IT Service Desk Manager, Canada

Location: Ottawa, Canada

In fast changing markets, customers worldwide rely on Thales. Thales is a business where brilliant people from all over the world come together to share ideas and inspire each other. In aerospace, transportation, defence, security and space, our architects design innovative solutions that make our tomorrow's possible.

For decades, Ottawa has been a global technology leader. Today, Canada's capital holds one of the brightest and most diverse technological ecosystems in North America. Voted as Canada's best place to live 2017 by Maclean's, Ottawa offers a low cost of living with a high quality of life. The Thales Ottawa office has been a major supplier and long-term trusted partner to DND, enabling the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian Coast Guard to achieve mission success.

Position Summary

The Service Desk Manager is accountable for the strategic and operational leadership of the IT Service Desk function across the Canadian region. This role ensures the delivery of high-quality technical support services, promotes the adoption of standardized ITSM processes, and fosters a culture of respectful collaboration, continuous improvement, and compliance. The incumbent will lead a team of support professionals and serve as a key liaison between IT and business stakeholders, while embedding Agile and Lean principles to drive efficiency and responsiveness.

Essential Functions

Leadership & People Management

• Provide direction, coaching, and performance management to Service Desk staff.
• Promote a respectful, inclusive, and high-performing team culture.
• Facilitate regular team meetings, individual development plans, and succession planning.
• Encourage employee engagement through transparent communication and recognition.
• Efficiently complete all people management HR tasks in a comprehensive and timely manner.

Service Delivery & Operational Excellence

• Oversee the resolution of IT incidents and service requests through multiple support channels.
• Ensure adherence to service level agreements (SLAs) and key performance indicators (KPIs).
• Manage escalations and ensure timely and effective resolution.
• Execute continuous improvement activities to drive improvement in key IT KPIs such as user satisfaction, service level compliance to response and resolution for both incidents and service requests, rework rate, first contact resolution.
• Manage and improve the on-call rotation and process for the NORAM service desk team.
• Support the Major incident managers and resolution teams during major incident management events.

Stakeholder Engagement & Collaboration

• Establish and maintain strong working relationships with internal stakeholders across business units.
• Partner with IT Business Partners to act as trusted advisors to departments, ensuring alignment between IT support and business needs.
• Facilitate feedback loops to improve service quality and responsiveness.

Agile & Lean Ways of Working

• Apply Agile principles to enhance team collaboration, transparency, and iterative improvement.
• Utilize Lean methodologies to identify and eliminate waste, streamline workflows, and optimize IT service delivery.
• Promote a mindset of learning and continuous value delivery.

Process Governance & Adoption

• Ensure the implementation and continuous improvement of ITIL-based service management processes.
• Ensure consistent adoption of incident, request, problem, and change management workflows.
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date documentation, SOPs, and knowledge base content.

Technology & Platform Management

• Administer and optimize service desk platforms (e.g., ServiceNow, SCCM).
• Collaborate effectively with infrastructure, applications, and cybersecurity teams to ensure integrated support.

Security & Compliance

• Ensure all service desk operations comply with organizational security policies and applicable regulations.
• Support internal and external audits and maintain documentation for compliance purposes.
• Security Clearance Requirement: Must be eligible for and obtain Government of Canada security clearance (e.g., Reliability Status or Secret Level, based on role scope).

Minimum Requirements

Education & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related discipline.
• Minimum of 5 years of progressive experience in IT support, including 2+ years in a leadership capacity.

Skills & Certifications

• ITIL certification or equivalent process knowledge.
• Agile practice and ways of working.
• Demonstrated ability to lead diverse teams and drive performance in a service-oriented environment.
• Expertise in using the ServiceNow platform for ITSM, Asset Management, etc.
• Expertise in enterprise IT hardware, software and technologies.
• Strong working and troubleshooting knowledge of the Microsoft 365 suite (M365 Apps, Windows 10/11, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, etc.).
• Strong communication, interpersonal, and stakeholder management skills.
• Proficiency with enterprise ITSM platforms and remote support tools.

Other Requirements

• Ability to work flexible hours and manage geographically distributed teams.
• Legally authorized to work in Canada. Bilingual in French is a plus.
• Eligible for Government of Canada security clearance.

This position requires a good command of English to interact with, support, and/or provide services to international clients, employees, and/or partners, as well as to foreign government authorities who do not speak French.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in matrixed, global enterprise environments.
• ITIL Foundation certification preferred; Intermediate or Expert level is an asset.
• Agile or Lean certification (e.g., Scrum Master, Lean IT) is an asset.
• Familiarity with automation tools and scripting (e.g., PowerShell).
• Strong analytical, reporting, and project management capabilities.

Physical Demands

• Ability to lift up to 15 lbs when working with PCs or conference room equipment.
• Ability to travel within the NORAM region 2-3 times per year.
• Ability to work at a Thales office location regularly with dependable transportation.

The reference Total Target Compensation (TTC) market range for this position, inclusive of annual base salary and the variable compensation target, is between Total Target Cash (TTC) 115,000.00 - 138,000.00 CAD Annual.

This reflects how companies in a similar industry and geographic region generally pay for similar jobs. This range helps the Company make pay decisions as one data point among many. Where a position falls within this range is also dependent on other factors including - but not limited to - the employee's career path history, competencies, skills and performance, as well as the company's annual salary budget, the customer's program requirements, and the company's internal equity. Thales may offer additional benefits and other compensation, depending on circumstances not related to an applicant's status protected by local, state, or federal law.

We use artificial intelligence-enabled tools as part of our recruitment process to support activities such as candidate discovery, résumé matching, and interview scheduling. These tools may help screen and assess applications and recommend potential matches based on the requirements within the job description. All hiring decisions, including candidate evaluation, selection, and disposition, are made by human recruiters. Artificial intelligence does not make hiring decisions on our behalf.

Benefits

• Company paid Extended Health, Dental, HSA, Life, AD&D, Short-term Disability, Cancer Care Program, travel insurance, Employee Assistance Plan and Well-Being program.
• Retirement Savings Plans (RRSP, DCPP, TFSA) with a company contribution and a match to a DCPP, with no vesting period.
• Company paid holidays, vacation days, and paid sick leave.
• Voluntary Life, AD&D, Critical Illness, Long-Term Disability.
• Employee Discounts on home, auto, and gym membership.

Thales is an equal opportunity employer which values diversity and inclusivity in the workplace. Thales is committed to providing accommodations in all parts of the interview process. Applicants selected for an interview who require accommodation are asked to advise accordingly upon the invitation for an interview. We will work with you to meet your needs. All accommodation information provided will be treated as confidential and used only for the purpose of providing an accessible candidate experience.

This position requires direct or indirect access to hardware, software or technical information controlled under the Canadian Export Control List, the Canadian Controlled Goods Program, the Canadian Industrial Security Program, the US International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and/or the US Export Administration Regulations (EAR). All applicants must be eligible or able to obtain authorization for such access including eligibility to the Canadian Controlled Goods Program and able to obtain a Canadian Enhanced Reliability security clearance.