Service Operations Team Lead Full Time NEW

Job Title

Service Operations Team Lead

Function / Department

IT Operations

Reports To

Huzaifa Shaikh

Direct reports & People accountability

Detail the number of DRs, overall headcount of team

Band

5

Location (contractual base):

Nuneaton

Job Description Written By

Huzaifa Shaikh / Conway Tong

Date

14/04/2026

What is the purpose of the job?

In a maximum of 3 bullet points, explain the purpose of this role.

• Manage our IT Service Desk (offshore)
• Provide QA & Training to the team.
• Ensure the efficiency of our IT issues from Retail / Warehouse / Digital estates are managed in a timely fashion. Ensuring SLAs and KPIs are met.

Who are the customers for this role?

Retail Colleagues / Warehouse Staff / Hub Colleagues / Support Staff – Customer that had IT issues that route though the IT Service Desk.

Scale & Authority

The Service Operations Team Lead is a hands-on technical leadership role within IT Operations, responsible for overseeing the delivery of high-quality support services across retail, corporate, warehouse, and digital environments. The role combines operational leadership with technical capability, ensuring the team provides responsive, high-quality support while maintaining ownership of incidents, service requests, knowledge management, quality assurance, training, and continuous service improvement.

This role goes beyond team supervision. It requires strong technical judgement, people leadership, service ownership, and the ability to drive operational excellence across a multi-site support function. The Team Lead will act as the senior escalation point for complex support issues, coach and develop Service Operations colleagues, own the knowledge management approach, and embed a proactive, data-driven culture focused on service reliability, customer experience, and continual improvement.

What needs to be done?

Key Responsibilities/ Activities

e.g. Major Projects and Initiatives

e.g. Operational Tasks

Leadership & Management: Lead and manage the Service Operations team, ensuring alignment with business priorities and IT strategic goals. Oversee day-to-day operations including resource planning, rota management, workload allocation, performance management, and service delivery. Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, technical excellence, and continuous improvement.

Incident Ownership & Delivery: Ensure incidents and service requests are owned from initial contact through to confirmed resolution. Oversee triage activity, prioritisation, queue control, ticket quality, and escalation routing. Coordinate with 2nd/3rd line teams, vendors, and partners while maintaining accountability for outcomes.

Technical Leadership & Escalation: Act as the senior point of escalation for complex support queries and major operational issues. Provide hands-on technical support where required and support the team with diagnosis, root cause analysis, and resolution planning. Allocate work effectively across the team based on urgency, risk, and technical capability.

Quality Assurance, Training & Mentoring: Own and deliver QA activity across the team, reviewing ticket quality, technical accuracy, communication standards, and process adherence. Identify coaching needs and provide structured training, mentoring, and 1:1 support. Support onboarding and ongoing development of Service Desk Analysts and Technical Service Engineers.

Knowledge Management: Own the knowledge management system and documentation standards. Ensure knowledge articles, SOPs, troubleshooting guides, and support documentation are accurate, accessible, and regularly maintained. Drive knowledge sharing and ensure the team contributes to continuous improvement of the knowledge base.

Service Improvement & Metrics: Embed a proactive, data-driven approach to service improvement by monitoring key metrics such as ticket volumes, resolution times, escalation rates, backlog, and CSAT. Analyse trends, identify opportunities to improve user experience and service reliability, and implement measurable improvements.

Automation & Self-Service: Support the adoption of automation and self-service tools to create efficiencies, reduce repeat demand, and improve the user experience. Ensure support processes and knowledge content are aligned to self-service and shift-left objectives.

Skills Development & Training: Coordinate skills assessments, role mapping, and tower alignment. Drive progression through skills streams and certification pathways. Maintain a skills matrix, track certification progress, and organise mentoring sessions, study groups, mock exams, and monthly Tech Talks.

Vendor & Supplier Management: Build strong relationships with suppliers and managed service partners, ensuring robust services. Work closely with third parties to progress incidents, challenge delays, and maintain a joined-up support experience across multiple sites.

What Key Performance Indicators will be measured to evaluate success?

• Strong ownership and timely resolution of incidents and service requests across the team.
• Achievement of SLA, KPI, and service quality targets.
• Reduced escalation rates and improved quality of resolution.
• Improved CSAT and internal customer satisfaction scores.
• Increased knowledge sharing, documentation quality, and knowledge base adoption.
• Increased technical capability and certification rates across the team.
• Positive feedback on coaching, mentoring, and team development.
• Improved service stability, operational maturity, and continuous improvement delivery.
• Hands-on experience in Service Desk or IT support roles.
• Strong understanding of Microsoft Suite, IT Systems and Software Support and ITIL
• Proven ability to manage triage, ticketing systems, and multi-channel customer response services.
• Proven ability to perform QA, training, and mentoring at team and 1:1 level.
• Experience in resolving technical issues and allocating work for resolution.
• Excellent customer service skills with a focus on delivering high-quality support.
• Experience in producing and maintaining support documentation.
• Proactive in identifying opportunities for improvement in user experience and service reliability.
• Experience in analysing performance metrics and trends.
• Experience in assisting in major incidents
• Experience coaching and developing a skilled team of Analysts and Technical Service Engineers.
• Experience building strong working relationships with suppliers and ensuring robust contract management.
• Experience supporting consistent service delivery across multiple sites, including remote and on-site support.

Skills (Expert Ability)

Desirable

• Retail technology and EPOS support.
• Warehouse or logistics technology environments.
• Digital or customer service platforms.
• Vendor and supplier management.
• Hardware deployment, imaging, and asset management.
• ITIL-aligned environments.
• Automation and self-service tooling.
• Certification tracking tools and skills assessment platforms such as SFIA.
• Dutch Speaking

Experience (Proven Expertise)

• Proven experience managing a technical service desk or support function.
• Strong understanding of ITIL principles and service management best practices.
• Experience in technical training, mentoring, or team development.
• Excellent communication, leadership, and stakeholder management skills.
• Exposure to technical certification pathways and skills development frameworks.
• Experience with certification tracking tools and skills assessment platforms such as SFIA is advantageous.

Career Path (Possible Next Move) Potential next step(s): [insert role(s)]. Progression will depend on individual development and business requirements.

Service Desk Manager