Manager - Desktop Support Operations

Join Goodwin’s Global Operations Team, and make a real impact on a global scale. At Goodwin, we work with some of the world’s most successful and innovative investors, entrepreneurs and disruptors in the life sciences, private equity, real estate, technology and financial industries, and where they converge. As part of the Global Operations Team – all business professionals at the firm – you’ll collaborate with colleagues from diverse backgrounds and experiences, fostering an environment where cross-functional learning, networking, and collaboration are at the core of what we do.
Here, we’re not just supporting a law firm; we’re partnering with attorneys and clients to deliver cutting-edge solutions in high-stakes litigation and dispute resolution, world-class regulatory compliance and advisory services, and complex transactions. Our commitment to integrity, ingenuity, agility, and ambition drives us, and we’re proud to have been recognised as the “Best Business Team” by The American Lawyer.
This is your opportunity to grow professionally in a dynamic, global environment, surrounded by forward-thinking peers.

The Manager, Desktop Operations will direct the activities of the London Desktop Support & AV team in handling requests for new and existing services and features, responsible for restoration of desktop / AV and related technology services and/or service features to a satisfactory operational state, and the assessment of requests for new services and features amongst other responsibilities.

This manager will have key responsibility for the vendor relationship management of the Desktop Support organisation within the London and Cambridge Offices, whilst also assisting with additional responsibilities within our EU & Asia offices where required. This responsibility will be focus on engaging high level contacts to ensure the maintenance of healthy Service Level Agreements, facilitate business continuance, and help direct the team to have a particular focus on enhancing productivity.

This individual will design, maintain and continuously improve the support services model, ensuring that technology and Desktop Support staff are aligned to deliver a high quality user experience to attorneys and professional staff for their assigned geography.

What You Will Do:

• Provide strong leadership, technical guidance and overall management of assigned team.
• Team Management and Development:
  • Ensure team members are making time to accumulate the required desktop support training program credits each fiscal year.
  • Conduct regular ticket reviews for each team member to ensure ticket quality.
  • Act as a mentor to team members, providing guidance and support to help them develop their skills and advance their careers.
  • Provide project participation to all team members and identify any potential project management experience for more senior members.
• Continually look for opportunities for process improvement or process automation for some or all of the desktop support team.
• Establish a cadence of engaging with end users to determine overall levels of IT satisfaction within your office(s).
• Lead team meetings regularly to promote healthy communication as well as individual team member meetings.   
• Responsible for ensuring teams follow stated procedures to achieve operational and service excellence goals.
• Continually evaluate the Desktop Support team’s performance, needs of the offices and manage resources/scheduling effectively for the assigned geography to continue to adapt to firm growth.
• Manage the employee life cycle  as it relates to desktop operations  (i.e., new hire ,current  employees and  departing employees) including setup process for computer provisioning, telephone and voicemail setups along with the orientation of all new employees.
• Manage the daily interactions between the Desktop Support team and the firm’s Help Desk Support vendor, ensuring appropriate delivery of service.
• Provide leadership/alignment of new technology with business needs.
• Manage, evaluate and refine business processes to ensure accurate and timely support and problem resolution for our internal customers.
• Effectively deploy and manage enterprise resources, including equipment standards and purchases.  
• Act as the liaison between IT Service Delivery, operations and infrastructure, ensuring efficient ticket escalation, enhancing/creating useful tools to share knowledge and improve processes.
• Maintain relationships with internal and external business partners, including high priority users. 
• Evaluate, design, implement  and continuously improve IT asset management procedures.
• Administer and manage off hours support and weekly team Rota.
• Partner with firm management and IT leaders to reach collective goals. 
• Engages in formal project management where required.
• Work with IT director to conduct continuous review and analysis of the firms contracts with support vendors as needed.
• Work with IT director to conduct continuous review and refinement of the key performance indicators (KPI’s) and critical success factors (CSF’s) that the Desktop Support teams must adhere to.
• Assists in administering the IT Departments Service Delivery Program.
• Responsible for the tactical execution of major customer satisfaction management (CSM) efforts within IT with the guidance of the IT Director, Europe & Asia.

Who You Are:

• 7+ years professional experience in Desktop Support management, processes and budgets in a professional services environment.
• Bachelor’s  Degree in Computer Science, or equivalent experience.
• ITIL Foundations Certification.
• Microsoft Certified Training in Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office Applications is a plus.
• Proven experience providing support at an executive level in some capacity.
• Prior experience in a professional services organization is a must.
• Strong communicator who is able to articulate the Desktop Operations team’s role in IT service delivery and positively and influence the team’s performance.
• Demonstrated ability to be a hands-on leader,  with experience analysing an issue with the proven ability, to  prepare and/or provide a recommendation for resolution.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills and ability to manage multiple assignments simultaneously while meeting deadlines and quality standards.
• Ability to professionally partner and communicate with vendor support team,  support analysts, clients, and users while maintaining a calm and methodical approach.
• Proven ability to spearhead/manage end to end incident and problem resolution efforts that cross platforms, applications, infrastructure and organisational boundaries.
• Outstanding project management skills, with a high degree of technical knowledge and expertise; including a thorough understanding of a desktop operating system environment and integration points with Microsoft Office and other legal applications.   
• Strong people management skills.
• Strong background in Microsoft operating systems, especially Windows 11- Including creating / deploying standardised builds across the enterprise while optimising supplier  usage and costs.
• Strong background/experience providing effective solutions working  with Mobile Devices such as iPhones and Androids, Tablet and Labs end-user notebook or similar tools.
• Strong background in patch management, antivirus solutions, desktop, encryption methods and packaging/deploying software to users (i.e. Carbon Black Defense, LanSweeper, , BitLocker, etc.).
• Experience in maintaining Information Technology standards, policies, processes, and procedures as it relates to managing our desktop environment.
• Awareness of emerging technologies, their capabilities and an ability to determine business benefit and impact.
• Understanding Generative AI: Gain insights into the principles and applications of Generative AI. Explore its use cases in various fields such as content creation, customer service, and project management to enhance productivity and innovation.

Goodwin Procter LLP is an equal opportunity employer. This means that Goodwin Procter LLP considers applicants for employment, and makes employment decisions without unlawful discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender, gender identity or expression, age, religion, national origin, citizenship status, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or other legally protected status.

Goodwin is a disability-inclusive employer. Please contact us if you require any disability-related adjustments during the interview process, or would like to have a confidential conversation with a member of the recruitment team. If there are any disability-related reasons which have impacted your profile, we may also be able to make adjustments for these. Please see our Disability-Related Screening Adjustments page if this applies to you. (Disability refers to sensory and physical conditions, long-term health conditions, neurodivergence and mental health conditions).