SERVICE DESK LEAD

• Supervise a team of Tier I service desk and Knowledge Center analysts across core hours (6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET) and extended-hours shifts, including scheduling, coverage planning, attendance, performance management, coaching, and professional development.
• Own real-time and daily operational performance: monitor contact volumes, queue health, ticket aging, First Contact Resolution, Tier 0 deflection, and PL1-PL4 SLA adherence, and take corrective action to keep open tickets exceeding resolution SLA within the acceptable quality level.
• Enforce the Customer-Confirmed Ticket Closure process and ticket documentation standards through a structured quality assurance program, including ticket audits, call and chat reviews, and calibrated feedback.
• Lead the service desk’s response to PL1/PL2 critical incidents, including communications, situational awareness alerts, and coordination with Tier II, endpoint, communications, and application resolver groups.
• Analyze incident and request trends, escalation drivers, and customer feedback (CSAT, CES) to identify improvement opportunities, and lead the team’s contributions to Proactive Problem Management, After-Action Reviews, and Root Cause Analyses.
• Partner with Knowledge Management to prioritize knowledge article and Virtual Agent content development that increases Tier 0 deflection and Tier I resolution, and ensure analysts contribute knowledge consistently.
• Prepare Tier 0/I and Knowledge Center performance data and narrative inputs for the Customer Support Metrics Dashboard, Monthly Customer Support Activity Report, and Quarterly XLA Performance Report, and brief the Service Desk Manager and Government stakeholders as required.
• Maintain standard operating procedures, onboarding and training programs, and shift handover practices, and support recruiting, interviewing, and clearance onboarding of new analysts.

• Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of 10 years of related experience (a Master’s degree with 8 years of related experience, or an additional 4 years of related experience in lieu of a degree, may be substituted).
• Must be a U.S. Citizen.
• Must have an Active Secret Clearance (favorably adjudicated T3/T3R) to start.
• Must be willing and able to obtain TS/SCI eligibility after start, if required by mission needs.
• Must be within investigation scope and/or currently enrolled in Continuous Evaluation / Continuous Vetting.
• Must possess and maintain a current DoD 8570/8140 IAT Level I baseline certification (e.g., CompTIA A+ CE, Network+ CE, Security+ CE, CCNA-Security, or SSCP) prior to performing cybersecurity-related duties.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently, analyze problems, determine the appropriate course of action, and exercise discretion and independent judgment with limited day-to-day supervision.
• Minimum of 10 years of experience in enterprise IT service desk or end-user support, including at least 3 years supervising or leading a service desk team of 8 or more analysts.
• Demonstrated experience managing to SLAs, XLAs, and KPIs such as First Contact Resolution, average speed to answer, ticket aging, CSAT, and Customer Effort Score.
• Expert knowledge of an enterprise ITSM platform (e.g., ServiceNow) including reporting, dashboards, and queue management.
• Experience running quality assurance programs, coaching analysts, and managing performance and attendance.
• Experience supervising multi-shift or extended-hours operations and coordinating on-call coverage.
• Strong analytical skills and experience preparing operational performance reports and briefings for leadership and customers.
• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.

DESIRED SKILLS:

• HDI Support Center Manager, ITIL 4 Foundation or Practitioner, or equivalent service management certification.
• Experience supporting Department of War (DoW), DoD, or Intelligence Community IT environments and working across NIPRNet, SIPRNet, and JWICS enclaves.
• Experience deploying or operating AI-enabled Tier 0 capabilities (chatbots, Virtual Agent, automated password reset) and measuring ticket deflection.
• Experience supporting external customer help desks and publicly accessible support channels (toll-free phone, email, web form).
• Experience with Power BI or similar dashboard tools for performance reporting.
• Familiarity with ISO/IEC 20000-1 service management systems.

Empower AI is seeking a Service Desk Shift Lead to lead the daily operations of a Tier 0/Tier I IT Service Desk and external Knowledge Center supporting a Department of War agency with approximately 13,000 internal users and thousands of external industry partners. The Supervisor directly manages service desk analysts across core and extended-hours shifts, owns real-time performance against SLAs and XLAs, drives First Contact Resolution and Tier 0 deflection, and ensures every ticket follows the Customer-Confirmed Ticket Closure process. This is a hands-on leadership role that combines people management, performance coaching, quality assurance, and continuous improvement, and it reports to the Senior Service Desk Manager. This is a salaried, FLSA-exempt position in which you will independently analyze situations, determine the appropriate course of action, and exercise discretion and independent judgment on matters of significance to the program and its customers.