About

• Out of Hours Service Desk Shift Lead
• 4 days on 4 days off - 7am till 7pm (12 Hour shifts)
• Up to £43k + Benefits
• Ready to lead when it matters most?
• Focus Group needs an Out of Hours Service Desk Shift Lead who can own critical decisions, lead major incident responses, and keep operations running smoothly when the rest of the business is offline. This isn't a typical shift lead role—you're the senior-most contact during OOH periods, making the calls that maintain service stability and customer satisfaction.
• If you thrive under pressure, know how to lead technical teams through complex incidents, and want genuine leadership responsibility rather than just supervising tickets, this is the role.

What you'll be doing

• You'll lead and motivate the OOH Service Desk team, ensuring consistent performance against KPIs, SLAs, and CSAT targets. You're the senior escalation point—making critical decisions to resolve service issues, coordinating major incident responses, and executing emergency changes during OOH shifts. Think risk assessment, stakeholder communication, and fast recovery aligned with ITIL best practices.
• Beyond incident management, you'll drive continual service improvement by identifying inefficiencies and recommending enhancements to systems, processes, and support models. You'll maintain the Service Desk risk register, conduct performance management activities (1:1s, coaching, dashboards), and develop comprehensive documentation and SOPs to support consistent operations.
• You'll serve as the communication bridge during high-impact issues—coordinating updates between technical teams, management, and stakeholders. Ensure smooth shift transitions through detailed handovers, represent the Service Desk in strategic meetings, and produce reports on team performance, incident metrics, and service trends specific to OOH operations.
• This role also includes mentoring and coaching analysts, fostering career development under autonomous conditions, and building team capability when direct oversight is limited.

You'll bring

• Proven ability to lead, coach, and manage technical support teams in a 24x7 and OOH service delivery environment
• Experience managing critical escalations and major incidents independently, including coordinating response teams and stakeholder communications
• Solid understanding of ITIL principles with practical application in incident, problem, and change management
• Skilled in performing emergency changes—risk analysis, real-time coordination, and impact minimisation
• Strong self-motivation with ability to operate autonomously and make sound, time-sensitive decisions during high-pressure situations
• Exceptional organisational and prioritisation skills to manage multiple ongoing issues effectively
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills (written and verbal) with the ability to lead during crisis situations
• Technical competence across Service Desk systems and tools
• Analytical mindset with a drive for operational excellence and continuous improvement

What success looks like

• You'll be measured on inbound call handling (average 15s, all within 30s), first contact resolution, tickets resolved within SLT, ticket validation and customer response, aged tickets, CSAT positive feedback, and eNPS scores.
• Why Focus Group?
• We're a 1,300-person Microsoft technology partner backed by HG Capital. Our 24x7 Service Desk is critical to delivering exceptional customer service, and we need leaders who can maintain operational stability during the most challenging periods. You'll have genuine decision-making authority and the opportunity to shape how we deliver OOH support at scale.
• Salary up to £43k depending on experience, plus benefits.