Information Technology Help Desk Manager

The Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association (WFAA), the private fundraising and alumni relations organization for the University of Wisconsin-Madison is seeking a Client Services Manager to join the Information Technology department!

The Client Services Manager is responsible for leading and continuously improving end‑user support operations, including Help Desk services, endpoint support and engineering, and service delivery across all Infrastructure & Security domains. This role is highly focused on operational excellence, customer experience, and technology-enabled efficiency, with a strong mandate to drive automation, AI adoption, and scalable service delivery models. The manager leads a team of client‑facing technical professionals and sets the vision, standards, and metrics that ensure reliable, secure, and customer‑centric IT services.

The Client Services Manager partners closely with Cloud Services, Security, Network Services, other Information Systems leaders and team members, and business stakeholders to modernize support operations and proactively improve the employee digital experience. This is a hybrid position that will require you to work on‑site in our Madison, WI office location at least two days a week.

• Own the end‑to‑end delivery of Client Services, including Help Desk operations, endpoint support, and lifecycle management.
• Establish and reinforce a customer‑first service model, ensuring timely and high‑quality support experiences.
• Define and monitor service‑level objectives, customer satisfaction metrics, and continuous improvement targets.
• Serve as the escalation point for complex or high‑impact user issues, ensuring accountability and resolution.
• Define, document, and standardize Client Services processes using industry best practices.
• Analyze ticket trends, root causes, and operational data to proactively improve service delivery.
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives that reduce ticket volume, improve first‑contact resolution, and enhance user experience.
• Provide regular reporting and insights to leadership on service performance, risks, and improvement opportunities.
• Act as a key liaison between IT Client Services and business stakeholders.
• Translate business needs into scalable support models and service improvements.
• Partner with leadership to align Client Services capabilities with broader IT and organizational strategies.

• Drive operational efficiencies through automation, AI‑enabled workflows, and self‑service capabilities.
• Identify and eliminate manual, high‑friction, or repetitive support processes by leveraging IT Service Management (ITSM) automation and orchestration, AI‑assisted ticket handling and categorization, knowledge‑centered support and chat‑based self‑service options.
• Partner with engineering, security, and platform teams to pilot and adopt emerging technologies that improve speed, quality, and scalability of support.
• Establish metrics to measure efficiency gains, cost reduction, and service improvements driven by automation and AI.
• Work cross‑functionally within the Infrastructure & Security team to identify and assist with operational optimization for other teams.
• Lead, coach, and develop a team of Client Services analysts and engineers.
• Set clear expectations for performance, customer engagement, documentation, and technical excellence.
• Foster a culture of continuous learning, innovation, collaboration, accountability, and operational ownership.
• Support career development, skills progression, and succession planning for the Client Services team.

• Ensure endpoint support and client services practices align with organizational security policies and standards.
• Partner with the Security team to operationalize security controls in end‑user environments (e.g., secure configurations, patching, device compliance).
• Support execution of endpoint security initiatives (e.g., device hardening baselines, OS and application patching, and secure deployment and configuration of endpoints).
• Support…