About the Role

<p><strong>Technical Operations Manager</strong></p> <p><strong>Location: Omagh, Northern Ireland</strong></p> <p><strong>Reports to: CTO</strong></p> <p><strong>Role Purpose</strong></p> <p>The Technical Operations Manager is responsible for the day-to-day leadership and performance of the service desk function, ensuring high-quality IT support is delivered to our clients in line with agreed Service Level Agreements (SLAs).</p> <p>The role will lead a team of approximately 14 technical staff across service desk, infrastructure, cloud services, networking, and cyber security, driving service excellence, customer satisfaction, and continual service improvement.</p> <p><strong>Key Responsibilities</strong></p> <p><strong>Team Leadership &amp; Management</strong></p> <ul> <li>Lead, manage, and develop a team of ~14 technical staff across multiple disciplines</li><li>Conduct regular 1:1s, performance reviews, and coaching sessions</li><li>Manage resource allocation, scheduling, and workload balancing</li><li>Support recruitment, onboarding, and training of new staff</li><li>Foster a high-performance, customer-focused team culture</li><li>Build a culture of accountability, ownership, and continuous improvement.</li><li>Coach team members through performance challenges and development plans.</li><li>Hold difficult conversations when standards are not met.</li><li>Identify future technical leaders and support succession planning.</li><li>Drive alignment with LoughTec's values and behaviours.</li></ul> <p><strong>Leadership Expectations</strong></p> <ul> <li>Lead by example.</li><li>Be visible, approachable, and supportive.</li><li>Challenge poor behaviours and low standards.</li><li>Communicate clearly and consistently.</li><li>Create an environment where people can do their best work.</li><li>Support organisational change and continuous improvement initiatives.</li></ul> <p><strong>Service Desk Operations</strong></p> <ul> <li>Oversee daily service desk operations, ensuring efficient ticket handling</li><li>Manage ticket queues, prioritisation, and escalation processes</li><li>Ensure timely response and resolution of incidents and service requests</li><li>Act as an escalation point for complex or high-priority issues</li></ul> <p><strong>SLA &amp; KPI Management</strong></p> <ul> <li>Own and report on service desk performance against SLAs and KPIs</li><li>Monitor metrics such as:</li><li>First Response Time</li><li>Resolution Time (MTTR)</li><li>First Contact Resolution (FCR)</li><li>Ticket backlog</li><li>Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)</li><li>Produce regular performance reports for management and clients</li></ul> <p><strong>Client &amp; Stakeholder Management</strong></p> <ul> <li>Act as a key point of contact for service-related client issues and escalations</li><li>Participate in service review meetings with clients where required</li><li>Work closely with account management/sales teams to ensure client satisfaction</li><li>Manage and resolve service complaints in a professional manner</li></ul> <p><strong>Process &amp; Service Improvement</strong></p> <ul> <li>Implement and maintain ITIL-aligned processes (Incident, Request, Problem, Change)</li><li>Identify recurring issues and drive problem management initiatives</li><li>Improve service desk efficiency through automation, documentation, and knowledge sharing</li><li>Maintain and develop the internal knowledge base</li></ul> <p><strong>Major Incident Management</strong></p> <ul> <li>Lead or coordinate major incidents, ensuring effective communication</li><li>Ensure timely updates to clients and internal stakeholders</li><li>Conduct post-incident reviews and drive preventative actions</li></ul> <p><strong>Systems &amp; Tools Management</strong></p> <ul> <li>Oversee the effective use of PSA/ticketing systems (e.g. ConnectWise, Autotask)</li><li>Ensure accurate ticket data for reporting and analysis</li><li>Work with technical teams to optimise monitoring and alerting systems</li></ul> <p><strong>Collaboration with Projects Team</strong></p> <ul> <li>Work closely with the Project Manager to ensure smooth handover between projects and support</li><li>Ensure clear boundaries between project work and support activities</li><li>Assist in identifying opportunities for project work from recurring support issues</li></ul> <p><strong>Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)</strong></p> <ul> <li>SLA compliance across all clients</li><li>Reduction in ticket backlog</li><li>Improvement in response and resolution times</li><li>Customer Satisfaction (CSAT/NPS)</li><li>Team utilisation and productivity</li><li>Reduction in repeat incidents</li></ul> <p><strong>Technical Operations Manager - Skills &amp; Experience</strong></p> <p><strong>Essential</strong></p> <ul> <li>Proven experience managing an IT service desk or support team</li><li>Experience working within an MSP or multi-client environment</li><li>Strong understanding of SLA-driven service delivery</li><li>Experience using