Service Desk Manager

Company Description: Pathstone is a growing wealth management firm serving ultra-high net worth families, single family offices, foundations, and endowments. We are united by a clear purpose: to help clients pursue their Preferred Life — with clarity, confidence, and long-term support across the full landscape of wealth and well-being.
Our services include investment advisory, as well as integrated planning and coordination across key areas such as tax strategy, risk management guidance, wealth and estate planning support, philanthropic planning, and family governance — helping clients navigate complexity and make informed decisions aligned with their goals.
With more than 20 office locations and over $185 billion in client assets under management, advisory, administration, and related services, Pathstone has expanded significantly over the past five years, reflecting sustained momentum and continued investment in our team and platform.
Pathstone is committed to making a meaningful difference for clients and their families, while fostering a supportive, purpose-driven environment for our professionals. Team members are encouraged to pursue their interests and contribute to the firm’s culture through committees and initiatives that help shape our shared mission.
Our people are our greatest asset, and we offer a competitive, flexible benefits program designed to support life both inside and outside of work. Benefits include comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage, flexible spending options, flexible PTO, life insurance, education support, a 401(k) plan, parental leave, and more.
Job Description: We’re looking for a hands-on Service Desk Manager to lead our service desk function and elevate the end user support experience across the company. You’ll manage a service desk team distributed across the country day-to-day, act as a point of escalation for ticket resolution, set and enforce SLAs, design and report KPIs for IT leadership and the executive team, own the ticket lifecycle and escalations, drive continuous improvement, and deliver ongoing training—both for the service desk analysts and for companywide technology adoption.
This role suits an experienced leader who thrives on operational excellence, distributed team leadership, data driven decisions, and building a customer centric culture.
Key Responsibilities:
Team Leadership & Remote Operations
Lead, mentor, and develop service desk analysts across remote and hybrid work setups (workload distribution, coaching, performance reviews, career paths).
Own staffing plans, scheduling, and coverage: time zone aware shifts, afterhours/on-call rotations, and “follow the sun” handoffs.
Establish remote-ready practices: clear escalation paths, asynchronous communication norms, documentation-first culture, and high-quality ticket notes.
Manage the ticket queue end-to-end: triage, prioritization, assignment, escalation, resolution, and closure quality.
Define and enforce a ticket lifecycle (intake → categorization → diagnosis → resolution → documentation → closure) that works effectively in a distributed environment.
Promote team health and engagement in a distributed, multi-office context: structured 1:1s, virtual standups, outcome-based goals, and transparent performance dashboards.
SLAs, KPIs & Reporting
Define, publish, and manage SLAs by priority and request type; monitor compliance and remediate breaches.
Create and maintain KPIs that measure department performance; produce recurring dashboards and executive reports.
Use data to identify trends (repeat incidents, bottlenecks, deflection opportunities) and drive measurable improvements.
Track remote-specific indicators: handoff quality across time zones, responsiveness by channel (chat/phone/email/portal), and backlog aging across shifts.
Continuous Improvement & Knowledge Management
Direct improvements to processes, tooling, automation, and knowledge base (KB) quality and coverage.
Implement root cause analysis for major incidents; partner with infrastructure/cloud/development/security to prevent recurrence.
Champion shift left strategies (self-service, KB deflection, automated fulfillment, chat/virtual agent) with asynchronous knowledge artifacts and video/snippet guides.
End User Experience & Surveys
Design and run end-user satisfaction surveys (transactional CSAT and periodic NPS); analyze results and take action.
Training & Enablement
Ensure relevant ongoing training for the service desk team (technical, soft skills, remote collaboration, security awareness).
Develop and deliver regular training content for team members on software and technology systems used by the company (e.g., M365, collaboration tools, security best practices, device management, identity & access) via virtual workshops, on-demand microlearning, and office hours.
Standardize remote onboarding playbooks for new analysts (tooling, SOPs, KB usage, shadowing plans) and team members.
Governance, Security & Compliance
Uphold IT policies, asset management, access controls, and security standards in partnership with the Security team.
Maintain clean audit trails and documentation; support compliance requirements.
Ensure remote work controls: secure remote support tools, MFA/conditional access, least privilege, and privacy aware support practices.
Tools & Vendor Management
Administer/optimize ITSM and support tooling, remote support, and knowledge base using ManageEngine Service Desk Plus.
Coordinate with vendors/managed services to ensure SLA alignment and quality delivery, including off-hours coverage.
Qualifications:
Required:
5+ years managing a service desk, including team leadership, performance management, and process ownership.
Proven experience defining SLAs, creating KPIs, and reporting performance to IT leadership/executives.
Demonstrated success improving service desk maturity (process, governance, tooling, knowledge, automation).
Direct experience managing remote or distributed teams, including time zone coverage, asynchronous workflows, and virtual performance management.
Hands-on expertise with ManageEngine Service Desk Plus or similar systems.
Strong grasp of ITIL principles (incident, request, problem, change) and full ticket lifecycle management.
Experience building training programs for both analysts and business users; excellent written & verbal communication.
Data driven mindset; advanced skills in analytics and dashboarding (e.g., Power BI/Tableau/I