Overview
This is a 12 month fixed term contract.
Home. There’s no place like it. And there’s no feeling like helping people create the joy of feeling truly at home.
At Dunelm, that’s what we do. As the UK’s number one choice for homewares, we are focused on winning more hearts and homes by helping more customers create spaces they love.
We have an ambitious plan to double the size of our business, creating exciting opportunities to grow, innovate and improve how we serve our customers. The caring and supportive culture we have built makes Dunelm a place where colleagues can feel at home too, and where everyone can play a part in our future success.
Work your way, together
We’re a hybrid business, which means you’ll have flexibility alongside time together with your team. In this role, you can expect a minimum of 1 day per week in our Leicester Office helping you stay connected, collaborate and do your best work for our customers.
About the area
This is a pivotal leadership role within our Colleague Technology Support team. As one of two Service Desk Leads, you will manage, coach and develop a team of service desk technicians, creating a supportive environment in which colleagues understand what is expected of them and can perform at their best.
You will take an active, consistent approach to people management. This includes setting clear objectives, holding regular one-to-ones, recognising strong performance and addressing concerns promptly. You must be comfortable having fair, constructive and sometimes difficult conversations, managing performance appropriately and following through on agreed actions.
Alongside your leadership responsibilities, you will strengthen our service-management capability. Using your practical knowledge of ITIL, you will work with the Support Principal to improve incident, request, problem, transition and knowledge-management processes, turning service data and colleague feedback into measurable improvements. You will balance day-to-day operational leadership with longer-term process development, helping the Service Desk remain responsive, resilient and aligned with business needs.
Join our Tech Team and you will contribute to work that makes an impact across the business while building a career that continues to challenge and develop you.
What you'll be doing
- Lead and line-manage a team of Service Desk technicians, providing clear direction, support and accountability.
- Set objectives, hold regular one-to-ones and performance reviews, and create meaningful development plans that build capability and support career progression.
- Lead an inclusive, high-performing team culture in which feedback is routine, achievements are recognised and colleagues feel supported to improve.
- Oversee daily Service Desk performance, workload and colleague wellbeing, using service data and trend analysis to prioritise action and communicate a clear operational narrative.
- Work with the Support Principal to review and improve ITIL-aligned incident, request, problem, transition, event and knowledge-management processes.
- Identify recurring issues and root causes, ensure problem records and improvement actions are raised, and track them through to measurable outcomes.
- Maintain service levels, manage escalations and complex issues, and put effective recovery plans in place where performance falls below expectation.
- Lead process-improvement initiatives, including identifying workflow automation opportunities, knowledge management and the transition of new or changed services into support.
- Get stuck in and provide hands-on support when required, helping the team resolve complex or high-impact issues and maintain service during busy periods.
- Build strong relationships across Technology and the wider business, working collaboratively to remove blockers, coordinate priorities and improve the colleague support experience.
What we'll look for in you
We are looking for a confident, people-focused leader who combines empathy with accountability. You will know how to build trust, set clear standards and step into challenging conversations when required. You will also bring the service-management expertise and improvement mindset needed to simplify processes and raise performance.
Essential skills and experience
- Substantial experience leading and line-managing an IT Helpdesk or Service Desk team in a busy operational environment.
- Proven experience of setting expectations, coaching colleagues, reviewing performance and managing underperformance through clear, constructive and difficult conversations.
- Strong practical knowledge of ITIL 4 service-management practices, supported by ITIL certification or equivalent demonstrable experience.
- A track record of leading process improvement, using data, root-cause analysis and colleague feedback to deliver measurable service outcomes.
- Experience managing incidents, requests, problems, changes, escalations and service levels through an enterprise ITSM platform such as ServiceNow.
- Strong communication and stakeholder-management skills, with the confidence to challenge appropriately and build effective relationships at every level.
- Sound technical knowledge of Microsoft and macOS operating systems, Microsoft 365 and modern workplace support tools.
- A commitment to inclusive leadership, colleague wellbeing, continuous learning and creating an environment where people can succeed.
- ITIL 4 Create, Deliver, and Support
- Experience recruiting, onboarding and developing support colleagues.
- Familiarity with Agile ways of working, ISO 20000 or Service Desk Institute standards.
- Experience of service-request automation, knowledge-management improvement or supporting service transition.
- Technical-support experience within a retail or similarly distributed organisation.
Our shared values of 'act like owners', 'keep listening and learning', 'long term thinking', and 'stronger together' help ensure we are always finding better ways of doing things and spending our time focusing on what’s important.
- Customer First
- Taking Responsibility
- Communicating
- Including
- Connecting
- Growth Mindset
- Team Working
- Being Resourceful