Service Desk Manager - OFGEM - G7

Location

London

About the job Job summary

Across government, effective IT service management is critical to delivering reliable, secure and user-focused digital services. A high-performing service desk ensures that colleagues can work productively, systems remain available, and technical issues are resolved quickly and effectively. As organisations continue to adopt modern, hybrid working models, strong operational leadership and service excellence are essential.

Ofgem plays a vital role in the UK's energy system, protecting consumers and enabling a more secure, fair and sustainable energy future. Ensuring the resilience and performance of our internal IT services is key to supporting our people and delivering on this mission.

Ofgem is on an ambitious transformation journey. Within the Digital, Data and Security Services (DDSS) directorate, we are strengthening our IT service management capability to support a modern digital organisation. This includes improving service performance, enhancing user experience, and integrating IT and estates support to create seamless services across our offices and technology platforms.

As a Service Desk Manager, you will lead the delivery of first- and second-line IT support across Ofgem. You will manage a team supporting end users, applications, devices and on-site technology, ensuring high-quality service delivery aligned to business needs. You will drive service improvement, embed ITIL best practice and ensure services evolve to meet current and future demands.

This is a key leadership role within a fast-paced operational environment, requiring strong service management expertise, excellent stakeholder engagement and a focus on delivering outstanding user outcomes.

Job description

You will be responsible for:

• Leading the delivery of Service Desk operations, ensuring effective first- and second-line support across all sites
• Managing and developing a team of Service Desk analysts, fostering an inclusive and high-performing culture
• Monitoring and improving service performance against SLAs and KPIs
• Embedding ITIL best practice across Incident, Request and Problem Management
• Using service data, user feedback and performance metrics to drive continual service improvement
• Overseeing rota planning and resource scheduling to support hybrid and on-site working requirements
• Maintaining knowledge bases and documented processes to ensure consistent service delivery
• Providing technical advice to project teams on service readiness and ongoing support
• Building strong relationships with internal stakeholders and external suppliers to enable joined-up service delivery
• Supporting the integration of IT and estates services, including sustainability and workplace initiatives
• Managing supplier performance and ensuring alignment with service expectations

We are looking for:

An experienced IT Service Desk Manager or Service Management professional with a strong track record of leading operational teams in complex environments. You will be a confident leader with a passion for delivering excellent customer service and driving continuous improvement.

You may come from a service desk, IT operations or service management background, but you will demonstrate:

• Proven experience managing IT service desk operations
• Strong leadership capability, with experience developing and motivating teams
• Experience managing service performance against SLAs and KPIs
• Sound understanding of ITIL frameworks and service management best practice
• Ability to analyse data and identify opportunities to improve service delivery
• Strong stakeholder engagement and communication skills
• Experience working with third-party suppliers and service providers

An ITIL qualification (e.g. ITIL v4 Foundation) is expected, or a willingness to achieve this within 6 months.

Experience of service improvement initiatives, estates integration, or working in a public sector or regulated environment would be beneficial.

This is an opportunity to play a key role in enabling Ofgem's digital services by ensuring reliable, high-quality IT support across the organisation. You will help create a service desk function that is responsive, efficient and continuously improving, supporting colleagues to deliver on Ofgem's mission at a critical time of change.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

• Professional Expertise - Demonstrated capability in leading an enterprise-wide team in IT service operations, with a track record of high performance and delivery in previous roles (Lead Criteria)
• ITIL Knowledge & Application - Strong working knowledge of ITIL processes with a requirement to hold currently or to obtain a minimum of ITIL v4 Foundation within 6 months of role acceptance (Lead Criteria)
• Service Delivery Management - Experience managing end-to-end IT service delivery, with accountability for performance against KPIs and service expectations.
• Stakeholder Engagement - Proven ability to build and manage effective working relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including influencing service reporting and improvement discussions
• Problem Resolution Leadership - Experience leading teams in diagnosing and resolving technical issues, with a focus on improving service desk performance and user outcomes.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience in Service Improvement Initiatives - Exposure to or involvement in continuous improvement activities, including identifying and implementing changes to enhance service desk performance or user experience.
• Understanding of Public Sector Digital Standards - Awareness of government digital service standards, accessibility requirements, or experience working within a regulated or policy-driven environment.