IT Service Desk Manager

POSITION SUMMARY
The Manager, IT Service Desk leads VITAS’s 24/7 Service Desk operation and serves as the Major Incident Manager and first point of contact for potential major IT incidents. The manager is accountable for staffing and coverage, service quality, incident response, employee communications, knowledge practices, and team development.

This position must be available to receive and respond to major incident escalations at any time, including nights, weekends, and holidays. The manager establishes backup coverage for periods of unavailability and ensures a timely, coordinated response to issues affecting patient care or business operations.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES
All duties and responsibilities are performed in accordance with VITAS Healthcare Corporation’s policies, procedures, guidelines, contractual commitments, and applicable regulations.

• Service Desk operations
  •    Manage Service Desk operations across all shifts and support channels, including work assignment, queue management, service quality, and escalation.
  •    Forecast support demand and plan staffing, shift coverage, and capacity for a 24/7 operation. Adjust resources and priorities as business needs change.
  •    Set and enforce standards for ticket documentation, prioritization, employee communication, follow-up, and resolution.
  •    Oversee the timely and accurate fulfillment of employee service requests, including appropriate routing, approvals, and communication when requests cannot be completed by the Service Desk.
  •    Monitor open work, aging tickets, repeat contacts, and employee feedback. Address delays, quality concerns, and gaps in ownership.
  •    Coordinate with technical teams, application owners, and business partners to resolve issues requiring support beyond the Service Desk.
  •    Ensure that Service Desk employees follow required identity verification, access, security, privacy, and information-handling procedures.
• Major incident management
  •    Serve as the first point of contact for potential major IT incidents and respond to escalations at any hour, including nights, weekends, and holidays.
  •    Assess impact and urgency, declare major incidents in accordance with the established process, and engage the appropriate response teams.
  •    Lead the major incident response process, including opening the response bridge, assigning roles, tracking business impact and status, and maintaining focus on service restoration.
  •    Ensure that the Service Desk identifies related contacts, documents employee impact, and shares new information with the response team.
  •    Direct major incident communications and ensure that affected employees and stakeholders receive clear, accurate, and timely updates through the appropriate channels.
  •    Confirm service restoration with the responding teams, coordinate closure communications, and ensure that incident records accurately reflect the response and business impact.
  •    Participate in post-incident reviews, assign Service Desk follow-up actions, and track recurring issues with the teams responsible for permanent resolution.
  •    Establish backup coverage with clear authority to lead the response when the manager is unavailable or cannot be reached immediately. Remain accountable for maintaining an effective major incident process.
• Service quality and improvement
  •    Measure and report response and resolution performance, backlog, repeat contacts, customer satisfaction, escalation quality, and the effectiveness of support provided to employees. Use the results to improve service.
  •    Ensure that support knowledge and procedures are accurate, useful, and updated as services change.
  •    Identify recurring issues that can be addressed through clearer guidance, self-service, automation, or better coordination between IT teams.
  •    Work with the teams responsible for ServiceNow and Huey, VITAS’s AI-powered employee support assistant, to improve how employees request help, receive answers, and connect with the Service Desk when human support is needed.
  •    Review the quality of AI-assisted and self-service support, including incorrect answers, failed handoffs, and issues that generate repeat contacts. Work with the responsible teams to correct them.
  •    Prepare the Service Desk for new technology, process changes, and business initiatives through training, updated procedures, and clear support ownership.
  •    Maintain Service Desk continuity procedures and coordinate recovery activities when normal operations are disrupted.

• People leadership
  •    Hire, coach, develop, and evaluate Service Desk employees in accordance with company policy.
  •    Set clear performance expectations, provide regular feedback, and address performance concerns promptly and fairly.
  •    Develop team leads and employees for increased responsibility and future advancement.
  •    Establish shift leadership, backup coverage, and escalation practices that allow the team to operate effectively around the clock.
  •    Promote a service culture that is accountable, professional, and responsive to employees with varying levels of technical experience.
  •    Perform related duties as assigned. This description does not state or imply that these are the only duties required of the position.

• QUALIFICATIONS
  To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The qualifications below describe the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed for the role.

• Required experience and skills
  •    Five years of experience in IT support, service delivery, or a related IT function, including substantial experience in an enterprise support environment.
  •    Demonstrated experience leading the work of others through shift leadership, coaching, training, escalation ownership, or accountability for team results. Prior experience managing direct reports is not required.
  •    Experience managing incidents, service requests, escalations, ticket queues, and competing support priorities.
  •    Ability to plan staffing and coverage using demand, service performance, and business requirements.
  •    Ability to assess business impact, make timely decisions with incomplete information, engage the right teams, and lead a coordinated response during an outage.
  •    Ability to communicate technical issues clearly to employees and leaders, including during time-sensitive incidents.
  •    Ability to use service data and employee feedback to identify problems and improve team performance.
  •    Ability to coach employees, provide constructive feedback, and hold a team accountable for service and quality standards.
  •    Ability to work effectively with employees, IT teams, and leaders across the organization.
  •    Working knowledge of service management practices, including incident management, service request management, knowledge management, and continuous improvement.

• Preferred experience
  •    Experience supporting a 24/7 operation or a large, distributed workforce.
  •    Experience leading or coordinating major incident response and stakeholder communications.
  •    Experience with ServiceNow or a comparable IT service management platform.
  •    Experience supporting self-service, automation, or AI-assisted support channels.
  •    Experience leading operational changes or cross-functional projects.

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in information technology, business, or a related field preferred. Relevant experience may be considered in place of a degree.
  Certification & Licensure: ITIL Foundation certification preferred.

• Physical Requirements: Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job.