IT Service Operations Manager

About the role

The IT Service Operations Manager leads the IT Service Desk and Field Support teams across the UAE, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar. The role is accountable for the quality of IT support and the end-user experience for all GIG Gulf employees, and acts as the main link between IT and the business for support and service requests. It also covers IT communications, user accounts and access, IT assets, office IT services and the Service Operations budget.

Key responsibilities

• Run the Service Desk as the single point of contact, delivering incidents and service requests within SLAs, owning aged tickets and coordinating second-line resolution
• Manage major incidents, IT communications to the business and changes through CAB, with root cause analysis and verified closure
• Lead Field Support across the four countries, including device provisioning, patching, backups, device refresh and support for corporate events
• Represent IT at country offices, maintain communication rooms, UPS, cooling and cabling, and support office relocations and new sites
• Own the joiner, mover and leaver process, access reviews, the IT asset management platform and the CMDB
• Drive ticket reduction, own Service Desk KPIs and the customer satisfaction survey, and review annual service processes and policies
• Manage the Service Operations budget, procurement, vendor contracts and licence renewals
• Lead and develop the team, plan rosters and on-call cover, and ensure service continuity and documented closure

Required profile

• Minimum 8 years' experience in IT service operations, including at least 4 years leading Service Desk and/or Field Support teams, preferably across multiple countries
• Bachelor's degree in IT or equivalent experience
• Proven people leadership, performance management and follow-through
• Excellent written and verbal English and willingness to travel regularly within the GCC

Required skills

• Practical ITIL and strong hands-on experience with ITSM and asset management tools (ManageEngine or similar)
• Sound working knowledge of Windows 11, Microsoft 365, Entra ID, Intune, Teams events, video conferencing and networking basics
• Budget management, procurement, vendor contracts and data analysis (Excel or Power BI)