Associate Vice President

Over the last 20 years, Ares’ success has been driven by our people and our culture. Today, our team is guided by our core values – Collaborative, Responsible, Entrepreneurial, Self-Aware, Trustworthy – and our purpose to be a catalyst for shared prosperity and a better future. Through our recruitment, career development and employee-focused programming, we are committed to fostering a welcoming and inclusive work environment where high-performance talent of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives can build careers within this exciting and growing industry.

Job Description

Summary:

Ares Management is currently seeking a Service Desk Manager to join the End User Support team within the Technology & Information Security organization. The IT team consists of over 200 team members globally and is responsible for the firm’s technology landscape. The Service Desk team within IT supports all Ares employees, including those in other locations, remotely as needed. The group is responsible for providing excellent client service while service as points of contact for end users in troubleshooting requests, promptly responding to questions, and resolving Technology-related issues. They are also responsible for aligning themselves with the relevant business units and departments and proactively strategize business needs as it pertains to Technology requirements.
Service Desk management is responsible for overseeing the Service Desk support team in their respective locations (London and all other locations within EMEA) by supporting them in their daily tasks of responding to and resolving incidents and/or request tickets. The primary focus of this role is to monitor productivity, manage projects, delegate tasks, provide guidance, handle escalations and create a work environment that is professional, collaborative and enjoyable so service level goals can be achieved. Though the primary responsibility is management, there will be occasions where some hands-on technical work is required.

Primary Functions & Essential Responsibilities:

Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Day to day management of Service Desk Analysts, Senior Analysts, consultants
• Oversee the daily operation of Service Desk functions that include first level phone, email and walk-in support, logging of incidents and requests in the service management system, etc.
• Ensure the highest level of service delivery for all clients within the firm
• Accountable for providing leadership, direction, career path opportunities, mentorship and coaching to Service Desk team
• Ensure that individual and team responsibilities are performed in a timely, consistent, and responsive manner
• Verify the quality, accuracy and timeliness of responses and actions taken by the Service Desk team
• Engage business stakeholders to ensure service levels exceed expectations
• Partner with colleagues to develop metrics / OLA’s / KPI’s to drive operational efficiencies
• Prioritize workloads and balance conflicting demands, provide delegation on tasks and manage escalations as appropriate
• Provide guidance and advice on specific tasks and requests
• Manage weekly staff meetings
• Provide ongoing performance feedback to team members and monitor trends in individual and team performance
• Identify training requirements for team and train all team members as part of the onboarding process, and all existing team members on new processes or requirements
• Identify issues and make recommendations that will improve processes and procedures
• Assist in strategic initiatives through brainstorming and implementation, etc.
• Manage vendor accounts and relationships
• Manage special projects as assigned
• Partner with management to help refine the overall service strategy for the firm
• Own the front-line support experience for the EMEA Region

Education:

• BS/BA in Computer Science, Business Administration or equivalent experience

Certifications Desired may include:

• HDI Certifications
• ITIL/ITSM Foundation Certification
• Six Sigma Green belt (min) Certifications
• Microsoft Certifications
• CompTia Certifications (A+/Sec+/Net+)

Experience Required:

• Experience in the financial services sector and/or alternate asset management experience preferred
• A minimum of 8 years of relevant experience with at least 3 years in a leadership role
• Proven people leader – hiring, developing, and fostering talent; building high-performing teams; driving change across scaled and global teams
• Experience leading staff in a Service Desk operation
• Experience with ITIL based ticket tracking systems such as ServiceNow and automatic call distribution systems
• Demonstrates commitment to providing Quality Customer Experience (QCE)
• Talent for creatively utilizing technology, people and processes to solve unique business problems in a cost-effective manner. Exceptional critical thinker and strong business judgment
• Ability to design and document processes
• Intermediate Excel skills; familiarity with formulas and pivot tables
• Track record of strong performance

General Requirements:

• Ability to manage challenging workflow in-fast paced, dynamic organization, managing multiple assignments in a deadline driven environment
• Experience managing internal and external stakeholders and leading project prioritization discussions to drive roadmap
• Strong management skills, including proven experience of managing and/or collaborating with teams in remote locations to ensure efficiency, effectiveness, and high level of supervisory oversight
• Ability to extract meaningful information from extensive research and analysis to effectively present facts and findings in a digestible format, a keen eye for attention to detail
• Strong sense of ownership and accountability
• Organizational skills, demonstrated ability to manage competing priorities and lead large scale projects to completion
• Ability to multi-task and prioritize deadlines; result oriented
• Change agent / leader, self-motivated, self-starter
• High accuracy and detail orientation
• Excellent communication (written, verbal, presentation, documentation) and client service skills; capability of interacting with key stakeholders to direct prioritization of program related activity
• Experience and ability to proactively and continuously identify and analyze problem situations to develop an effective and improve course of action for resolution
• Ability to work independently within a fast-paced environment with a hands-on approach
• Ability to be flexible in terms of hours in order to coordinate with team members across time zones
• Comfort in dealing with ambiguity and uncertainty in a dynamic environment
• Dependable, great attitude, highly motivated and a team player

Reporting Relationships

Vice President, Service Desk

There is no set deadline to apply for this job opportunity. Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the search is no longer active.