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Eli Lilly is seeking an Associate Director of Service Desk Operations to lead global IT operations spanning end-user support and application production support. This is a hands-on leadership role in its early phase, transitioning toward broader leadership and oversight as the function matures.
You will own day-to-day service desk operations across multiple shifts, leading hands-on where required through shift leadership, quality assurance, and end-to-end delivery accountability. Key responsibilities include ensuring consistent achievement of service measures (first-contact resolution, customer satisfaction, average handle time, resolution quality), and owning operational readiness for new capabilities including tooling, infrastructure, workspace setup, workforce scheduling, and transition into steady-state operations.
You will design and run tiered support models that progressively shift resolution toward self-service and automation, with clear ownership boundaries between tiers. You'll strengthen incident and problem management across service and application streams, moving teams from reactive firefighting toward structured, permanent resolution of repeat escalations.
You will establish an insight routine on top demand drivers and convert it into targeted actions: customized training, prioritized automation and agentic use-cases, and self-service or self-healing deflection. You'll drive adoption of enabling technologies and act as an informed sponsor for AI-assisted tools, endpoint analytics, chat deflection, and agentic workflows—bridging IT implementation and operational uptake while governing deployment quality.
You will run the operating cadence, performance management, and success-measure reporting as a single point of accountability, ensuring clear stakeholder visibility and timely escalation. You'll manage stakeholders across senior leadership, peer function heads, and delivery teams—driving alignment and outcomes without relying on positional authority.
The role supports a 24x7 operations environment and requires flexibility to work across shifts, including night/later shift windows, particularly during early operational phases and ramp-up.
REQUIREMENTS:
- 12+ years of experience in IT operations, including hands-on delivery leadership of a front-line (L1) service desk/contact center and management of L2/L3 application production support
- Hands-on or supervisory experience in technical support: incident triage, root cause analysis, and resolution across enterprise applications on on-premise and cloud infrastructure
- Technical grounding in at least one scripting or programming language (Python, Java, PowerShell, or equivalent) and familiarity with APIs, integration patterns, and IT infrastructure fundamentals
- Strong grounding in incident and problem management within an ITIL-aligned environment
- Working understanding of SRE principles (SLOs/SLIs, observability, toil reduction) and their application to application stability and operational efficiency
- Working knowledge of ITSM platforms such as ServiceNow, including ticket taxonomy, workflow design, reporting configuration, and connecting platform data to operational decisions
- Demonstrated ownership of a support function through change: restructuring support tiers, introducing automation and self-service, and improving measurable service outcomes
- Proven people leadership experience: building, scheduling, and developing shift-based teams, with ability to lead hands-on in early phases before scaling
- Ability to drive adoption of enabling technologies and act as an informed sponsor for AI-assisted tools, endpoint analytics, chat deflection, and agentic workflows
PREFERRED:
- ITIL certification
- Practical understanding of AI tools (Copilot, Claude, etc.) and applying them effectively in daily operations
- Experience running production support for business-critical applications, including environment monitoring, patch/release support, and driving stability improvements
- Exposure to contact center platforms (Genesys, Kore.ai, Amazon Connect, etc.) and endpoint or digital-experience analytics
- Understanding of conversational-AI, virtual-agent, and AI chatbot tooling
- Experience running self-service, chat-deflection, and automation/agentic capabilities at scale, backed by observability
- Ability to operate in fast-paced, evolving environment and lead through ambiguity with strong executive communication and cross-functional influence
