Senior Service Desk Analyst

Location: Lancaster

Permanent Salary: £30,505 - £36,924 (Grade 6)

Closing Date: 9th March 2025

Interview Date: 14th March 2025

Lancaster University is an established thriving UK university with a world-class reputation for excellence in research, teaching and engagement. Lancaster is consistently ranked in the top universities in all three major UK league tables and continues to build a growing reputation both nationally and internationally. Our Lancaster University values believe in respecting each other by being open and fair and promoting diversity, we build strong communities by working effectively together in a supportive way and we create positive change by being ambitious in our learning, expertise and action.

Join our dynamic frontline IT Support team as a Senior Service Desk Analyst, providing exceptional support to Lancaster University's students, staff and visitors. As an experienced problem-solver and leader, you will supervise the day-to-day operations of the ISS Service Desk alongside providing support via face-to-face interactions, over the phone, live-chat and our help centre ticketing system. Handling requests that require technical expertise, you will engage with more complex queries that have been escalated by Service Desk Analysts and be responsible for fulfilling specific service requests that require escalated access privileges. Working alongside the Service Desk Manager, you will also help identify reoccurring problems and collaborate with colleagues both internal and external to the department to address these issues at their source.

Responsibilities include troubleshooting IT incidents, managing service requests, handling complex technical queries, promoting customer service excellence and ensuring continuous service improvement. You will ensure urgent issues are escalated appropriately, work with Service Managers and other technical contacts to document solutions to known issues, ensure service delivery is in line with agreed metrics and oversee the training and development of the wider team.

We're looking for a proactive team lead with substantial experience in technical support, who is committed to ensuring the highest levels of professional conduct are upheld and exercises their initiative to identify and implement improvements to service delivery.

Required experience, skills & abilities:

1. Level 3 qualification, equivalent to at least 2 'A' levels in an IT or related discipline, or equivalent professional certification or equivalent experience. (Essential)
2. Experience of working in a customer-facing IT support role, dealing with customers both face to face or online, with a focus on providing an excellent customer experience. (Essential)
3. Experience of using IT Service Desk tools & processes. (Essential)
4. Experience of providing a customer perspective for new services, testing and providing feedback to development teams. (Essential)
5. Demonstrable practitioner experience in IT, with expertise in a number of mainstream technologies (eg directory services, desktop software including Windows and Office)
6. Experience of supporting colleagues within a team. (Essential)
7. Ability to empathise with IT users, their challenges and issues. (Essential)
8. Knowledge of a wide range of information technologies and an ability to use this to resolve issues experienced by our staff and students. (Essential)
9. Ability to deal with duties associated with this more senior Service Desk role, such as dealing with requests that require more technical expertise, incidents that require troubleshooting, or administrative tasks such as organising staff rotas. (Essential)
10. Logical, systematic and pragmatic problem-solving skills. (Essential)
11. Ability to communicate effectively and appropriately with people at all levels of seniority and technical ability, with the ability to simplify and communicate technical issues to a non-technical audience. (Essential)
12. Ability to plan ahead, manage tasks, prioritise workloads and meet competing deadlines. (Essential)
13. Proven track record of personal development in the IT/AV discipline. (Desirable)
14. Experience of working in IT within Higher Education. (Desirable)
15. Microsoft Office Specialist Certification. (Desirable)
16. IT Service Management qualifications, such as ITIL. (Desirable)

This is a full-time, indefinite post with some flexibility to work some of your time remotely, but it is primarily a campus-based role.

If interested, apply now and submit your CV alongside a cover letter, up to a maximum of three A4 pages.

We warmly welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of their age, religion, gender identity or expression, race, disability or sexual orientation, and are committed to promoting diversity, and equality of opportunity