Service Desk Manager

Ofgem; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 45,000 - 54,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Central London offices

Civil Service Pension

Training and development opportunities

Work-life balance policies

Collaborative culture

Job summary

Ofgem is seeking an IT Service Desk Manager based in London with hybrid working (1 day a week in the office, 20% hybrid). You will lead delivery of first- and second-line IT support, manage a team, and drive service improvement to ensure reliable, secure digital services across the organisation.

You will embed ITIL processes, manage performance against SLAs/KPIs, and engage with internal stakeholders and external suppliers.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience leading enterprise IT service operations.
• Proven ability to manage performance against SLAs/KPIs.
• Strong grasp of ITIL processes and service management best practice.
• Ability to analyse data and drive service improvements.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead the delivery of Service Desk operations across sites.
• Develop and mentor a team of Service Desk analysts.
• Monitor and improve service performance against SLAs and KPIs.
• Embed ITIL best practices across Incident, Request and Problem Management.
• Drive continual service improvement using data and feedback.
• Oversee rota planning for hybrid and on-site support.

Skills

Leadership

ITIL

Service Delivery

Stakeholder Engagement

Data Analysis

Supplier Management

Education

ITIL v4 Foundation

Job description

Successful candidates will be based in London, (20% hybrid, 1 day per week)

Job summary

Across government, effective IT service management is critical to delivering reliable, secure and user-focused digital services. A high-performing service desk ensures that colleagues can work productively, systems remain available, and technical issues are resolved quickly and effectively. As organisations continue to adopt modern, hybrid working models, strong operational leadership and service excellence are essential.

Ofgem plays a vital role in the UK’s energy system, protecting consumers and enabling a more secure, fair and sustainable energy future. Ensuring the resilience and performance of our internal IT services is key to supporting our people and delivering on this mission.

Ofgem is on an ambitious transformation journey. Within the Digital, Data and Security Services (DDSS) directorate, we are strengthening our IT service management capability to support a modern digital organisation. This includes improving service performance, enhancing user experience, and integrating IT and estates support to create seamless services across our offices and technology platforms.

As a Service Desk Manager, you will lead the delivery of first- and second-line IT support across Ofgem. You will manage a team supporting end users, applications, devices and on-site technology, ensuring high-quality service delivery aligned to business needs. You will drive service improvement, embed ITIL best practice and ensure services evolve to meet current and future demands.

This is a key leadership role within a fast-paced operational environment, requiring strong service management expertise, excellent stakeholder engagement and a focus on delivering outstanding user outcomes.

You will be responsible for:

• Leading the delivery of Service Desk operations, ensuring effective first- and second-line support across all sites
• Managing and developing a team of Service Desk analysts, fostering an inclusive and high-performing culture
• Monitoring and improving service performance against SLAs and KPIs
• Embedding ITIL best practice across Incident, Request and Problem Management
• Using service data, user feedback and performance metrics to drive continual service improvement
• Overseeing rota planning and resource scheduling to support hybrid and on-site working requirements
• Maintaining knowledge bases and documented processes to ensure consistent service delivery
• Providing technical advice to project teams on service readiness and ongoing support
• Building strong relationships with internal stakeholders and external suppliers to enable joined-up service delivery
• Supporting the integration of IT and estates services, including sustainability and workplace initiatives
• Managing supplier performance and ensuring alignment with service expectations

We are looking for:

An experienced IT Service Desk Manager or Service Management professional with a strong track record of leading operational teams in complex environments. You will be a confident leader with a passion for delivering excellent customer service and driving continuous improvement.

You may come from a service desk, IT operations or service management background, but you will demonstrate:

• Strong leadership capability, with experience developing and motivating teams
• Experience managing service performance against SLAs and KPIs
• Sound understanding of ITIL frameworks and service management best practice
• Ability to analyse data and identify opportunities to improve service delivery
• Strong stakeholder engagement and communication skills
• Experience working with third-party suppliers and service providers

An ITIL qualification (e.g. ITIL v4 Foundation) is expected, or a willingness to achieve this within 6 months.

Experience of service improvement initiatives, estates integration, or working in a public sector or regulated environment would be beneficial.

This is an opportunity to play a key role in enabling Ofgem’s digital services by ensuring reliable, high-quality IT support across the organisation. You will help create a service desk function that is responsive, efficient and continuously improving, supporting colleagues to deliver on Ofgem’s mission at a critical time of change.

Person specification

• Professional Expertise - Demonstrated capability in leading an enterprise-wide team in IT service operations, with a track record of high performance and delivery in previous roles (Lead Criteria)
• ITIL Knowledge & Application - Strong working knowledge of ITIL processes with a requirement to hold currently or to obtain a minimum of ITIL v4 Foundation within 6 months of role acceptance (Lead Criteria)
• Service Delivery Management - Experience managing end-to-end IT service delivery, with accountability for performance against KPIs and service expectations.
• Stakeholder Engagement - Proven ability to build and manage effective working relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including influencing service reporting and improvement discussions
• Problem Resolution Leadership - Experience leading teams in diagnosing and resolving technical issues, with a focus on improving service desk performance and user outcomes.
• Experience in Service Improvement Initiatives - Exposure to or involvement in continuous improvement activities, including identifying and implementing changes to enhance service desk performance or user experience.
• Understanding of Public Sector Digital Standards - Awareness of government digital service standards, accessibility requirements, or experience working within a regulated or policy-driven environment.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership
• Developing Self and Others
• Managing a Quality Service

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• You will also be asked to prepare a presentation. Full details of the presentation will be included in the invitation to interview.

Alongside your salary of £49,452, OFGEM contributes £14,326 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• 30 days annual leave after 2 years
• Excellent training and development opportunities
• The opportunity to join the generous Civil Service pension which also includes a valuable range of benefits
• hybrid working (currently 1 day a week in the office but this is kept under review), flexible working hours and family friendly policies
• Plus lots of other benefits including clean and bright offices based centrally, engaged networks and teams and an opportunity to contribute to our ambitious and important targets of establishing a Net Zero energy system by 2050. This exciting blend of professional challenge and personal reward identifies career opportunities at Ofgem as something to get excited about.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

You will then be asked to provide a 1250 word ‘personal statement’ evidencing how you meet the essential and desirable skills and capabilities listed in the role profile. Please ensure you demonstrate clearly, within your supporting statement, how you meet each of the criteria listed in the role profile. In the event of receiving a large number of applications, an initial sift may take place on just the lead criteria indicated in the essential criteria.

At Ofgem, we expect our staff to carry out their roles with honesty, fairness and openness. They should follow the Civil Service code and be free from any influence or bias. We are committed to making sure interests are recognised, declared and managed appropriately so that we can fulfil our duties as an energy regulator. Our Conflicts of Interest policy outlines the types of interests Ofgem staff must declare before onboarding, and the rules they must follow throughout employment so that we can clearly demonstrate that our decisions are not influenced by private interests.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.