Sr. Manager, Service Desk

Harris County Universal Services is seeking a Sr. Manager, Service Desk to lead a 24/7 enterprise Service Desk and technical support operation based in Houston, Texas. In this onsite role, you will set service standards, oversee ITIL-aligned incident and change management, and ensure the county’s ITSM platform operations support reliable day-to-day service and major-incident response.

Role Overview

You will manage enterprise service desk operations end to end, including staffing, workload and escalation management, troubleshooting oversight, and operational strategy. The position also provides senior leadership and functional oversight for ServiceNow or the county’s designated ITSM platform, with a focus on continuous improvement using operational data, dashboards, and customer feedback.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and manage the county’s 24/7 enterprise Service Desk and technical support operation, including staffing, workload management, service delivery, escalations, performance management, and operational strategy.
• Establish and maintain Service Desk standards, procedures, SLAs, KPIs, and customer-service expectations.
• Lead Incident Management and Major Incident Management, ensuring correct prioritization, escalation, communication, coordination, resolution, and post-incident reviews.
• Ensure incidents and service requests are categorized, assigned, monitored, escalated, and resolved within established service levels.
• Lead enterprise Change Management in line with ITIL practices, including change review, risk assessment, approvals, scheduling, communication, compliance, and Change Advisory Board activities.
• Act as a senior escalation point for complex or high-impact technical and customer-service issues, coordinating resolution across infrastructure, applications, cybersecurity, networking, desktop, and other technology teams.
• Provide leadership and functional oversight for ServiceNow (or the county’s designated ITSM platform), including implementation, workflow development, configuration, enhancements, integrations, reporting, dashboards, and continuous improvement.
• Partner with technical and business teams to improve Incident, Request, Problem, Change, Knowledge, and Asset Management processes within the ITSM platform.
• Use operational data, dashboards, trends, and customer feedback to identify recurring issues, service gaps, and automation or process-improvement opportunities.
• Develop and maintain Service Desk procedures, knowledge articles, escalation matrices, support models, and operational documentation.
• Lead and develop Service Desk managers, supervisors, analysts, and technical support personnel, including performance management, coaching, training, workforce planning, and succession planning.
• Coordinate Service Desk support during emergency activations and significant county events to ensure technology support for critical operations.
• Collaborate with county departments, leadership, technology teams, vendors, and external partners to deliver enterprise IT services effectively.
• Participate in technology planning, budgeting, vendor management, contract management, and IT service-management initiatives as required.
• Perform other duties as assigned in support of enterprise IT operations and service continuity.
• Provide senior management oversight of Service Desk and technical support operations, including direct and indirect staff.
• Manage staffing and workforce planning, performance evaluations, goal setting, coaching and development, work assignment, scheduling, hiring and promotion recommendations, disciplinary actions, and ensuring appropriate coverage for 24/7 operations.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in Information Technology, Computer Science, Information Systems, Business Information Systems, Engineering, or a closely related field.
• Minimum five (5) years of progressively responsible experience managing or leading a large-scale enterprise Service Desk, Help Desk, or IT support organization.
• Demonstrated experience with Incident Management and Major Incident Management in a complex enterprise environment.
• Demonstrated experience managing ITIL Change Management processes.
• Demonstrated experience with ServiceNow or a comparable enterprise ITSM platform, including implementation, administration, configuration, enhancement, or platform/process ownership.
• Experience establishing and managing Service Desk SLAs, KPIs, operational metrics, dashboards, escalation processes, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Demonstrated management experience leading technical personnel in an enterprise environment.
• Extensive knowledge of enterprise Service Desk/Help Desk operations and end-user support.
• Strong knowledge of ITIL principles and IT Service Management practices, including knowledge of Incident, Major Incident, Problem, Change, Service Request, and Knowledge Management.
• Strong working knowledge of ServiceNow or a comparable enterprise ITSM platform.
• Understanding of ITSM platform architecture, workflows, queues, assignment groups, SLAs, automation, dashboards, reporting, integrations, and service catalogs.
• Ability to lead or participate in ITSM platform implementations, upgrades, enhancements, and process transformations.
• Strong understanding of enterprise infrastructure, endpoint technologies, applications, networking, identity/access management, and cybersecurity support dependencies.
• Strong analytical skills using operational data and performance metrics to improve service delivery.
• Strong leadership, organizational, problem-solving, and decision-making capabilities.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including communicating during major incidents and executive-level escalations.
• Ability to establish productive working relationships with technical teams, executive leadership, county departments, vendors, external agencies, law enforcement, and first responders.
• Experience with enterprise IT Service Management platforms, preferably ServiceNow, including Incident, Change, Problem, Request, Knowledge, Service Catalog, reporting, dashboards, workflow, and related ITSM capabilities.
• Experience with Microsoft enterprise technologies and other tools supporting Service Desk, endpoint management, identity management, monitoring, remote support, collaboration, and reporting.

Technologies

• ServiceNow
• ITIL
• ITSM platform
• Service Desk
• Incident Management
• Major Incident Management
• Problem Management
• Change Management
• Service Request Management
• Knowledge Management
• Service Catalog
• IT service-management initiatives
• Microsoft enterprise technologies

Benefits

• Medical Coverage
• Dental Coverage
• Vision Coverage
• Wellness Plan
• Life Insurance
• Long-Term Disability (LTD) Insurance
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Healthcare Flexible Spending Account
• Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account
• Ten (10) days of vacation leave per year (accrual rate increases after 5 years of service)
• Eleven (11) County-observed holidays
• One (1) floating holiday per year
• Paid Parental Leave*
• Sick Leave
• 457 Deferred Compensation Plan
• Professional learning & development opportunities
• Retirement pension (TCDRS defined benefit plan)
• Flexible work schedule*
• METRO RideSponsor Program*

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting 24/7 or other mission-critical technology operations is preferred.
• Experience supporting government, public safety, emergency management, law enforcement, or other complex public-sector environments is preferred.
• ITIL Foundation or higher certification.
• ServiceNow Certified System Administrator (CSA), Certified Implementation Specialist (CIS), or comparable ITSM/platform certification is preferred.
• Relevant technical, project-management, cybersecurity, or service-management certifications are also desirable.

Location and General Information

• Location: 1310 Prairie St., Houston, TX 77002
• Work Arrangement: Onsite 5 days/week
• Employment may be contingent on passing a drug screen and meeting other standards.
• Due to a high volume of applications, positions may close prior to the advertised closing date or at the discretion of the Hiring Department.

Additional Screening and Application Requirements

• This position is subject to a criminal history check. Only relevant convictions will be considered and, even when considered, may not automatically disqualify the candidate.
• Applicants will be subject to a criminal background check that includes being fingerprinted.
• Automatic Disqualification: Convictions, probation, or deferred adjudication for any Felony, and any Class A Misdemeanor.
• Automatic Disqualification: Convictions, probation, or deferred adjudication for a Class B Misdemeanor, if within the previous 10 years.
• Automatic Disqualification: Open arrest for any criminal offense (Felony or Misdemeanor).
• Automatic Disqualification: Family Violence conviction.
• Qualifying education, experience, knowledge, and skills must be documented on the job application. A resume may be attached as supporting documentation, but only information stated on the application will be used for consideration. “See Resume” will not be accepted for qualifications.