Information Technology Service Desk Manager

Mines is pleased to announce an opening for an IT Service Desk Manager. The person in this role provides leadership and management for full-time IT employees and student employees that represent Mines Information Technology (IT) as the first point of contact for technical support at Mines.

In this role, you'll oversee daily operational decisions to lead the team toward the implementation of project plans as well as the broader strategic decisions charting longer-range goals. You will lead a Tier 1 and 2 support team and ensures that every customer's experience is exemplary. You also will continue to build on the vision of making the Mines IT Service Desk world-class with a record of excellent customer service by focusing on successful first call/contact resolution of technical issues related to a wide range of computer applications, systems, and devices associated with STEM-focused teaching and research requiring a broad range of hardware and software technologies across all operating systems, including Windows, MacOS, Linux, iOS, Android, and more. You will help provide a baseline for knowledge sharing, training, and metrics to better develop and measure service excellence standards consistent with the IT mission and goal of providing a seamless user experience.

This role is on-site Monday through Friday to provide supervision and support to the team and proactive customer service to our campus community.

Responsibilities

Manage Service Desk functions

• Ensure the appropriate tools, systems, and access are in place for the Mines IT Service Desk to succeed in providing excellent customer service as the primary customer-facing support team which includes phone, chat, walk-up and ticket-based support requests.
• Partner with other IT teams to provide Tier 1 & 2 support, triage, and escalate issues as appropriate.
• Provide regular reports to leadership that measure key performance indicators (KPI), service-level agreements (SLA), and customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores among other metrics to monitor service quality, evaluate team and service performance, and provide feedback to IT teams. In addition, provide usage reports and trends for computer lab software and hardware to enable usage forecasting and to evaluate software licensing needs.
• Refine and mature an ITSM quality assurance program, ensuring that IT services meet the required standards and expectations of both Mines IT and its faculty, staff, and students.
• Engage in problem management activities. Participate in the resolution of problems as teams engage.
• Serve on the Change Advisory Board (CAB) to ensure impacts to customers are considered in our change process.
• Develop and maintain best practices that are consistent with an ITIL 4-based service desk.
• Monitor communications to ensure responses are professional, appropriate, and helpful.
• Drive knowledge centered support (KCS) by providing detailed guidance for capturing, structuring, reusing, and improving the knowledge articles that enable processes, functions, and other capabilities that improve a service provider's efficiency and effectiveness.
• Using ITIL 4 problem management techniques, analyze the service request data to identify trends. Make recommendations to the IT leadership team on ways to eliminate future issues from occurring.
• Maintain reliable customer relationships and satisfaction using surveys and service-level agreements (SLA).
• Champion ongoing improvements by considering customer feedback, metrics, usability findings, and industry trends.

Collaboration and Partnerships

• Partner with peers in Service Delivery to share resources and manage support across campus.
• Communicate customer experience expectations and feedback on performance to various IT teams.
• Maintain and foster new campus and community partnerships.
• Communicate and interact extensively with all areas of the campus community about technical and policy decisions.
• Manage relationships with vendors.

Staff Development and Training

• Lead, manage, and mentor a team of full-time staff and student support staff and help identify and enact practices that will ensure team growth in the vision, mission, and purpose of creating consistent, positive user experiences.
• Collaborate closely with the Mines IT Service Desk Student Supervisor, a FTE role that focuses on recruiting, onboarding, and developing student employees that work in the IT Service Desk and beyond.
• Guide and onboard team members and educate on user experience, vision, technical concepts, and best practices.
• Communicate and embody customer experience expectations. Train the team to provide patient and helpful support to customers that range in skill from novice to expert. Create personalized development plans for each team member.
• Monitor team performance, conduct reviews, give feedback, and be available for questions and concerns. Conduct quarterly and annual performance evaluations and build performance plans.
• Develop guidelines and procedures to improve the quality of support the team delivers.
• Forecast resource allocation, capacity, availability, and planning.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in information technology, engineering, computer science, or related discipline. Individuals without a related degree may be considered if they demonstrate possession of the same knowledge level found in a degree but have attained advanced knowledge through a combination of work experience and intellectual instruction.
• 3 years of relevant professional experience working within the field of information technology in one or more areas of technical support, IT service management, user experience design, instructional and learning technology design and implementation, and/or operational management.
• Experience supervising, managing, and leading within information technology.
• A service and customer-centric mindset.
• Ability to build and lead a high functioning team towards a common goal.
• Proven analytical and problem-solving abilities.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment managing multiple competing priorities.
• A deep understanding of business requirements and the ability to recommend and provide effective solutions.
• Adoption of innovative technologies and readiness for change.
• Strong background working with presentation systems, desktop deployment tools, and domain computer configurations.
• Thorough understanding and working knowledge of standard business software including but not limited to Microsoft Office 365 applications.
• Demonstrated ability to use and support online conferencing software, online chat, and collaboration tools.
• Ability to organize staff work processes, training, and expectations to ensure excellent customer service is consistently delivered.
• Experience implementing ITIL processes and service management practices.
• Ability to remain calm and exude positivity under pressure.

Preferred Qualifications

• ITIL Certification
• HDI Certification
• Ability to integrate multiple data sources for informed decision making.
• Experience with project management processes to drive and complete projects.
• Proven experience working with vendors to form strong partnerships.
• Experience providing end-user technology support at a college or university or a large heterogeneous environment.

Salary and Benefits

$108,000 - $119,000

Mines takes into consideration a combination of candidate’s education, training and experience as well as the position’s scope and complexity, the discretion and latitude required in the role, work location, and external market and internal value when determining a salary level for potential new employees.

Colorado School of Mines offers a robust portfolio of benefits for all employees. For this role, that includes:

• Flexible health and dental care options
• Generous sick/vacation time: 13 paid holidays per year – including a week-long winter break for entire campus.
• Fully vested retirement plan on first day of employment, with generous employer contribution
• Tuition benefits (6 credits per year for employees, 50 percent discount for dependents)
• Free RTD Ecopass

All Mines employees also have access to discount programs through the State of Colorado and free tickets for Mines Athletics home games, as well as access to the state of the art Recreation Center (fitness classes and training, swimming pool and more) and equipment rentals through the Outdoor Rec Center. We are proud to have recently opened an on campus daycare center. For more details about benefits at Mines, visit mines.edu/human-resources/benefits.

How to Apply

Applicants must:

Complete an online application (personal information, demographic information, veteran status)

• Upload a resume or CV
• Upload a cover letter

Candidates must be currently authorized to work in the United States.

References will not be contacted until later in the selection process and you will be informed before that contact is made.

Application review will begin May 7, 2025. This posting will close May 6, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. Applications will not be accepted after that date.

Successful Completion of a Background Investigation is Required for this Position.