Strategic IT Service Desk Leader

University of California - San Francisco; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

The Associate Director, IT Service Desk at UCSF provides strategic leadership and operational oversight for the Service Desk, shaping vision, performance, and continuous improvement for a multi-tiered support organization serving clinical, academic, research, and administrative customers.

This senior leader leads managers and supervisors, defines service standards, monitors SLAs and KPIs, partners across IT and clinical stakeholders, advances self-service and automation, drives incident

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in related area or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years IT/service desk experience.
• 5+ years leading teams in fast-paced, service-oriented environments.
• Experience managing vendor relationships and SLAs.
• Executive leadership with cross-functional influence.
• Crisis management in high-pressure incidents.
• Ability to interpret policies and regulations.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; ability to brief stakeholders.
• Experience in project-based environments with PM practices.
• Commitment to inclusion, diversity, and belonging.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership for Service Desk with workforce development and design.
• Oversee day-to-day operations ensuring SLAs and KPIs.
• Ensure high-quality support for clinical and enterprise IT.
• Direct management of major incidents and service requests with RCA.
• Uphold customer experience standards and cross-functional collaboration.
• Lead continuous improvement and governance aligned with UCSF policies.
• Steer the Service Desk project portfolio delivering measurable outcomes.

Skills

Executive leadership

Vendor management

Crisis management

Strategic planning

Communication skills

Project management

Stakeholder management

Diversity, equity, belonging

Education

Bachelor's degree in related area

Tools

HDI Support Center Manager Certification

ITIL Managing Professional Certification

Project Management Professional (PMP)

Epic Certification

Job description

The Associate Director, IT Service Desk at UCSF provides strategic leadership and operational oversight for the Service Desk, shaping vision, performance, and continuous improvement for a multi-tiered support organization serving clinical, academic, research, and administrative customers.

This senior leader leads managers and supervisors, defines service standards, monitors SLAs and KPIs, partners across IT and clinical stakeholders, advances self-service and automation, drives incident