Manager – Service Desk

WHO ARE WE?
Since launching in Kuwait in 2004, talabat, the leading on-demand food and

Q-commerce app for everyday deliveries, has been offering convenience and reliability

to its customers. talabat's local roots run deep, offering a real understanding of the needs of the communities we serve in eight countries across the region. We harness innovative technology and knowledge to simplify everyday life for our customers, optimize operations for our restaurants and local shops, and provide our

riders with reliable earning opportunities daily. Here at talabat, we are building a high performance culture through engaged workforce and growing talent density. We're all about keeping it real and making a difference. Our

6,000+ strong talabaty are on an awesome mission to spread positive vibes. We are proud to be a multi great place to work award winner.

Job Description
Job Summary:
The Manager – Service Desk is responsible for owning and leading the day-to-day operations of the Service Desk team, ensuring timely, high-quality technical support to all talabat users across markets. Acting as a bridge between the IT Service Delivery Manager and frontline engineers, this role drives operational excellence, adherence to processes, and continuous improvement in end-user support. It develops the team to align with global growth and service delivery targets.

Key Responsibilities

• Operational Leadership
• Own the performance and maturity of the Service Desk function, ensuring the service catalog meets business needs and is delivered within defined service levels.
• Sets Operational targets, KPIs, and ensures alignment of IT Service Delivery objectives.
• Act as the final escalation point for critical service issues and major incidents, driving post-incident reviews and ensuring corrective actions are integrated into processes.
• Monitor ticket queues, workload distribution, and escalation paths to Level 2 and Infrastructure teams.
• Ensure accurate documentation, knowledge articles, and troubleshooting guides are maintained and updated regularly.
• Ensure effective shift patterns, coverage planning, and continuity across markets.
• Lead capacity planning and resource modeling for the Service Desk, leveraging demand forecasts and performance data to align staffing with business growth and regional needs proactively.
• Service Quality & Process Adherence
• Ensure ITIL processes (Incident, Request, and Problem Management) are consistently applied.
• Establish, analyze, and present key performance indicators (KPIs), translating operational metrics (FCR, MTTR, CSAT) into strategic business value and risk statements for senior leadership.
• Conduct ticket audits and identify improvement opportunities through trend and root-cause analysis.
• Ensure proper handover and knowledge transfer between shifts or support tiers.
• People Leadership & Development
• Manage the Global Service Desk team and coordinate with the local Service Desk Leads.
• Supervises day-to-day team operations, providing guidance, feedback, and coaching.
• Conducts regular 1:1s, supports career development, and ensures high morale within the team.
• Leads the recruitment, selection, and onboarding of Service Desk personnel, ensuring a high standard of technical and customer service skills is maintained.
• Promotes a customer-centric and "Own It" mindset aligned with Talabat's values.
• Tools & Knowledge Management
• Maintain accurate configuration of queues, automation rules, and reporting dashboards.
• Oversee creation and upkeep of the internal Knowledge Base and Self-Service Portal.
• Drive Service Improvement Plans (SIPs) focused on automation and self-service initiatives that strategically reduce ticket volume and optimize support costs
• Stakeholder & Communication Management
• Act as the first point of escalation for service issues raised by business users or regional IT teams.
• Communicate outages, planned maintenance, and major incidents effectively to stakeholders.
• Collaborate closely with Infrastructure, Systems, and Security teams to address recurring service risks and ensure alignment on support strategy.
• Participate in cross-functional meetings to represent Service Desk performance and initiatives, translating service metrics into business value.
• Continuous Improvement & Projects
• Contribute to Service Improvement Plans and new service transitions, ensuring accountability for achieving defined maturity and efficiency goals..
• Assist in defining and updating SLAs, OLAs, and internal KPIs.
• Support IT audits, compliance checks, and asset-tracking initiatives.
• Participate in special IT projects, including tool migrations, process automation, and service rollouts.

Key Metrics (KPIs)

• SLA compliance rate, through all stages of the incident management process
• First Contact Resolution rate
• CSAT score
• Average Resolution Time - MTTR
• Ticket backlog and re-open rate
• Knowledge Base article usage/adoption
• Team Turnover and Employee Satisfaction Rate

Qualifications
Qualifications & Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field.
• 6–8 years of experience in IT Service Delivery or IT Support, with at least 2 years in a Service Desk lead role.
• Expert-level proficiency of ITIL v4 framework and ITSM tools (preferably Jira Service Management or ServiceNow).
• Strong technical knowledge across Microsoft 365, Windows/macOS, endpoint management, and collaboration tools.
• Experience with asset management, account provisioning, and identity/access management (e.g. Intune, Azure AD, PIM).
• Excellent communication, problem-solving, and stakeholder-management skills.