Service Desk Manager - AI-Driven Federal Ops Lead

ICF; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 89,261 - 151,744; Full time

Job summary

ICF seeks an experienced Service Desk Manager to lead a modern, AI-enabled IT service desk supporting a federal technology program. This hybrid DC-based role reports to the Program Manager and owns the full operational lifecycle of a single-tier desk, with accountability for customer satisfaction and continuous improvement.

The ideal candidate will have federal IT service desk leadership experience, comfort managing technicians, and direct engagement with program leadership and client

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent.
• 7+ years of experience managing IT service desk operations, including at least 3 years in a federal or government-adjacent environment.
• 2+ years designing or operating Tier Zero and AI-enabled self-service capabilities, including virtual agents or chatbot-based resolution tools.
• 2+ years supporting federal programs in HHS, NIH, FDA, or other health-focused agencies.
• ITIL Foundation certification or equivalent.
• 3+ years of hands-on experience with ITSM platforms such as ServiceNow or Jira Service Management.
• U.S. Citizenship required due to federal contract requirements.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust background investigation.
• Candidate must reside in the US, be authorized to work in the US, and work must be performed in the US.

Responsibilities

• Lead day-to-day operations of a single-tier service desk where technicians own incidents and service requests from intake through closure, minimizing handoffs and keeping accountability at the technician level.
• Own service desk performance metrics including CSAT, CES, Tier Zero deflection rate, ticket resolution time, and first-contact resolution. Drive continuous improvement against contractual targets.
• Oversee the design, build-out, and ongoing improvement of Tier Zero self-service capabilities, including virtual agents, knowledge portals, and automated troubleshooting tools. Coordinate with AI and automation teams to support implementation.
• Maintain a wiki-style, role-based knowledge base with accurate, plain-language content for both end users and technicians. Conduct regular content reviews and enforce quality standards to keep the knowledge base current.
• Ensure all tickets are properly categorized, prioritized, documented, and analyzed for root cause. Maintain data integrity for reporting and trend analysis.
• Coordinate staffing and resource allocation to maintain appropriate customer-to-technician ratios, including surge coverage and specialized onsite support for executive and leadership needs.
• Coordinate end-to-end IT and AV support for client meetings and events, including setup, testing, troubleshooting, and event staff coordination.
• Prepare and present service desk performance reporting for governance forums, program management reviews, and client stakeholders.
• Apply ITIL-based service management practices across the service desk. Promote an automation-first approach using AI for predictive maintenance, intelligent routing, and proactive issue detection.
• Support after-hours on-call coverage for mission-critical and high-priority incidents as directed by client leadership.

Skills

Operational leadership

People management

KPI ownership

Stakeholder engagement

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Tools

ServiceNow

Jira Service Management

Job description

ICF seeks an experienced Service Desk Manager to lead a modern, AI-enabled IT service desk supporting a federal technology program. This hybrid DC-based role reports to the Program Manager and owns the full operational lifecycle of a single-tier desk, with accountability for customer satisfaction and continuous improvement.

The ideal candidate will have federal IT service desk leadership experience, comfort managing technicians, and direct engagement with program leadership and client