Service Desk Team Lead / Service Delivery Lead

Whitehats LLC is looking for an experienced Service Desk Team Lead / Service Delivery Lead to manage our technical support operations across remote support, field engineers and dedicated onsite engineers.This is a leadership role within a Managed IT Services environment. The successful candidate will be responsible for service desk performance, engineer coordination, ITSM processes, ticketing systems, SLA compliance, customer satisfaction, escalations, vendor coordination and internal collaboration with Sales and Procurement.The role requires a technically capable leader who understands IT infrastructure and support operations, but whose primary responsibility is to ensure that the entire support organization operates efficiently and delivers a consistently high standard of service to customers.Key ResponsibilitiesService Desk & Technical OperationsManage the day-to-day operation of the Whitehats Service Desk.Lead and coordinate remote support engineers, field engineers and dedicated onsite engineers assigned to customer locations.Monitor ticket queues, workloads, engineer availability, priorities and escalations.Assign incidents and service requests based on skills, urgency, location and SLA requirements.Review unresolved, ageing, reopened and repeatedly escalated tickets.Ensure engineers maintain complete and accurate ticket documentation.Ensure proper troubleshooting, escalation, closure and handover procedures are followed.Provide technical guidance to engineers when required.Coordinate engineer site visits and customer appointments.Manage engineer workload, utilization and availability.Identify recurring technical issues and coordinate permanent resolutions.ITSM & Ticketing System OwnershipOwn and continuously improve ITSM and ticketing processes.Manage incident, service request, problem, change and escalation management processes.Configure and improve ticket workflows, priorities, categories, automation, notifications and escalation rules.Define and maintain SLA policies within the ticketing platform.Monitor response and resolution SLA performance.Create dashboards and operational reports for management.Monitor ticket backlog, first-response time, resolution time, reopening rate and ageing.Ensure tickets contain proper technical notes, actions, customer communication and resolution detailsImplement automation to improve service desk efficiency.Maintain service catalogues, ticket categories, templates and workflows.Ensure customer, asset and service information is properly maintained.SLA & Service Performance ManagementMonitor service delivery against contractual SLAs.Identify tickets approaching or breaching SLA and intervene before escalation.Review service performance by engineer and customer.Analyze service desk trends, recurring issues and root causes.Produce weekly and monthly service desk performance reports.Monitor engineer productivity and quality rather than ticket quantity alone.Track SLA compliance, first response time, resolution time, first contact resolution, ticket ageing, reopened tickets, escalation rate, engineer utilization, customer satisfaction, complaints and repeat incidents.Customer Happiness & Service QualityOwn customer service quality and customer satisfaction.Handle customer complaints and escalations professionally.Follow up with customers after major incidents or service issues.Monitor CSAT and customer feedback.Identify dissatisfied customers before issues become serious escalations.Conduct service review meetings with key customers when required.Ensure customers receive timely updates during incidents.Maintain professional communication standards across the Service Desk.Work with management to continuously improve customer experience and retention.Engineer ManagementManage, guide and support remote, field and onsite engineers.Conduct regular operational reviews with the technical team.Monitor individual engineer performance and service quality.Identify technical or service-quality weaknesses and coordinate training.Ensure engineers follow Whitehats procedures and customer-specific requirements.Review engineer attendance, availability and field assignments.Assist with technical escalations where necessary.Ensure professional conduct at customer sites.Ensure proper documentation and knowledge transfer between engineers.Support management with engineer performance evaluations.Coordination with SalesLiaise with Sales regarding technical customer requirements.Provide technical input for customer proposals, renewals and service opportunities.Identify requirements discovered through support tickets that may need projects, upgrades or additional services.Communicate recurring infrastructure problems or capacity limitations to Sales.Assist Sales with technical assessments when required.Ensure customer commitments are operationally achievable.Coordination with ProcurementCoordinate with Procurement for hardware, software, licenses, replacement equipment and spare parts required for customer incidents and projects.Follow up on urgent purchases affecting service delivery.Ensure engineers provide accurate specifications before purchasing.Track dependencies where ticket resolution is pending procurement.Coordinate replacement hardware, warranty and RMA requirements.Vendor & Third-Party CoordinationLiaise with technology vendors, distributors, ISPs and third-party service providers.Manage vendor support cases and escalations.Coordinate Microsoft, ISP, firewall, hardware, software and cloud support cases.Track vendor response and resolution commitments.Ensure vendor delays do not remain unattended.Escalate critical vendor issues appropriately.Maintain effective working relationships with technology partners.Technical KnowledgeWindows 10/11, Windows Server, Active Directory, Group Policy, DNS and DHCPMicrosoft 365, Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint and OneDriveMicrosoft Entra ID, Intune and AzureVMware and Hyper-VLAN, WAN, VLAN, VPN, Wi-Fi and general network troubleshootingFortinet, Sophos, Cisco and similar firewall/networking environmentsBackup and disaster recovery including Acronis and VeeamEndpoint security, EDR/XDR, MFA and Conditional AccessServers, storage and virtualizationRMM platforms, PSA/ITSM systems, monitoring, remote support and patch managementImportant: The Team Lead is not expected to personally resolve every technical issue, but must be technically strong enough to understand escalations, challenge engineers when necessary and make informed operational decisions.Candidate Requirements Minimum bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Systems, Networking, Cybersecurity, or another closely related IT discipline.Minimum 5+ years of IT support / infrastructure experience.Minimum 2+ years in a team lead, senior support, service desk lead or technical leadership position.Previous experience working for a Managed Service Provider, IT Service Provider or System Integrator is mandatory.Experience supporting and managing multiple external customers simultaneously.Experience managing remote and field support engineers; onsite dedicated engineers is strongly preferred.Strong knowledge of ITSM principles and service desk operations.Hands-on experience with ticketing and ITSM platforms.Experience with SLA monitoring, escalations, service reporting and performance dashboards.Strong customer communication and complaint-management skills.Ability to coordinate between technical teams, customers, Sales, Procurement and vendors.Strong analytical, prioritization, documentation and problem-solving skills.Experience improving workflows and automation within an ITSM platform.Preferred CertificationsITIL Foundation or higherMicrosoft / Microsoft Azure certificationsCisco certificationsFortinet certificationsVMware certificationsRelevant service management or technical certificationsUAE Driving License: Preferred, as the role may occasionally require customer-site visits and meetings.