Manager, IT Service Desk

National Hockey League (NHL); New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work schedule

401K plan

Health benefits

Job summary

The National Hockey League (NHL) is seeking a Service Desk Manager to lead daily operations, set technical direction, and drive continuous improvement of the Service Desk. You will own incident, request, and problem management, leverage ServiceNow and automation, and mentor a skilled team to enhance end-user experiences across enterprise environments.

This role focuses on adopting ITIL-based practices, driving proactive service delivery, and aligning with security standards.

Qualifications

• Strong ITIL knowledge with focus on Incident, Problem, and Request Management.
• Hands-on experience with ITSM platforms (ServiceNow preferred) and automation.
• Experience analyzing support data to drive improvements.
• Ability to lead investigations and guide teams through complex troubleshooting.

Responsibilities

• Lead daily operations and drive ITSM maturity through automation and AI-driven insights.
• Own incident, request, and problem management for the service desk.
• Mentor and develop a high-performing technical team across endpoints, identity platforms, and collaboration tools.
• Partner with engineering and infrastructure teams to drive permanent resolutions of systemic issues.
• Manage major incidents and post-incident reviews, ensuring timely communication.

Skills

Microsoft Excel

PowerPoint

Communication

ServiceNow ITSM

ITIL practices

Endpoint management

Identity & access management

Networking basics

Education

5+ years IT support / Service Desk with leadership

Tools

ServiceNow platform

Job description

About The National Hockey League
Founded in 1917, the National Hockey League (NHL®) is the premier professional ice hockey league in the world and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada.

About The National Hockey League
Founded in 1917, the National Hockey League (NHL®) is the premier professional ice hockey league in the world and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada.
With more than 1500 employees across the US and Canada, the NHL is a global sports and entertainment organization committed to building healthy and vibrant communities using the sport of hockey. At the NHL, we are looking for dynamic, energetic and impactful individuals who are committed to doing the same by sharing in our philosophy that Hockey is for Everyone.

Summary
WHAT WE EXPECT OF YOU

The Service Desk Manager is responsible for leading the daily operations, technical direction, and continuous improvement of the Service Desk. This role combines strong people leadership with deep technical expertise, ensuring the team not only resolves incidents efficiently but also identifies and eliminates root causes through structured ITSM Incident and Problem Management practices.

The manager is accountable for driving service quality through data-driven insights, leading problem investigations, and implementing long-term solutions that reduce incident volume and improve end-user experience. This includes ownership of incident, request, and problem management processes, leveraging ServiceNow and other enterprise tools to automate workflows and self-service support, enhance visibility, provide seamless support experiences for business users across a variety of channels, and enforce process consistency.

A key focus of this role is developing a highly skilled technical team capable of advanced troubleshooting across systems including endpoint devices, identity platforms, collaboration tools, and network services. The Service Desk Manager provides hands-on technical guidance, leads major incident response, and ensures alignment with enterprise IT standards, security policies, and operational best practices.

This role plays a critical part in advancing ITSM maturity by introducing automation, AI-driven insights, proactive monitoring, and trend analysis to shift the Service Desk from reactive support to proactive service delivery.

Essential Duties And Responsibilities

• Leverage ServiceNow to implement and optimize incident, request, and problem workflows, including automation and AI-assisted triage.
• Ensure all service desk processes are documented and kept up to date.
• Identify and track training needs for service desk team members, including readiness for support of new IT service offerings.
• Manage daily scheduling to ensure coverage for standard hours, games, and events.
• Track and respond to Customer Satisfaction results for IT support surveys.
• Drive adoption of shift-left practices, ensuring knowledge and fixes are pushed into frontline and self-service / automated support channels.
• Analyze incident trends and recurring issues to proactively identify problems and drive incident reduction initiatives.
• Own and facilitate major incident management, ensuring timely escalation, communication, and post-incident reviews.
• Lead implementations of Problem Management practices, including root cause analysis (RCA), known error documentation, and implementation of permanent fixes.
• Partner with engineering and infrastructure teams to drive permanent resolution of systemic issues.
• Build and maintain a Known Error Database (KEDB) to improve first-call resolution and reduce escalation rates.

Qualifications

Knowledge Areas/Experience

Required

• Strong understanding of ITIL practices with emphasis on Incident, Problem, and Request Management.
• Strong technical expertise in enterprise environments, including endpoint management, identity and access management, collaboration platforms (Microsoft 365), and networking fundamentals.
• Hands-on experience with ITSM platforms (ServiceNow preferred), including workflow automation and reporting.
• Experience analyzing support data and metrics to drive operational improvements and reduce incident volume.
• Ability to lead technical investigations and guide teams through complex troubleshooting scenarios.

Preferred

• Demonstrated experience leading Problem Management and Root Cause Analysis (RCA) initiatives.

Education/Certifications

• 5+ years of Service Desk or IT support experience, with at least 2–3 years in a leadership role.
• Proven experience implementing or maturing ITSM processes, particularly Problem Management.
• Experience working in enterprise-scale environments with complex systems and integrations.

Required Skills

• Strong Microsoft Office skills, particularly Excel and PowerPoint.
• Highly developed verbal and written communication skills with the ability to influence at leadership levels.
• Demonstrable proficiency in ServiceNow ITSM practices.
• Highly organized, attention to details and strong follow-through.
• A positive energetic attitude.

CORE COMPETENCIES

These core competencies reflect the underlying values that are necessary to represent the National Hockey League:

• Accountability
• Adaptability
• Communication
• Critical Thinking
• Inclusion
• Professionalism
• Teamwork & Collaboration

The NHL offers U.S. regular, full-time employees:

Time to Recharge: Utilize our generous Paid Time Off (PTO) to focus on your well-being and ensure a healthy work/life balance. PTO includes paid holidays, vacation, personal and sick days, plus an extra day off for your birthday.

Ability to Focus on your Health: Along with competitive salaries, the NHL offers comprehensive health benefits to employees and their eligible dependents effective on their first day with us – there is no waiting period. The NHL subsidizes a large portion of the health benefits costs, therefore your cost for medical, dental and vision coverage is minimal.

We also offer our employees and members of their household access to our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to support mental, physical, and financial health. In addition, employees have access to a digital wellness resource designed to improve health and happiness through courses in sleep, movement, and focus. These services are confidential and at no-cost to our employees.

Childcare Leave: Because your family is the NHL family, employees are offered comprehensive Childcare Leave to welcome your new addition. The primary caregiver to the child is entitled to up to 12 weeks of paid Childcare Leave, at full pay, following the birth, adoption, or placement of a child.

Employees that are not the primary caregiver to the child are entitled to up to 6 weeks of paid Childcare Leave, at full pay, which must be taken within the first 6 months following the birth, adoption, or placement of a child.

Confidence in your Retirement Goals: Participate in the NHL’s Savings Plan which includes a 401K (pre-tax and Roth options) plus non-elective (employer) contributions to keep your retirement goals on track.

A Hybrid Work Schedule: The NHL recognizes the value of flexibility in work locations/schedules to help our employees balance work/life priorities. Hybrid work schedules are available for a majority of our roles.

Our New Headquarters: Our new, state of the art, offices are located at One Manhattan West in Hudson Yards. When you’re in the office, you can conduct meetings in one of our high-tech conference rooms, have lunch with a view or play in the game room. Employees can also enjoy New York’s newest neighborhood that is home to more than 100 shops, culinary experiences, and public artwork.

A Savings for Commuting: Participate in the NHL’s pre-tax commuter benefit plan which helps offset the financial cost of traveling to and from our office.

NHL Partner Rates: Unlock exclusive pricing from our Partners that include savings on travel, consumer goods and services, plus the NHL Store.

Life at the NHL: In your first few days, you meet with your new teammates and the HR Team. You have the opportunity to learn more about the NHL and our workplace culture. Employees are invited to play hockey during our Tuesday Night Skate at Chelsea Piers, join our Employee Resource Groups and more. You are a part of our team and we encourage you to be your authentic self, adding to our dynamic workplace culture.

SALARY RANGE: $140-160K

Actual base pay for a successful candidate will be determined based on a variety of job-related factors, including but not limited to: experience/training, market demands, and geographic location.

When applying, please be sure to include a cover letter with your salary expectations for this role. We thank all applicants for their interest in this opportunity, however only qualified candidates selected for an interview will be contacted. NO EMAILS OR PHONE CALLS PLEASE.

We are an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, gender identity, marital or veteran status, or any other protected class.