Service Desk Manager
Service Desk Manager
Are you a people-focused IT leader who knows how to build confidence, raise standards and keep things moving—even when the pressure is on?
Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity is looking for a Service Desk Manager to lead our Service Desk function and help shape the experience colleagues across the organisation have with technology and support.
This is not a hands-off management role. We’re looking for someone who enjoys being close to the detail: coaching and motivating people day-to-day, solving problems, improving processes and stepping in when challenges need direction or momentum.
You’ll lead a small team supporting around 300 colleagues across Windows and Mac environments, while also playing a wider leadership role across Technology. You’ll need to balance service, strategy and operational delivery—creating an environment where people feel supported, standards stay high and problems are tackled properly, not just patched over.
This role requires someone who can build trust and strong relationships across the organisation, while also having the confidence to challenge, push back and influence when needed. You’ll work closely with senior stakeholders, helping them navigate priorities, understand risks and make informed decisions that support the wider organisation.
We’re looking for someone who is commercially minded, resilient and proactive—someone who enjoys improving how things work and has the determination to see things through.
Salary
The salary for this role is £53,000 per annum and you are required to work in the London office for 4 days per week.
In line with our EDI strategy and Total Reward policy, we calculate our salaries based on benchmarking data across the charity sector. To ensure fairness for existing staff and new joiners, we do not offer salaries above the advertised rate.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead and manage the Service Desk team, creating a supportive, accountable and high-performing culture with a strong focus on service quality and delivery.
- Coach, motivate and develop team members day-to-day, providing clear direction, regular feedback and practical support to help the team succeed .
- Take ownership of incident, problem and service request management processes, ensuring issues are resolved effectively and service standards are maintained.
- Lead the response to major or complex incidents, providing calm leadership, clear communication and practical problem-solving.
- Investigate recurring issues and operational challenges, identifying root causes and driving long-term improvements rather than short-term fixes.
- Build strong relationships across the organisation, acting as a trusted partner to teams and senior stakeholders while constructively challenging where needed.
- Produce and present service performance insights and recommendations, helping shape decisions and influence improvements across Technology services.
- Manage Service Desk tooling, processes and knowledge management to ensure services remain efficient, reliable and user-focused.
- Work closely with suppliers and support partners to ensure high-quality service delivery and effective issue resolution.
- Continuously look for opportunities to improve systems, processes and ways of working, helping the Technology function evolve and mature over time.
Skills, Knowledge and Expertise
- Significant experience leading a Service Desk or IT support function in a fast-paced environment.
- Strong people management experience, with the ability to coach, motivate and develop teams through both support and challenge.
- Experience managing incidents, operational issues and service improvements in a structured and effective way.
- Strong stakeholder management skills, with the confidence to influence senior leaders and push back constructively when required.
- Ability to communicate complex technical issues clearly and confidently to a wide range of audiences.
- Commercial and strategic mindset, with the ability to balance operational priorities with longer-term improvements.
- Strong problem-solving skills, with the ability to dig into issues, identify root causes and drive meaningful change.
- Excellent organisational skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities and maintain high standards under pressure.
- Good understanding of IT service management principles and frameworks.
- Working knowledge of IT infrastructure, Active Directory, networks, security and device support across Windows and Mac environments.
This is a varied and high-impact role where you’ll help shape the day-to-day technology experience across the organisation—leading people, improving services and creating an environment where teams feel supported, informed and able to do their best work.
How to apply
How to apply
Please click on the apply button in the top right-hand corner where you will be taken to a short application form to complete.
Closing date:31st May 2026
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Benefits
- 30 days annual leave (plus bank holidays)
- A flexible approach to working arrangements.
- Access to our enhanced pension scheme
- Life assurance
- Access to various health and wellbeing schemes, including the employee assistance programme.
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About Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity
Every day, around 750 children and young people from across the UK are seen at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH). At Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity, we help the hospital go above and beyond for seriously ill children, enabling kinder and better treatments, bringing hope for children with the rarest and most complex illnesses, and making hospital a little bit easier and a lot more fun for the thousands of children who are treated at GOSH every year. Our staff raise vital funds to support ground-breaking research, cutting-edge medical equipment, and the creation of child-centred facilities to help save more young lives, and essential support services that help save childhoods too.
Together, we can help give seriously ill children the best chance, and the best childhood, possible.
Our commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
We believe that GOSH Charity and the charity sector more widely should reflect the diversity of patients, communities, and society at large. We also know that having a more diverse and inclusive workforce will make us more innovative, challenge the status quo, and enable us to deliver more impact. We encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. In particular, we encourage applications from those who are currently under represented within the charity sector as they may be marginalised by race and/or ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, long-term health conditions, or socioeconomic status.
If you would like more information about our approach to inclusive hiring please see our Inclusive Hiring Page here. You can also find out more about our commitments to EDI within our EDI Strategy here
https://www.gosh.org/about-us/equality-diversity-and-inclusion-edi-strategy/As a Level 2 Disability Confident Employer we are more than happy to make reasonable adjustments wherever possible throughout the recruitment process. For more information on this please contact recruitment@gosh.org