Senior Service Desk Analyst at Sword Group in Manchester, England, GB

Sword is a leading provider of business technology solutions within the Energy, Public and Finance Sectors, driving real transformation change within our clients. We use proven technology, specialist teams and domain expertise to build solid technical foundations across platforms, data and business applications. We have a passion for using technology to solve business problems, working in partnership with our clients to help in achieving their goals.

The Senior Service Desk Analyst provides senior technical and operational capability within the Service Desk Operations function, supporting customers across a range of Managed Services environments.

The role is responsible for taking full ownership of assigned Incidents and Requests, including more complex or sensitive issues, ensuring they are investigated, progressed, resolved or escalated appropriately. The Senior Service Desk Analyst is expected to bring strong technical knowledge, sound judgement and a consistent focus on service quality and customer outcomes.

In addition to managing their own workload, the role provides technical guidance and peer support, helps maintain operational standards and leads by example. The Senior Service Desk Analyst plays an important part in ensuring the Service Desk operates with the discipline, consistency and care expected of a professional MSP.

Location: UK

What You'll Be Doing

Service Desk Support & Service Ownership

• Take full ownership of assigned Incidents and Requests from initial investigation through to resolution, fulfilment or appropriate escalation.
• Provide effective technical support across customer environments, following agreed processes, procedures, service levels and customer commitments.
• Investigate and resolve more complex or sensitive issues within the scope of the Service Desk, using sound technical judgement and structured troubleshooting.
• Ensure tickets are accurately categorised, prioritised, documented and progressed throughout their lifecycle.
• Maintain clear ownership of actions, customer communication, technical investigation and next steps.
• Recognise when an issue cannot be resolved within the Service Desk and ensure it is escalated to the correct resolver team with the right information and evidence.
• Monitor assigned work and take action where tickets are ageing, stalled, approaching SLA breach or at risk of impacting the customer.
• Maintain responsibility for the customer experience even when an issue has been escalated elsewhere.

Customer Experience & Service Delivery

• Provide professional, clear and timely communication throughout the Incident or Request lifecycle.
• Build customer confidence through ownership, technical credibility, accurate information and consistent follow-through.
• Understand the impact of technical issues on the customer, their users and the wider service.
• Set realistic expectations and ensure customers are kept informed when progress, ownership or timescales change.
• Manage difficult or sensitive interactions calmly and professionally.
• Ensure customer commitments and service levels are understood and reflected in day-to-day activity.
• Identify and raise risks to service quality, customer experience or operational performance at the earliest opportunity.

Operational Excellence

• Work consistently within the Service Operations Manual, Service Operations Procedures, Service Desk standards and agreed customer ways of working.
• Maintain high standards of ticket quality, documentation, categorisation, prioritisation and ownership.
• Follow the agreed Incident, Request, Knowledge, Problem and Change processes and understand how Service Desk activity contributes to the wider service.
• Use ServiceNow and other approved tools correctly and consistently to maintain accurate operational information.
• Identify ageing, recurring, misrouted, incorrectly prioritised or poorly documented work and take appropriate action.
• Support effective queue management and contribute to the achievement of SLA, KPI and customer performance targets.
• Recognise operational risk and escalate issues where service quality, customer commitments or team performance may be affected.
• Maintain a disciplined and organised approach to workload management, handovers and shift responsibilities.

Knowledge, Improvement & Technical Leadership

• Create, maintain and improve knowledge articles, technical documentation, work instructions and known-error information.
• Identify recurring incidents, avoidable contacts, knowledge gaps and opportunities for shift-left or improved first-time resolution.
• Contribute to Problem Management, Continual Service Improvement and service optimisation activities.
• Share technical knowledge and practical experience with other Service Desk Analysts.
• Provide informal coaching, guidance and support to less experienced colleagues.
• Help identify training, tooling, process or technical capability gaps within the Service Desk.
• Support the introduction of new services, technologies, procedures and customer requirements into Service Desk Operations.
• Provide constructive feedback where processes, tools or ways of working are not supporting effective service delivery.

Team Contribution

• Lead by example in relation to ownership, technical capability, customer communication, quality and operational discipline.
• Support a positive, collaborative and accountable Service Desk culture.
• Work effectively with Service Desk colleagues, Customer Operations, Technical Services and other resolver teams.
• Provide clear and useful handovers, updates and technical information to support continuity of service.
• Contribute to team discussions, operational reviews and improvement activity.
• Support colleagues during periods of high demand, major incidents or operational pressure.
• Maintain professionalism, reliability and care and attention to detail in all aspects of the role.

Required Skills & Experience

• Significant experience working within an MSP, Managed Services or enterprise Service Desk environment.
• Strong experience supporting enterprise customers and working to defined service levels and customer commitments.
• Proven experience managing Incidents and Requests through investigation, resolution, fulfilment or escalation.
• Strong understanding of ITIL-based Incident, Request, Knowledge, Problem and Change Management.
• Experience using ServiceNow or an equivalent ITSM platform.
• Strong technical troubleshooting capability across areas such as Windows, Microsoft 365, Outlook, Teams, Active Directory, Entra ID, authentication, MFA, endpoints and business applications.
• Ability to investigate more complex technical issues using a structured and methodical approach.
• Strong understanding of ticket lifecycle management, queue control, prioritisation and operational ownership.
• Ability to produce clear technical documentation and maintain accurate service records.
• Strong customer service, communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to manage competing priorities while maintaining quality, control and follow-through.
• Ability to provide technical guidance and constructive support to less experienced colleagues.
• Strong attention to detail and a clear commitment to continual improvement.

Desirable Qualifications & Experience

• ITIL v4 qualification or equivalent experience.
• Experience supporting customers in the Energy, Oil & Gas or other regulated environments.
• Understanding of ISO/IEC 20000, ISO 27001 or equivalent service and information security standards.
• Experience mentoring colleagues or providing technical leadership within a Service Desk.
• Experience using ServiceNow ITSM, Knowledge, reporting and operational dashboards.
• Experience contributing to Problem Management, Continual Service Improvement, service transition or operational readiness.
• Relevant Microsoft technical certifications or equivalent practical experience.

Key Personal Attributes / Behaviours

• Takes ownership and remains accountable for the outcome, not simply the activity.
• Takes pride in the quality, accuracy and completeness of their work.
• Demonstrates care and attention to detail in technical investigation, ticket records and customer communication.
• Leads by example and consistently works to the required MSP standard.
• Proactively identifies risk, recurring issues, knowledge gaps and opportunities to improve.
• Uses sound technical judgement and knows when to resolve, escalate, ask for support or challenge.
• Remains calm, professional and methodical under pressure.
• Communicates clearly and treats customers and colleagues with respect.
• Supports colleagues and contributes positively to team performance.
• Is reliable, collaborative and consistent in the way they work.
• Understands that Service Desk Operations is about service quality and customer outcomes, not simply managing a ticket queue.

At Sword, our core values and culture are based on caring about our people, investing in training and career development and building inclusive teams where we are all encouraged to contribute to achieve success.

We offer comprehensive benefits designed to support your professional development and enhance your overall quality of life. In addition to a Competitive Salary, here's what you can expect as part of our benefits package:

Personalised Career Development: We create a development plan customised to your goals and aspirations, with a range of learning and development opportunities within a culture that encourages growth.

Flexible working: Flexible work arrangements to support your work-life balance. We can’t promise to always be able to meet every request, however are keen to discuss your individual preferences to make it work where we can.

A Fantastic Benefits Package: This includes generous annual leave allowance, enhanced family friendly benefits, pension scheme, access to private health, well-being, and insurance schemes, an employee assistance programme, discounted cash plan and more…..

At Sword we are dedicated to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace and are proud to be an equal opportunities employer, ensuring that all applicants receive fair and equal consideration for employment, regardless of whether they meet every requirement. If you don’t tick all the boxes but feel you have some of the relevant skills and experience we’re looking for, please do consider applying and highlight your transferable skills and experience. We embrace diversity in all its forms, valuing individuals regardless of age, disability, gender identity or reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity status, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. Your perspective and potential are important to us.

If we can do anything to help make the hiring process more accessible, please let our talent acquisition team know when you apply so we can support any adjustments.