Service Desk Manager

Legal500 Germany Ranking; Leeds; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - GBP 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading research platform for legal services based in Leeds is seeking a Service Desk Manager. This hands-on role involves leading a small service desk team, enhancing user support, and managing daily operations with a focus on continuous improvement. Ideal candidates will have 5-10 years in IT support, a background in 2nd or 3rd line support, and strong communication skills. The role offers a mix of on-site and work-from-home flexibility, making it perfect for proactive individuals passionate about delivering excellent user support.

Qualifications

• 5-10 years' experience in IT support/service environments.
• Background in 2nd or 3rd line support.
• Practical understanding of ITIL preferred.

Responsibilities

• Own day-to-day service desk operations.
• Define and improve SLAs and reporting.
• Build a practical knowledge base.

Skills

IT support experience

Leadership progression

ITIL understanding

Stakeholder communication

Problem-solving mindset

Tools

Jira

Job description

About Legal 500

Legal 500 was founded by John Pritchard in 1987 as the original clients’ guide to law firms, the first of its kind. It is now a data-driven, AI-optimised research platform which benchmarks, informs and connects providers and users of legal services in over 100 countries worldwide.

Our research and data are trusted and relied upon by corporate clients globally as an essential part of the process, both of instructing law firms with new mandates, and when reviewing existing mandates or panels.

We exist to empower both buyers and sellers in the international legal marketplace to make better decisions and have improved outcomes for their organisations. This is achieved by leveraging a trusted, comprehensive research process with a unique, vast, proprietary and constantly updated set of client-supplied data, unrivalled in the market.

On the supply side of the legal market, every year Legal 500’s team of over 150 researchers, technologists, data analysts, journalists and content specialists collate and review 60,000+ data-submissions from law firms and conduct interviews with thousands of leading law firm partners. On the demand side, Legal 500 analyses confidential data from 300,000+ commercial law firm clients to benchmark law firms and lawyers by practice area; industry; jurisdiction; as well as by proprietary client satisfaction metrics, NPS®, and other qualitative and quantitative criteria.

Legal 500 is the only source of this depth of global research and data on law firms, lawyers and their clients.

About the Role:

We’re hiring a Service Desk Manager to take ownership of our user support function, bringing structure, insight, and continuous improvement, while staying close to the day-to-day reality of support.

This is a hands-on role. You’ll lead a small service desk team, improve how we support our users, and act as the bridge between Service Desk and Systems/Infrastructure.

What you’ll be doing

• Owning day-to-day service desk operations (Jira)


• Defining and improving SLAs, reporting, and service metrics


• Reducing repeat issues through better data, automation, and processes


• Building a practical knowledge base and self-service capability


• Line managing and developing service desk analysts


• Partnering with infrastructure engineers to improve the end-user experience


• Being a visible, trusted IT presence in our Leeds office

What we’re looking for

• 5–10 years’ experience in IT support / service environments


• Background in 2nd or 3rd line support with clear leadership progression


• Practical understanding of ITIL (certification preferred)


• Strong communication skills with non-technical stakeholders


• Calm, methodical, delivery-focused mindset


• Comfortable in environments that aren’t perfectly documented


• Ownership and curiosity

What success looks like

• A calmer, more predictable service desk


• Clear data and reporting that tells the real story


• Fewer repeat issues and less manual admin


• A confident, developing support team


• Strong trust from the wider business

📍 Leeds (4 days onsite, 1 WFH) | Travel to London once per month

If you enjoy building things, improving what you inherit, and being close to the work, we’d love to hear from you.