Service Manager - MSP

Role Overview

• We are seeking an experienced Managed Operations Support Manager to lead and continuously improve our Managed Operations support function. This is a hands-on leadership role responsible for ensuring effective 24x7 support operations, exceptional customer communication, strong ITSM governance, and consistent service delivery.
• The successful candidate will oversee support team performance, ticket management, incident response, quality assurance, capacity planning, and operational excellence. Working closely with Service Managers, technical engineers, DevOps, and cloud teams, the role is critical in ensuring customer issues are resolved efficiently while driving continual improvement across people, processes, and technology.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the day-to-day operation of the Managed Operations support function, including workforce planning, shift management, workload distribution, and after-hours escalation readiness.
• Own and govern the Freshservice ITSM platform, ensuring effective ticket management, SLA adherence, workflow optimisation, and process compliance.
• Drive ticket quality assurance standards, customer communication excellence, and continuous service improvements.
• Coordinate major incident response, escalation management, root cause analysis, and problem management activities.
• Monitor and report on operational performance metrics, including SLA achievement, backlog management, customer satisfaction, and team productivity.
• Oversee operational readiness and onboarding of new customers, services, and workloads into the support environment.
• Lead knowledge management, automation initiatives, and shift-left strategies to improve first-contact resolution and operational efficiency.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, vendors, and stakeholders to ensure effective service delivery and customer success.
• Ensure compliance with governance, risk, security, and audit requirements across support operations.

Requirements Essential Skills & Experience

• Minimum of 5 years' experience in IT service management, technical support, service desk operations, or IT operations.
• Minimum of 3 years' experience leading or managing a support, service desk, or operations team.
• Proven experience operating within a 24x7 support environment, including shift and escalation management.
• Strong experience with ITSM platforms, particularly Freshservice or equivalent service management tools.
• Demonstrated expertise in ticket governance, workload management, service reporting, quality assurance, and continual improvement initiatives.
• Strong understanding of incident management, problem management, service delivery, and customer support best practices.
• Ability to lead teams, manage competing priorities, and make data-driven operational decisions.
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication, and customer engagement skills.

Desirable Skills & Experience

• Experience within a Managed Services Provider MSP or multi-customer support environment.
• Exposure to cloud operations, DevOps support models, monitoring platforms, and operational tooling.
• Experience implementing workflow automation and AI-driven service management capabilities.
• Knowledge of service readiness assessments, operational onboarding, and support transition processes.
• AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud certifications.
• Advanced ITIL certifications.

Qualifications

• Relevant Diploma or Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Service Management, or a related field.
• ITIL 4 Foundation Certification required.
• Freshservice administration or configuration experience or equivalent ITSM platform expertise.

Behavioural Competencies

• Strong leadership and people management abilities.
• Excellent communication and customer-facing skills.
• Problem-solving and analytical thinking.
• High attention to detail and commitment to quality.
• Data-driven decision-making capability.
• Ability to work effectively under pressure in a fast-paced operational environment.
• Strong collaboration and relationship-building skills.
• Continuous improvement and automation mindset.
• Accountability, ownership, and sound judgement.