service Desk Lead in the UK to head the day-to-day operations of the IT service desk, guiding engineers to deliver a fast, customer-focused service.

You will oversee incidents, requests and problems, ensure priorities align with SLAs, and drive improvements through data-driven insights, coaching and collaboration with IT teams.

Qualifications

• Leadership experience in IT service desk.
• Strong understanding of IT service management including incident, request and problem management.
• Experience managing support demand while meeting service levels and performance targets.

Responsibilities

• Lead the day-to-day operation and performance of the Service Desk.
• Allocate workloads and manage backlog; monitor service quality and coordinate escalations.
• Analyse Service Desk performance against KPIs and drive improvements in processes and efficiency.
• Act as the operational escalation point for complex issues, supporting Incident/Problem leads and second/third-line teams.
• Contribute to knowledge management and keep service documentation up to date.
• Support recruitment, onboarding and regular performance reviews.

Skills

Leadership experience

IT service management

Service levels

People coaching

ITSM tools

Stakeholder management

Job description

As the UK's leading Social Enterprise, we move lives forward every day by building, managing and supporting thriving Communities. From new homes, social housing and student accommodation to leisure, education and Community initiatives, our work makes a positive difference to millions of People across the UK. And that takes People who care about doing the right thing. People who are ambitious, ready to grow and motivated to make a difference through the work they do. We're looking for Colleagues who bring energy, curiosity and ownership. People who enjoy being challenged, support those around them and want to keep raising the bar. Because when we perform at our best, we create more opportunities to invest in our Customers, our Communities and each other. Experience matters, but it's only part of the story. If you share our values and want to build a career where your work has real impact, we'd love to hear from you.

More about your role As Service Desk Lead, you will lead the day-to-day operation and performance of the Service Desk, guiding and supporting a team of IT Service Desk Engineers to deliver an efficient, customer-focused service. You will maintain queue health, allocate workloads, manage the backlog, monitor service quality and coordinate escalations. You will also oversee incidents and requests, ensuring they are correctly prioritised, triaged to agreed standards and resolved within service level targets. You will analyse Service Desk performance against key performance indicators, identify trends and risks, and use these insights to drive measurable improvements in processes, quality and efficiency. As the operational escalation point for complex technical issues, you will support the team in resolving difficult problems and work with our Incident Lead, Problem Lead, and second- and third-line teams to achieve timely resolutions. You will contribute to effective knowledge management by keeping service documentation and knowledge articles accurate and up to date, sharing changes with Service Desk Engineers and promoting continuous learning across the team. You will provide day-to-day leadership by allocating workloads, setting clear expectations, completing quality assurance checks and supporting colleagues through regular coaching and feedback. You will also contribute to recruitment and onboarding and support colleague development through structured performance reviews. You will contribute to IT policies, procedures and best practices to ensure consistent service delivery and a positive user experience., As part of our commitment to diversity and inclusion, we offer a guaranteed interview to candidates who are disabled, neurodiverse, or have served in the Armed Forces, provided they meet the essential criteria for the role. If you would like to be considered under this scheme, please indicate this in your application. We are dedicated to creating a supportive and accessible recruitment process for all. We are committed to creating an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support your application or interview experience, please let us know. We're happy to work with you to ensure you have the opportunity to perform at your best. We understand the importance of a supportive and inclusive work culture so please talk to us at interview about flexibility you may need. We can't promise to give you exactly what you want, but we promise not to judge you for asking. For this role we are open to discussing the possibility of reduced hours, flexible start and finish times or compressed hours. Safeguarding At Places for People, safeguarding is everyone's responsibility. We are committed to creating safe communities for our customers and colleagues by protecting children, young people, and adults at risk from harm, abuse, and neglect. We follow robust safeguarding policies and procedures, ensuring all employees, volunteers, and contractors uphold the highest standards of safeguarding and accountability. Our recruitment process includes pre-employment checks, including Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks where applicable, to promote a safe and secure working environment.

• Leadership or supervisory experience in technical support or an IT service desk environment.
• Strong understanding of IT service management, including incident, request and problem management.
• Experience managing support demand while meeting agreed service levels and performance targets.
• Demonstrated ability to lead, coach and develop technical support colleagues.
• Experience using IT service management tools to oversee incidents, workloads and service performance.
• Experience supporting a range of business functions and stakeholders, including leading service review meetings.

More about you You are an experienced IT support leader who can balance competing priorities and is committed to helping colleagues resolve technical issues through a straightforward, user-focused service. You recognise how effective incident and problem management underpin reliable service delivery, and you use performance data to make practical improvements that reduce disruption. You work effectively across IT teams, keep documentation accurate and foster an environment where colleagues can grow and provide excellent support. An ITIL Foundation qualification is advantageous but not required, although a strong working knowledge of ITIL processes is preferred.

You'll receive:

• Pension with matched contributions up to 7%
• Bonus scheme for colleagues at 2%
• 35 days holiday (including bank holidays) with the option to buy or sell days
• Healthcare cashback plan for everyday medical costs, with private GP and health support services available
• Comprehensive wellbeing support including counselling, flu jabs, our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) and access to our Wellbeing Hub, supporting your mental, physical and financial wellbeing
• Access to Our Place Rewards, offering discounts and savings on groceries, travel, shopping, home products and other lifestyle purchases
• Ongoing training, professional qualifications, internal development programmes and career progression opportunities
• Recognition programmes including Star Awards and Colleague Awards, celebrating achievements and recognising great work
• Strong focus on inclusion, wellbeing and colleague engagement
• Free membership to Places Gyms
• Life Assurance to provide financial security for your loved ones, alongside access to will writing services to help you plan for the future with confidence