IT Service Desk Team Leader

Service Desk Team Leader

Location: Based from Shoreham, Exeter, Birmingham or Manchester
Salary: Competitive
Contract: Permanent

Lead a High-Performing Service Desk Team at Focus Group

Focus Group is looking for an experienced Service Desk Team Leader to join our Operations team and play a key role in delivering an exceptional support experience for our customers.

This is an exciting opportunity for a people-focused leader who thrives in a fast-paced service environment and is passionate about coaching teams, driving performance, and continuously improving customer outcomes.

Reporting to the Service Desk Manager, you'll be responsible for the day-to-day leadership of a team of Service Desk Engineers, ensuring service levels are achieved, customer satisfaction remains high, and team members receive the support and development they need to succeed.

Key Responsibilities

The Role

As a Service Desk Team Leader, you'll oversee the operational performance of your team, ensuring tickets are managed effectively, workloads are balanced, and customers receive a consistently high standard of service.

You'll act as a key escalation point, support team development, drive service improvements, and work closely with wider operational teams to ensure a seamless customer experience.

This role combines people leadership, operational management, customer service excellence, and performance improvement within a busy and rewarding environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, manage, and develop a team of Service Desk Engineers.
• Oversee day-to-day service desk operations, ensuring service levels and KPIs are consistently achieved.
• Manage annual leave, absence tracking, shift rotas, and workforce planning.
• Monitor ticket queues and ensure workloads are distributed effectively across the team.
• Drive performance against key metrics including response times, resolution times, customer updates, and call handling targets.
• Act as an escalation point for customer issues and service-related concerns.
• Work closely with Senior Engineers to ensure technical escalations are managed effectively.
• Ensure smooth handovers between day and night support teams.
• Review customer feedback and investigate negative CSAT responses, implementing improvement plans where required.
• Deliver regular team meetings, coaching sessions, and performance reviews.
• Identify training and development opportunities through ticket and performance analysis.
• Promote a culture of continuous improvement and customer excellence.
• Monitor ticket quality and ensure adherence to documented processes and quality standards.
• Build strong relationships with key stakeholders across Operations and the wider business.
• Keep Service Desk Managers informed of major incidents, escalations, and support requirements.

Skills, Knowledge & Expertise

What We're Looking For

Essential Skills & Experience

• Previous experience in a Service Desk Team Leader, Helpdesk Team Leader, or similar support leadership role.
• Proven ability to lead, motivate, and develop customer support or technical support teams.
• Experience working within a KPI-driven service environment.
• Strong understanding of service desk operations and ticket management processes.
• Excellent organisational and workload management skills.
• Ability to delegate tasks effectively and fairly across a team.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Confidence in handling escalations and difficult customer situations.
• Ability to remain calm and composed under pressure.
• Strong attention to detail and commitment to service quality.
• Adaptable and able to lead teams through change and process improvements.
• Customer-centric mindset with a passion for delivering exceptional service.

Success Measures

You'll play a key role in driving performance against important service metrics, including:

• First Contact Resolution (FCR)
• Service Level Target (SLT) achievement
• Ticket response and validation compliance
• Reduction of aged tickets
• Positive Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) scores
• Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)
• Inbound call handling performance

Job Benefits

• Holiday Allowance - 24 days + bank holidays + birthday leave. 
• Hybrid working options - performance depending. 
• Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption leave. 
• Paid volunteering day * regular charity events.
• Wider company benefits across health, financial wellbeing, Pension etc.

Internal job reference: Specialist/Team Leader