Service Desk Shift Lead

We are looking for a service desk / cloud support / shift lead to run the front line of IT support — owning a shift, leading a team of specialists, and being accountable for SLAs, ticket quality, and customer experience across service desk and cloud support. The role is where support strategy meets daily execution: keeping the queue moving, handling escalations, and making sure the shift hands off cleanly.

The defining shift for this role in 2026 is AI absorbing the repetitive front-line load. IT help desks handle a high volume of predictable requests — password resets, access provisioning, VPN troubleshooting — that map well to automation, and AI is now the main technology doing it, changing how support is delivered, measured, and staffed. The lead's job is to design the human-AI split: rather than an on/off switch, the 2026 approach is a probabilistic approval workflow where the AI acts within confidence thresholds and humans approve the rest. Deflection and automation are distinct metrics that are often confused, and the lead must manage both deliberately.

The value this person brings is a well-run shift with strong SLAs and customer experience — with routine volume deflected by automation and the team focused on the requests that actually need a person.

We are seeking a front-line leader who can run a shift and a team — someone who keeps the queue healthy, coaches specialists, handles escalations calmly, and owns the numbers for their shift. They treat AI as the tool that clears repetitive tickets so the team can do higher-value work.

This profile partners across service desk / support specialists, cloud / infrastructure teams, and escalation / engineering functions. It suits someone open to a hybrid or on-site (shift-based) engagement, and to mobilization to the Middle East, Europe, or North America depending on the client. The person we want keeps the front line running well.

A strong candidate for this role has led a service desk or support shift — someone who has owned SLAs and queue health, coached specialists, handled escalations, and run clean shift handoffs. They bring an openness to AI-driven triage and deflection while owning the human side of quality.

In practice, the responsibilities break down as follows:

• Shift & team leadership: Run the shift; lead and coach a team of service desk / cloud support specialists; own clean handoffs and coverage.
• SLA & queue ownership: Own SLA adherence, queue health, ticket quality, and customer experience for the shift.
• Escalation handling: Manage escalations and act as the senior point of contact during the shift.
• Automation & deflection design: Design the human-AI split using probabilistic approval workflows rather than a binary automation switch; manage deflection and automation as distinct metrics.
• Continuous improvement: Improve knowledge, self-service, and automation so predictable requests resolve without a human touch.

We want to see a support lead who can run a shift and team, own SLAs and CX, and design a smart automation strategy for the front line. The strongest candidates manage deflection deliberately and know which requests to keep human.

Core service desk / support

• Service desk / cloud support operations, ITSM / ticketing, and SLA management.
• Shift leadership, escalation handling, and knowledge / self-service management.
• Cloud support fundamentals (AWS, Azure, GCP or equivalent).

Support performance (KPIs from research)

• Steers SLA adherence, first-contact resolution, deflection vs. automation rates, CSAT, and queue health — as AI absorbs predictable requests;.

Modern Agentic AI / AIOps (niche areas we are seeking — depth explored at interview)

• Probabilistic approval workflows for AI autonomy on the service desk, tuned by confidence thresholds.
• AI triage / deflection for predictable requests, measuring deflection and automation separately.
• Governed assistant / agent platforms (Amazon Bedrock or equivalent) for front-line support.

This role is delivered through Solutions Chapter Group's Human Resources chapter (Chapter 12) as a Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) engagement, under our Technical Recruitment stream. Rather than a "post-and-pray" marketplace approach, we use a Curated Professional Recruitment model: candidate profiles are pre-vetted in our internal database, and when a required profile isn't already available, our dedicated Scout network conducts global headhunting to secure it. We screen and match candidates against each client's specific requirements, and placements may be remote or an on-site deployment with mobilization to the Middle East, Europe, or the United States.

From a recruitment-fit perspective, we screen for:

• Strong shift and team leadership.
• Ownership of SLAs, queue health, and CX.
• Calm escalation handling.
• A deliberate approach to automation and deflection.
• Openness to the engagement model (remote or mobilized on-site) and readiness for cross-region deployment.

Areas to explore at interview *(topics only)*

• Running a shift and keeping SLAs healthy
• Coaching specialists to resolve more