Service Desk Operations Manager

Southern New Hampshire University; New Hampshire; Hybrid; USD 88,000 - 141,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental and vision plans

Paid time off (5 weeks) and holidays

Retirement plan

Tuition assistance for employees

Parental leave

Mental health resources

Job summary

Southern New Hampshire University is seeking a Service Desk Operations Manager who will lead a senior IT team responsible for end-to-end service desk operations, incident management, and SLA performance. You will own reporting, analytics, and coordination with managed service partners, ensuring high-quality service delivery and continuous improvement.

The role requires a hands-on leader who can balance strategy with day-to-day operations, drive process optimization, and align with ITIL

Qualifications

• 10 years of relevant experience in business process ownership, documenting, executing or automating.
• 1 year of experience leading teams and operational functions in a complex service environment.
• Advanced knowledge of service workflows and support models.
• Experience managing service delivery in large, complex environments, including managed service providers.
• Strong track record in SLA management, reporting & analytics, and operational performance improvement.
• Experience improving processes and driving efficiency such as LEAN methodologies.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of service desk professionals, driving accountability, performance, and engagement.
• Own day-to-day operations, including queue health, ticket management, prioritization, and workload balancing.
• Be an a hands-on leader, actively engaging in escalations, incident response, and operational decision-making.
• Own and govern Service Level Management (SLM) processes for the managed service partner and internal operations.
• Monitor SLA/KPI performance and drive corrective actions to meet contractual obligations.
• Drive operational adjustments, process changes, and prioritization decisions to meet service targets.
• Develop and maintain dashboards and reporting frameworks with ServiceNow and Power BI.
• Translate data into insights for staffing, service design, and improvements.
• Analyze trends in volume, SLA adherence, incident patterns, and customer feedback.
• Establish a data-driven operating model and provide leadership visibility into service health and risks.
• Deliver regular leadership reports on performance and improvements.
• Provide leadership oversight for incident management, escalation handling, and major incident response.

Skills

Leadership

SLA management

Analytics

Incident management

LEAN methodologies

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science / IT or related field

Tools

ServiceNow

Power BI

Job description

Southern New Hampshire University is a team of innovators. World changers. Individuals who believe in progress with purpose. Since 1932, our people-centered strategy has defined us — and helped us grow a team that now serves over 180,000 learners worldwide.

Our mission to transform lives is made possible by talented people who bring diverse industry experience, backgrounds and skills to the university. And today, we're ready to expand our reach. All we need is you.

Make an impact — from near or far

At SNHU, you'll have the option to work remotely in the following states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

We ask that our remote employees have access to a reliable internet connection and a dedicated, properly equipped workspace that is free of distractions. Employees must reside in, and work from, one of the above approved states.

The opportunity

The Service Desk Operations Manager is a senior leader responsible for end-to-end IT Service Desk operations, ensuring consistent, high-quality service delivery through internal teams and managed service partners.

In this role, you will own contractual service-level performance, reporting and analytics, incident management, including coordination of major incident response, and monitoring of operational process execution. You will serve as a strategic leader and a hands-on operational manager. Additionally, you will oversee technical platform requirements, testing, and delivery for the IT Service Desk team.

You will ensure service desk and business operations functions, including incident management, service requests, and support services, are delivered in alignment with service level agreements (SLAs), key performance indicators (KPIs), and customer experience expectations. You will also drive continuous improvements through process optimization and data-driven decision-making. You will report to the Assistant Vice President ITS Service Desk & Support Operations. #LI-Remote

What you'll do:

Leadership & Service Desk Operations

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of service desk professionals, driving accountability, performance, and engagement
• Own day-to-day operations, including queue health, ticket management, prioritization, and workload balancing
• Be an a hands-on leader, actively engaging in escalations, incident response, and operational decision-making

Contractual Service Level Management

• Own and govern Service Level Management (SLM) processes for the managed service partner and internal operations
• Monitor SLA/KPI performance (response, resolution, backlog, CSAT) and drive corrective actions to meet established contractual obligations
• Drive operational adjustments, process changes, and prioritization decisions to consistently meet or exceed service targets

Reporting & Analytics

• Develop and maintain operational dashboards and reporting frameworks leveraging ServiceNow, Five9, and related tools with strong collaboration with Platform Owners to align Service Desk requirements and tool capabilities
• Translate data into insights that inform staffing, service design, and operational improvements
• Analyze trends in volume, SLA adherence, incident patterns, and customer feedback to proactively manage performance
• Establish a strong data-driven operating model, enabling leadership visibility into service health and risks
• Deliver regular reporting to leadership on performance outcomes, trends, and improvement opportunities

Incident Control & Escalation Management

• Provide leadership oversight for incident management, escalation handling, and major incident response
• Be a senior escalation point to ensure timely restoration and communication during service disruptions
• Ensure adherence to incident prioritization, routing, and escalation standards aligned to ITIL practices
• Oversee operational controls related to ticket flow, backlog management, and queue governance

Process Execution Monitoring & Optimization

• Drive continuous improvement initiatives across Service Desk operations
• Serve as Process Repository Owner, ensuring documentation standards, governance, and lifecycle management
• Monitor process execution and adherence, ensuring consistency across Service Desk operations
• Identify inefficiencies and drive process optimization and standardization
• Establish and enforce change control and communication practices for process updates

Partnerships

• Maintain an operational leadership role in management of the IT Service Desk managed services provider
• Partner closely with Service Experience Owners to translate quality insights into process, technology, and training improvements
• Partner with Knowledge Enablement to ensure training programs align to operational needs, performance trends, and service changes
• Partner with Platform and Process Owners to align engagement and interaction in Service Desk escalation processes
• Integrate training strategies with quality findings, process updates, and new technology implementations
• Other responsibilities as assigned

What we're looking for:

• 10 years of relevant experience in business process ownership, documenting, executing or automating
• 1 year of experience leading teams and operational functions in a complex service environment
• Advanced knowledge of service workflows, and support models
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field or equivalent of experience in lieu of degree
• Experience managing service delivery in large, complex environments, including managed service providers
• Strong track record in SLA management, reporting & analytics (Service Now or Power BI), and operational performance improvement
• Experience improving processes and driving efficiency such as through LEAN methodologies.

We believe real innovation comes from inclusion - where different experiences, perspectives and talents are celebrated. So if you're wondering whether SNHU is right for you, you might be just the person we're looking for.

If you have a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to fully engage in any part of the application or hiring process, please complete the Accommodation Request form or contact us at 603-626-9447. A member from the Employee Accommodation Support Center will be in contact with you within two business days to discuss your request.

Compensation

The annual pay range for this position is $88,130.00 - $141,036.00. Actual offer will be based on skills, qualifications, experience and internal equity, in addition to relevant business considerations. We expect this position to be hired in the following target hiring range $97,384.00 - $131,756.00.

Exceptional benefits (because you’re exceptional)

You’re the whole package. Your benefits should be, too. As a full-time employee at SNHU, you’ll get:

• High-quality, low-deductible medical insurance

• Low to no-cost dental and vision plans

• 5 weeks of paid time off (plus almost a dozen paid holidays)

• Employer-funded retirement

• Free tuition program

• Parental leave

• Mental health and wellbeing resources