Associate Director - Service Desk Operations

Overview

Lead day-to-day service desk and application production support operations across multiple shifts within Lilly's global IT operations function, driving modernization toward self-service, automation and self-healing.

What you'll do

• 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.
• Ensure consistent achievement of key service measures: first-contact resolution, customer satisfaction, average handle time, and resolution quality.
• Own operational readiness for new capabilities, including tooling and access, infrastructure and workspace setup, workforce scheduling, and transition into steady-state operations against committed timelines.
• Design and run tiered support models that progressively shift resolution toward self-service and automation, with clear ownership boundaries between tiers and governance to sustain them.
• Strengthen incident and problem management across service and application streams, moving teams from reactive firefighting toward structured, permanent resolution of repeat escalations.
• Establish an insight routine on top demand drivers across contacts and application incidents, and convert it into targeted training, prioritized automation and agentic use-cases, and self-service or self-healing deflection.
• 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.
• Run the operating cadence, performance management, and success-measure reporting as a single point of accountability, with clear stakeholder visibility and timely escalation.
• Manage stakeholders across senior leadership, peer function heads, and delivery teams, driving alignment and outcomes without relying on positional authority.

What you'll need

• 12+ years of experience in IT operations, including hands-on delivery leadership of a front-line (L1) service desk or contact center and management of L2/L3 application production support.
• Hands-on or supervisory experience in technical support, including 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), with familiarity with APIs, integration patterns, and IT infrastructure fundamentals.
• Strong grounding in incident and problem management within an ITIL-aligned environment, able to move a team from reactive firefighting toward structured, permanent resolution over repeat escalations.
• Working understanding of SRE principles (SLOs/SLIs, observability, toil reduction) and how they apply 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, including 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 the 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.

Nice to have

• 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 over time.
• Exposure to contact center platforms (e.g., Genesys, Kore.ai, Amazon Connect, etc.) and endpoint or digital-experience analytics, with an 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 that keeps them reliable and effective.
• Ability to operate in a fast-paced, evolving environment and to lead through ambiguity, with strong executive communication and cross-functional influence.

Details

• Location: Hyderabad, India.
• Supports a 24x7 operations environment and requires flexibility to work across shifts, including night and later shift windows, particularly during early operational phases and ramp-up.
• Hands-on leadership role in its early phase, transitioning toward a broader leadership and oversight remit as the function matures.