Impassioned…Emboldened…Infinitely Curious: The Bradford Group family of brands is a world leader in new product development. We have been selling joy for over 50 years! Our global organization consists of several business divisions ranging from jewelry, apparel, to collectible coins and so much more. We concept, create, design and market our creative products directly to our customers, and leverage licenses with the biggest names in entertainment and sports to bring unique and curated products to our customers across the globe.
We are seeking an experienced IT Service Desk Manager who will be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the IT Service Desk while remaining highly hands-on in supporting end users and resolving complex technical issues. This role ensures that service levels are met, drives continuous improvement, and delivers a high-quality support experience. The position requires a strong balance of leadership and technical expertise, operating in a player-coach capacity. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills in order to work effectively with both business and technical personnel at all levels at The Bradford Group. The candidate must be able to multi-task and to work well in an unstructured, dynamic environment and to respond well to change.
How you will contribute:
- Lead a team of desktop support staff in Niles, conducting performance evaluations and training of staff. Provide direction and standardized procedures to remote staff.
- On request, direct staff to support any IT project and ensure on-time delivery of project tasks.
- Work with outsourcing vendors to develop and maintain weekly availability and reliability metrics as well as other metrics required by management.
- Monitor systems availability and follow documented incident management processes as a result of any service interruption.
- Work with other IT teams to solve systems and applications stability problems.
- Remediate system vulnerabilities and facilitate end-user OS and application patching.
- Communicate in layman’s terms (not IT industry jargon) department metrics as well as status of incidents throughout the lifecycle, including Post-incident Review and Root Cause Analysis.
- Oversee daily Service Desk operations, ensure timely resolution of tickets within SLAs, act as escalation point, perform root cause analysis, lead operational meetings, and maintain service quality and responsiveness.
- Develop and maintain SLAs, escalation procedures, and service catalog. Manage and optimize Ivanti Neurons platform and ensure CMDB accuracy. Track and report on operational metrics for continuous improvement.
- Lead and develop a team of 4 Service Desk Technicians (including remote staff). Conduct performance management, training, and hiring. Ensure consistent processes and balance workload between support and projects.
- Perform other duties as needed.
What you will bring and skills that excite us:
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
- At least 7+ years’ experience in IT Service Desk environment
- 4+ years managing, supervising and leading an IT Help Desk environment
- Excellent written and oral communication skills
- Outstanding interpersonal skills
- ITIL v3 Foundation Certification preferred
- CompTIA A+, preferred
- Network+, or Security+ Certifications preferred
- Experience with Ivanti service desk management experience a plus
- Experience supporting a Call Center environment
- Experience working in Open Systems environments
- Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) administration
- Azure App Registrations and authentication management
- Microsoft 365 (O365) licensing and user provisioning
- Ivanti Neurons (ITSM and endpoint management)
- CMDB maintenance and service mapping
- Microsoft Copilot support and administration
- Adobe licensing and administration
- Collaboration with IT teams to resolve system issues
- Experience with compliance regulations (PCI, HIPPA, SOX) a plus
- High level of initiative and resourcefulness
- Comfortable with managing people but willing to be hands-on when necessary
- Excellent organizational skills
- Proven track record of taking unstructured environments to a structured (standard) framework while reducing costs and improving reliability and capability
- Keeps immediate supervisor well-informed of activities, results of efforts, and identified or potential problems; recommends corrective actions to immediate supervisor.
- Follows management guidelines for proper project reporting
- Comfortable in a small team environment using multi-tasking abilities
- Proven documentation skills with consistent accuracy of details
- Works effectively without supervision
- Solid understanding of ITIL principles
- Superior customer service skills
- Outstanding communication skills, both verbally and in written form.
Bradford at a glance:
- Our scale: We have over 250 employees based out of our global headquarters right outside of Chicago, we have marketing operations in over 10 countries worldwide, and have over 32 million customers served.
- Compensation and benefits: We offer a competitive compensation plan and great benefits, with some benefits starting from day 1!
- We own the company: Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) which allows you to not only derive the benefits of working as an employee at The Bradford Group, but also gain the benefits of being an owner.
- Professional Development: There is always room to learn! We offer a Professional Development Program, a Mentor Program, and LinkedIn Learning to our teams as well as additional hands-on training and development. Our teams utilize a continuous performance management and development structure for feedback. We meet quarterly to focus on the future!
- Our values: Honesty. Innovation. Respect. Teamwork. Giving back. These are just some of the core values that drive our team members. Our team strives to build a culture of continuous feedback where anyone can share and create our “next big idea,” among diverse and inclusive teams.
- Flexibility and wellness: Whether it’s offering hybrid environment (onsite/remote) for our corporate staff, to a generous, front-loaded PTO and holiday package to all staff and corporate wellness initiatives such as an annual health fair and an onsite fitness center, we are committed to our team members well-being. New hires start with 16 days of PTO and 8 paid holidays per year.
- Perks and more: We have a Business Casual Work Environment, Health and Dental Insurance, Vision, Life Insurance, Disability Insurance, Paid Time Off (PTO), Direct Deposit, Credit Union, Flexible Spending Accounts, Health Savings Accounts, Employee Assistance Program, Employee Referral Bonus Program, 401(k), Profit Sharing, Tuition Reimbursement, and Toastmaster’s memberships, a Peer Recognition Program, Product Discounts and more!
Compensation:
$93,000 - $110,000
The Bradford Exchange is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
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