IT Service Department Manager

TechnologyLab, LLC; Nashville (TN); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Technology Lab, LLC is seeking an IT Service Department Manager in Nashville, TN, to lead the service delivery organization across regions and provide hands‑on leadership to regional Help Desk Supervisors and their technician pods. This role owns consistency, quality, and accountability across the full service desk operation — ensuring on‑time ticket closures and a gold‑standard experience for clients.

Reporting to the VP of Service, you will shape the department’s Scorecard, coordinate with NOC

Qualifications

• 5+ years in IT managed services or service desk with people management.
• 2+ years managing managers or multi-team leadership.
• Hands-on with a PSA/ticketing platform; Halo PSA is a plus.
• Ability to implement SOPs and drive process discipline.
• Strong written and verbal communication; able to de-escalate with clients.
• Knowledge of networking, Microsoft/Google environments, and backup/DR concepts.

Responsibilities

• Lead Help Desk Supervisors and regional technician pods.
• Standardize ticket handling and SLA targets across regions.
• Monitor queues, balance workload, and manage escalations.
• Own escalation path for high-severity incidents and after-hours.
• Collaborate with NOC on monitoring standards.
• Maintain department scorecard and weekly reporting.
• Plan staffing and on-call coverage across regions.

Skills

People management

Multi-team leadership

SLA data analysis

SOP development

Strong communication

Networking basics

Tools

Halo PSA

Strety

Meraki Dashboard

Datto

Guardz

Dark Web ID

WorkSight

Webex

1Password

Expensify

Field Nation

Job description

IT Service Department Manager

Location: Nashville, TN (In office)

Full-Time, Exempt

Reports to: VP of Service

Position Overview

The Service Department Manager leads Technology Lab's service delivery organization across all regions, providing hands‑on leadership to the regional Help Desk Supervisors and the technician pods beneath them. This role owns consistency, quality, and accountability across the full service desk operation — turning regionally‑run teams into one department that performs to a single standard, closes tickets on time, and keeps clients confident in Technology Lab's delivery of white glove service. This is a working leadership role: coaching supervisors, resolving what they can't, and translating company‑wide service goals into the day‑to‑day rhythm of the department.

Reporting Structure

Reports to: Brian LaPratt, Vice President of Service

Direct reports: 3 Help Desk Supervisors, each leading a regional pod of technicians. Indirectly, this role sets the tone and standards for every technician working within those three pods — Tier 1 through Tier 3 — without displacing the Supervisors' direct day‑to‑day management of their people.

Key Responsibilities

Team Leadership & Development

• Directly manage and coach the Help Desk Supervisors — regular 1:1s, performance feedback, and career development.
• Build supervisor capability so each pod runs consistently whether or not the Supervisor is available that day.
• Participate in hiring, onboarding, and performance decisions for Supervisors and, where escalated, for technicians within the pods.
• Own the department's seat on Technology Lab's Accountability Chart, with clear Rocks and a weekly Scorecard tracked in Strety.

Service Delivery & Operations

• Standardize ticket handling, escalation paths, and SLA targets across Central, FL & NOC, and West so clients get the same experience regardless of region.
• Monitor Halo PSA queues at the department level — ticket aging, backlog, and workload balance across pods — and step in where a pod is falling behind.
• Own the escalation path for tickets and clients that Supervisors can't resolve, including after‑hours or high‑severity incidents.
• Partner with the NOC function (FL & NOC pod) on monitoring and alerting standards that should extend department‑wide.
• Ensure Gold Standard hardware/software and Managed Services commitments (Network Mgmt, Backup/DR via Datto, TL Guardian, Endpoint/Email Security via Guardz, Dark Web ID, iPad Mgmt, Network Cabling) are being delivered to the SLA clients were sold.

Process, Quality & Metrics

• Define and maintain the department's Scorecard — ticket volume, SLA compliance, first‑response and resolution time, CSAT, and reopen rate — and report it to the VP of Service weekly.
• Run root‑cause review on recurring or high‑impact issues and turn findings into process fixes, not one‑off patches.
• Keep department‑wide documentation (Halo Cheat Sheets, SOPs, DOCS entries) current as tools and processes change.
• Identify where a technical issue is really a process or training gap, and fix the gap rather than the symptom.

Client Relations & Cross‑Departmental Collaboration

• Serve as the internal escalation point for at‑risk service accounts, working alongside Client Relations and Sales on Technology Business Reviews and service recovery.
• Coordinate with Projects so onboarding, migrations, and installs hand off cleanly into ongoing support.
• Coordinate with Procurement on parts, RMAs, and hardware needs that affect open tickets.
• Represent the Service Department in company‑wide planning (quarterly/annual sessions, budget and headcount planning) alongside the VP of Service.

Staffing & Resource Planning

• Forecast staffing needs by pod based on client growth, ticket volume trends, and regional coverage (including on‑call/after‑hours rotation).
• Balance workload across Central, FL & NOC, and West — including temporary reassignment of technicians when one region is overloaded.
• Own the department's contractor usage (e.g., Field Nation) for overflow or specialty coverage where internal staff can't reach a site.

Qualifications

Required

• 5+ years of experience in IT managed services or a service desk environment, including direct people management.
• 2+ years managing managers or supervisors (multi‑team or multi‑site leadership strongly preferred).
• Hands‑on experience with a PSA/ticketing platform (Halo PSA experience is a strong plus) and comfort reading SLA/performance data to drive decisions.
• Demonstrated ability to run a team on documented process rather than institutional memory — building and enforcing SOPs.
• Strong written and verbal communication; comfortable delivering difficult feedback to supervisors and de‑scalating with clients.
• Working knowledge of core service‑desk technologies: networking fundamentals, Microsoft/Google environments, endpoint and backup/DR concepts.

Preferred

• Experience in a K‑12 or education‑focused MSP environment.
• Familiarity with EOS/Traction (Technology Lab runs on EOS via Strety) — Rocks, Scorecards, Level 10 Meetings.
• Experience overseeing a NOC or 24/7 monitoring function.
• Relevant certifications (ITIL, CompTIA Network+/Security+, Microsoft/Meraki certifications).

Tools & Systems Used in This Role

Halo PSA (service desk tickets, purchase orders, scope/estimates), Strety (EOS scorecards, Rocks, meeting rhythm), Meraki Dashboard (network status/source of truth), Datto (backup/DR), Guardz and Dark Web ID (endpoint/email security and monitoring), WorkSight (HR — PTO, performance), Webex (internal messaging/calls), 1Password, Expensify, and Field Nation (contractor booking for overflow coverage).

Success Looks Like

• SLA compliance and first‑response times are consistent across all three regions — no pod is quietly the exception.
• Escalations reaching the VP of Service are rare, because this role and the Supervisors are resolving them first.
• Supervisors are growing — able to run their pods independently, with this role coaching rather than doing the job for them.
• Client‑facing service complaints trend down quarter over quarter, tracked and reviewed against the department Scorecard.