Squad Leader

Ekco; Milton Keynes; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days leave

Birthday leave

Company pension

EAP

EkcOlympics

Pluralsight access

International progression

Job summary

Ekco is building a new UK Managed Services operation and seeks a Squad Leader to lead a dedicated cross-functional team of L1–L3 engineers aligned to key accounts. You will work with TAM/SDM to deliver service excellence, drive continual improvement and shape the squad into a high-performing unit.

The role focuses on ownership of day-to-day performance, staff development, and strong customer relationships with a bias toward operational excellence and scalable delivery.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading operational teams in a customer-focused environment (MSP/IT Service Desk preferred).
• Ability to motivate and develop individuals to high performance.
• Strong understanding of operational service management and balancing customer needs with team wellbeing.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop your squad of engineers to create a high-performance culture.
• Coach and support team through regular reviews and development activities.
• Own day-to-day squad performance: tickets, SLAs, quality, and customer satisfaction.

Skills

Leadership

Coaching

Operational management

Stakeholder management

ITSM awareness

Tools

ServiceNow

Halo

Job description

About Ekco

Founded in 2016, Ekco has quickly become one of Europe’s fastest-growing cloud solution providers and your trusted security-first Managed Service Provider.IT leaders choose Ekco to drive operational efficiency, scale smarter and stay ahead of risk – powered by local expertise, delivered at European scale.

We specialise in helping organisations advance their cloud maturity guiding transformation, strengthening security, and maximising the value of their technology investments.

In simple terms: we help organisations modernise with confidence securing their systems, optimising their cloud, and keeping them resilient in a rapidly changing world.

Today, we’re a thriving team of 1,000+ talented and supportive colleagues across the UK, Ireland, Benelux, South Africa, and Malaysia—and we’re continuing to grow.

At Ekco, how we work matters as much as what we deliver. Our people live by four core values that shape everything we do:

• On It: We take ownership, follow through, and get things done.

• All In : We collaborate, support each other, and commit fully to shared goals.

• Connected: We build trusted relationships with colleagues, clients, and partners.

• Hungry to Grow: We stay curious, keep learning, and push ourselves to the next level.

If these values resonate with you, you’ll feel right at home here.

The Role

We are building something genuinely new. Ekco's UK Managed Services operation is restructuring from a single delivery model into a squad-based operating model — and we are looking for the people who will lead it from day one.

As a Squad Leader, you will be responsible for leading a dedicated cross-functional team of L1, L2, and L3 engineers, each squad built around a defined set of customers and anchored by a key account. A TAM and SDM are aligned to your squad, giving you a full service delivery unit to lead, develop, and be fully accountable for.

Success in this role is not measured simply by operational metrics. It is measured by your ability to build a motivated, high-performing team that consistently delivers excellent service whilst embracing continual improvement. The best Squad Leader will be the one whose team sets the standard others chase.

This role is dynamic and entirely yours to shape. We want Squad Leaders who bring real energy, hold themselves and their team to the highest standards, and have the ambition to make their squad the one everyone talks about. If that sounds like you, read on.

Day-to-day at Ekco:

Lead & Develop Your Squad

Lead, motivate and develop your team of engineers, creating a positive, high-performance culture built on accountability, collaboration and continuous learning

Coach, mentor and support colleagues through regular one-to-ones, performance reviews and personal development activities — helping every individual reach their potential

Set the tone: be the energy in the room, model the behaviours, and make your squad a place people are proud to be part of

Support recruitment, onboarding and retention within your squad, contributing to effective workforce planning as the model grows

Foster a culture where good is never good enough — only excellent will do, and the whole team knows it

Own Your Operational Performance

Take full ownership of the day-to-day performance of your squad — ticket throughput, SLA adherence, quality, and customer satisfaction

Monitor performance using data and management information to identify trends, address risks, remove barriers, and drive continual service improvement

Ensure no ticket or piece of work gets left behind — your squad covers its ground completely

Act as the primary operational escalation point for customer, technical and people-related matters, resolving issues professionally and in a timely manner

Participate in the Major Incident Manager rota (approximately 1-in-6) and take ownership of incident response when required

Report weekly and monthly on squad performance to senior stakeholders — owning the numbers, not just presenting them

Serve Your Customers

Build trusted relationships with your customers at multiple levels — you are their primary operational contact and the face of Ekco service delivery

Ensure customer incidents and service requests are managed consistently, with appropriate prioritisation, ownership and clear communication throughout the support lifecycle

Lead service review conversations on performance, optimisation opportunities and roadmap alignment in partnership with your TAM and SDM

Maintain a consistently high standard of communication, transparency and follow-through — customer expectations are set and met by your squad

Act as the single point of contact for presales activity within your squad's domain, pulling in the right technical resources to support sales

Drive Continuous Improvement

Identify and close process gaps within your squad; where processes do not exist, define them and share them across peer squads

Champion a culture of improvement — constantly looking for ways to enhance service delivery, operational efficiency and the customer experience

Promote quality across documentation, ticket management, customer communications and operational processes

Ensure technical documentation is accurate, current and aligned to internal standards and compliance requirements

Work closely with peer Squad Leaders and the 24/7 DOC to ensure seamless cross-squad service continuity

Continually develop your knowledge of industry best practice and bring those insights back into your squad

What you'll be responsible for:

About You

You are a driven, operationally sharp leader with the personality to galvanise a team and the discipline to deliver results. You thrive in fast-moving environments, hold yourself to high standards without being told to, and genuinely want your squad to be the one others measure themselves against.

Essential Knowledge, Skills & Experience

Proven experience leading or supervising operational teams within a customer-focused environment — an MSP or IT Service Desk background is strongly preferred

Demonstrable ability to motivate, coach and develop individuals to achieve high levels of performance and engagement

Strong understanding of operational service management, with the ability to balance customer expectations, team wellbeing and business priorities simultaneously

Excellent analytical skills: comfortable interpreting operational data, MI and KPI dashboards to identify trends and drive improvement

Highly organised with the ability to prioritise competing demands and make effective decisions in a fast-paced environment

Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with confidence engaging effectively at all levels — from engineers to customer stakeholders

Strong stakeholder management skills across technical and non-technical teams

Experience using enterprise ITSM platforms (ServiceNow, Halo, or equivalent) to manage operational performance

A proactive, solutions-first mindset with a focus on continuous improvement and operational excellence

A commitment to delivering exceptional customer outcomes whilst maintaining the highest standards of quality and professionalism

Benefits / Perks

Time Off: 25 days annual leave + public holidays
Birthday Leave: One extra day off to celebrate
Company Pension Scheme
Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) for wellbeing support
EkcOlympics: Global team activity challenges
Unlimited access to Pluralsight for continuous development
Real opportunities to grow, including international progression

Why Ekco

• Company of the year 2026 Tech Excellence Awards

• Microsoft’s 2023 Rising Star Security Partner of the Year

• First Irish Microsoft MSP to achieve all four Microsoft Security Specializations

• A culture rooted in diversity, equality, inclusion & belonging

• A commitment to internal mobility and career progression

• Flexible, family-friendly working at the heart of our culture

• Proud to be your trusted security-first Managed Service Provider chosen by IT leaders to drive operational efficiency, scale smarter and stay ahead of risk.