Deputy Service Desk Lead

STOPSO; Arlington (VA); On-site; USD 105,000 - 115,000; Full time

Job summary

STOPSO is seeking a Deputy Service Desk Lead for onsite support in Arlington, Virginia. The role provides daily leadership to Service Desk personnel and backs up the Service Desk Manager, overseeing Tier 0–Tier 2 operations within a federal environment.

Qualifications include three years of enterprise Service Desk experience, ITIL-based processes, and an active IAT II certification with DoD clearance eligibility. Strong leadership and communication are essential for success.

Qualifications

• Three or more years leading enterprise Service Desk operations.
• Experience directing Tier 0–Tier 2 support and escalation workflows.
• Familiarity with ITSM processes, incident, change, and problem management.
• Active IAT II certification and DoD clearance eligibility.

Responsibilities

• Provide operational leadership to Service Desk personnel and support staffing, workload, and queue health.
• Coordinate escalations with Tier 3 and related technical teams to ensure timely resolutions.
• Monitor SLAs, KPIs, and customer expectations; drive improvement initiatives.
• Coach and mentor technicians and contribute to SOPs and knowledge articles.
• Act as Service Desk Manager in their absence and ensure continuity of operations.

Skills

Leadership

ITIL

ITSM

Customer service

Communication

Top Secret clearance

IAT Level II

Education

Bachelor's degree or higher

Tools

ServiceNow

ITSM platforms

Job description

Brief Overview Of Position

Strategic Operational Solutions (STOPSO) is seeking candidates for a Deputy Service Desk Lead to join our growing team. We are part of a dynamic and innovative team specializing in advanced technology solutions for government and commercial sectors. We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated candidate to join our team for onsite support in Arlington, Virginia. This position supports enterprise Service Desk operations within a federal customer environment and serves as the primary operational backup to the Service Desk Manager.

Brief Overview Of Position

Strategic Operational Solutions (STOPSO) is seeking candidates for a Deputy Service Desk Lead to join our growing team. We are part of a dynamic and innovative team specializing in advanced technology solutions for government and commercial sectors. We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated candidate to join our team for onsite support in Arlington, Virginia. This position supports enterprise Service Desk operations within a federal customer environment and serves as the primary operational backup to the Service Desk Manager.

Job Description

The Deputy Service Desk Lead supports the Service Desk Manager in the daily leadership, coordination, and execution of enterprise Service Desk operations supporting a federal customer environment. The Service Desk provides Tier 0 through Tier 2 end-user IT support and serves as a primary interface between customers and the broader IT support organization.

The Deputy Service Desk Lead provides direct operational leadership to Service Desk personnel and assists the Service Desk Manager with staffing, workload management, queue health, service quality, technician development, escalation management, and achievement of established service performance requirements. This position serves as the primary operational backup to the Service Desk Manager and assumes Service Desk leadership responsibilities in the Manager's absence.

Responsibilities

• Support the Service Desk Manager in the daily execution and oversight of Tier 0 through Tier 2 Service Desk operations.
• Provide direct day-to-day leadership, guidance, and operational support to Service Desk personnel.
• Coordinate daily staffing, workload distribution, queue assignments, and operational coverage to ensure appropriate support is available based on customer and mission requirements.
• Monitor Service Desk ticket queues throughout the day, including ticket volume, aging, backlog, priority, assignment, response times, and resolution progress.
• Ensure effective ticket triage, troubleshooting, documentation, assignment, escalation, and resolution across Tier 0 through Tier 2 support functions.
• Provide technical and procedural guidance to Service Desk personnel and assist with complex incidents and service requests when additional support or escalation is required.
• Review escalations from Tier 0, Tier 1, and Tier 2 personnel to ensure appropriate troubleshooting and documentation have been completed before tickets are transferred to Tier 3 or specialized resolver groups.
• Coordinate escalations with Tier 3, engineering, infrastructure, cybersecurity, telecommunications, and other technical teams and track escalated issues through resolution.
• Assist the Service Desk Manager in monitoring performance against established SLAs, SLOs, KPIs, contractual requirements, and customer expectations.
• Identify emerging operational issues, ticket trends, staffing concerns, service degradation, and potential performance risks and elevate them to the Service Desk Manager as appropriate.
• Provide operational oversight of high-priority, aging, recurring, mission-impacting, or customer-sensitive incidents and ensure appropriate communication throughout the resolution process.
• Assist with technician coaching, mentoring, training, quality assurance, and professional development.
• Review ticket documentation and technician performance for quality, accuracy, completeness, customer communication, and compliance with established procedures.
• Support the development and maintenance of Service Desk standard operating procedures, knowledge articles, troubleshooting documentation, workflows, and escalation procedures.
• Promote knowledge sharing and shift-left opportunities that enable Service Desk personnel to resolve a greater percentage of incidents and requests within Tier 0 through Tier 2.
• Assist with onboarding and integration of new Service Desk personnel, including training, access coordination, operational orientation, and performance expectations.
• Support implementation of new technologies, service transitions, process changes, and continuous service improvement initiatives affecting Service Desk operations.
• Assist with preparation of Service Desk performance reports, operational metrics, ticket trend analyses, staffing information, and other management reporting.
• Maintain awareness of customer concerns and recurring service issues and work with the Service Desk Manager to identify appropriate corrective actions.
• Promote a professional, responsive, and customer-focused Service Desk culture.
• Ensure Service Desk personnel comply with applicable cybersecurity requirements, Government policies, program procedures, and contractual requirements.
• Participate in operational meetings, technical coordination meetings, customer discussions, and service reviews as directed by the Service Desk Manager.
• Serve as acting Service Desk Manager when the Service Desk Manager is unavailable, ensuring continuity of operations, leadership, and customer support.
• Perform additional duties as required to support Service Desk and overall program objectives.

Education, Experience, And Security Requirements

• Minimum of three (3) years of progressive experience supporting enterprise Service Desk, Help Desk, desktop support, or comparable end-user IT support operations.
• Demonstrated experience serving in a technical lead, team lead, shift lead, supervisory, or other leadership capacity within an IT support environment.
• Demonstrated experience supporting Tier 1 and Tier 2 technical troubleshooting and incident resolution.
• Working knowledge of IT Service Management principles and ITIL-based processes, including Incident Management, Request Fulfillment, Problem Management, Knowledge Management, and Service Level Management.
• Experience using enterprise ITSM or ticketing platforms to manage incidents, service requests, assignments, escalations, and workload.
• Ability to analyze ticket queues and operational performance information and identify issues requiring leadership attention.
• Demonstrated ability to coach technical personnel, provide constructive feedback, and reinforce established processes and performance expectations.
• Strong technical troubleshooting, analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to communicate effectively with technicians, customers, technical teams, management, and Government stakeholders.
• Ability to manage competing priorities and maintain operational effectiveness within a high-volume enterprise support environment.
• Must possess an active IAT Level II certification at the start date.
• S. Citizenship is required pursuant to government contract requirements.
• Ability to obtain a DoD Top Secret clearance prior to entry on duty and successfully complete the required background investigation for access up to Top Secret/SCI.

Preferred Skills

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Business, Management, or a related discipline. Relevant professional experience may be considered in lieu of a degree where permitted by contractual requirements.
• Relevant CompTIA, Microsoft, cybersecurity, IT service management, or other technical certifications.
• Experience supporting Department of War, National Guard, Department of Defense, or other Federal Government IT environments.
• Experience supporting Tier 0 through Tier 2 operations within a large-scale enterprise Service Desk environment.
• Experience with ServiceNow or comparable enterprise ITSM platforms.
• Experience supervising or leading Service Desk technicians across multiple support tiers.
• Experience with quality assurance, ticket auditing, technician coaching, and performance improvement.
• Experience analyzing Service Desk metrics, ticket trends, backlog, aging, response and resolution times, first-contact resolution, and customer satisfaction.
• Experience coordinating technical escalations between Service Desk personnel and Tier 3 or specialized technical teams.
• Experience developing or maintaining technical knowledge articles, SOPs, troubleshooting guides, and Service Desk documentation.
• Experience supporting technology deployments, service transitions, process improvements, or organizational change initiatives.
• Strong customer service, stakeholder engagement, conflict resolution, and interpersonal skills.
• ITIL 4 Foundation or higher ITIL certification.

Working Conditions

The working environment is generally favorable. Lighting and temperature are adequate, and there are no hazardous or unpleasant conditions caused by noise, dust, etc. Work is generally performed within an office environment, with standard office equipment available. This position is onsite in Arlington, Virginia, with minimal travel required.

STOPSO is an Equal Opportunity Employer and federal contractor. We recruit, hire, train, promote, and compensate individuals based on qualifications, merit, and business needs. We provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, or any other status protected by federal, state, or local law.

Salary: $105000 - $115000 per year