Manager - IT Service Desk

Harper College; Palatine (IL); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Harper College seeks a Service Desk Manager to lead the Employee and Student Service Desk, oversee supervision of staff, and drive IT service management practices across multiple channels. The role emphasizes incident, request, and knowledge management within a college environment.

The position requires a Bachelor’s in IT/CS or related field (Master’s preferred) and at least five years of IT support with supervisory responsibility.

Qualifications

• Five years of IT support experience with supervisory or service-management responsibility.
• Experience supporting a complex, multi-channel environment.
• Higher education experience preferred.
• Demonstrated knowledge of IT service management practices, incident and request management, service metrics, knowledge management, escalation, and continual improvement.

Responsibilities

• Leads day-to-day Employee and Student Service Desk operations across phone, email, chat, and walk-in support.
• Supervises, coaches, and develops Service Desk staff and coordinates onboarding and training.
• Implements ITIL-aligned incident, service request, problem, knowledge, and major-incident practices.
• Configures and maintains the ticketing system to support service desk operations.
• Monitors service desk performance and client experience; analyzes demand patterns.
• Develops and maintains a knowledge base with support procedures and standard communications.
• Coordinates communications for service interruptions and planned maintenance.
• Partners with other IT teams to improve resolution workflows and reduce repeat incidents.
• Maintains security and data protection compliance in service desk procedures.

Skills

IT service management

Incident management

Leadership

Customer service

Data analysis

Communication skills

Project coordination

Education

Bachelor’s degree in IT/CS or related

Master’s degree preferred

Tools

Ticketing system

Knowledge base management

Reporting tools

Job description

Characteristic Duties

• Leads day-to-day Employee and Student Service Desk operations, including intake, triage, prioritization, escalation, request fulfillment, and client follow-up across phone, email, chat, and walk-in support channels.
• Supervises, coaches, and develops Service Desk technical staff and the Employee Technical Skills Training Supervisor. Establishes performance expectations, assigns work, manages schedules and coverage, provides feedback, and fosters an inclusive, service-oriented team culture. Coordinates onboarding, cross-training, professional development, quality reviews, and readiness activities so staff can support current College technologies and services consistently.
• Implements and matures ITIL-aligned incident, service request, problem, knowledge, and major-incident practices. Maintains clear ownership, escalation paths, service targets, and handoffs between support tiers. Ensures service desk tickets are accurately categorized, prioritized, documented, routed, resolved, and closed in accordance with established procedures.
• Configures and maintains the ticketing system to support service desk operations, reporting, and established service management practices.
• Monitors service desk performance, client experience, and demand patterns using response and resolution times, first-contact resolution, backlog, reopen rate, service-level attainment, knowledge use, and client satisfaction.
• Analyzes seasonal cycles and emerging issues to forecast staffing needs, adjust coverage, and recommend automation, self-service, training, or process improvements. Generates monthly service reports for Service Desk and Employee Technical Skills Training, highlighting service activity, trends, risks, and improvement actions for IT leadership.
• Develops, maintains, and promotes a searchable knowledge base containing support procedures, self-service articles, known errors, service information, and standard communications. Establishes content review and retirement practices.
• Coordinates communications for service interruptions, planned maintenance, high-impact incidents, and recurring technology issues. Provides timely, plain-language updates to students, employees, IT leadership, and campus partners.
• Partners with other IT teams to improve resolution workflows, identify root causes, and reduce repeat incidents.
• Maintains service desk procedures that support identity verification, appropriate access, data protection, and compliance with College policies. Escalate suspected security or privacy incidents promptly.
• Manages service desk vendors and support relationships as assigned, including performance reviews, issue escalation, service improvement, and cost stewardship.
• Leads or contributes to IT projects that affect support readiness. Represents the client-support perspective in planning, testing, rollout, documentation, training, and post-implementation review.
• Promotes accessibility and effective support for a diverse campus community. Uses feedback and service data to address barriers and improve the support experience.
• Serves on committees, councils, task forces, and project teams as assigned. Collaborates with peers to standardize practices and advance the College mission.
• Provides after-hours escalation support for critical incidents and participates in continuity and emergency-response activities as assigned.
• Performs related duties as assigned.

Supervision

Under the general supervision of the Director of Client Systems, supervises assigned technical support staff and may provide direction to student employees, temporary staff, contractors, and project resources.

Working Conditions

Work is primarily performed in an office and campus environment using standard computer and communication equipment. The position requires periodic movement among campus support locations and may require work outside normal business hours during critical incidents, scheduled changes, peak service periods, or emergencies.

Minimum Acceptable Qualifications:

Education:

Bachelor’s degree in information technology, computer science, business, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience. Master’s degree preferred.

Experience:

Five years of progressively responsible information technology support experience, including at least three years of supervisory, team-lead, or service-management responsibility. Experience supporting a complex, multi-channel environment required. Higher education experience preferred.

Knowledge and Skills:

Demonstrated knowledge of IT service management practices, incident and request management, service metrics, knowledge management, escalation, and continual improvement. Strong analytical, organizational, customer-service, written, and verbal communication skills. Ability to maintain impacting priorities, lead through high-impact incidents, and build effective partnerships across technical and nontechnical teams.

Preferred Credentials:

ITIL 4 Foundation, HDI Support Center Manager, HDI Support Center Analyst, or comparable service-management certification. Experience administering or optimizing an enterprise IT service management platform is preferred.