IT Service Desk Lead (M365)

Our client is seeking a hands-on and service-oriented IT Service Desk Lead to lead their IT service desk while providing deep technical expertise across Kearney’s secure Microsoft government cloud environment.This is a contract-to-hire opportunity that is onsite in Arlington, VA. RESPONSIBILITIES: Lead the day-to-day operations of the IT service desk, providing direct people leadership, coaching, direction, and accountability to team members.Oversee Tier 1 through Tier 3 support, ensuring issues are appropriately assigned, escalated, and resolved based on urgency, business impact, and technical complexity.Manage service desk ticket queues and establish clear priorities to ensure requests are addressed efficiently and tickets are driven through timely closure.Distribute work effectively across the team while personally taking ownership of complex or higher-tier technical issues requiring deeper technical expertise.Build a service-oriented culture centered on responsiveness, accountability, high-quality support, and continuous improvement.Establish and maintain effective service desk processes, workflows, documentation, and escalation procedures.Identify recurring issues and opportunities to improve service delivery, reduce resolution times, and enhance the overall end-user experience.QUALIFICATIONS: Have 7+ years of relevant IT experience, including at least 2 years of experience leading people or a service desk function, with demonstrated hands-on systems administration experience.Have deep, hands-on experience administering Microsoft 365 GCC-H, including Microsoft 365 Admin Portal, Intune, Entra ID, Defender, Teams, SharePoint, Exchange, and Microsoft Azure. Have direct experience operating and supporting secure government cloud environments subject to DoD Impact Level 4/5 (IL4/IL5) requirements.