Senior Manager, ITSM & Service Desk

Role Specific Information

Job Description

About the Role

You will lead Kohl’s internal Service Management function and governance of our managed Service Desk that supports corporate employees, stores, and distribution centers. This role is accountable for predictable, high-quality ITSM execution across Incident, Change, Disaster Recovery and CMDB, while managing the day-to-day performance of an external managed service provider (MSP) delivering front-line Service Desk operations.

The focus is not ticket intake/routing; it is about the operating model, process governance, transparency, reporting, and continuous improvement.

This is a high-visibility leadership role driving the foundational quality of IT service delivery across our enterprise, supporting corporate, store, and distribution center environments.

What You’ll Do

Team Leadership & Development

• You will lead a team of approximately 9 dedicated subject matter experts (SMEs) focused on driving service management maturity.

ITSM Governance & Maturity

• Govern and mature Incident, Change, and Disaster Recovery practices, including standards, workflows, controls, roles, and operating cadence.

• Establish strong governance over the Configuration Management Database (CMDB), ensuring data quality, completeness, and adherence to configuration standards to support accurate Incident and Change management processes.

• Enhance consistency and predictability by optimizing processes, reducing friction and variance, and improving compliance and outcomes.

• Govern ServiceNow as the system of record for these processes, collaborating with the platform team on workflow, reporting, data quality, and adoption.

• Lead continuous improvement programs to measurably boost KPIs (cycle times, SLA attainment, repeat incidents, change success, auditability, DR outcomes).

• Own the strategic definition, governance, and promotion of the IT Service Catalog, ensuring it is clearly documented, drives standardized request fulfillment, and acts as the foundation for effective ITSM reporting.

• Act as the primary interface for ITSM processes during internal and external IT audits (e.g., SOX), ensuring that all controls related to Incident, Change, and Configuration Management are consistently compliant and well-documented.

Operational Reporting & Partnerships

• Publish operational scorecard: Service Desk (CSAT, call/handle, abandonment, FCR), Incident SLAs, DR readiness, and operational excellence measures.

• Partner with SRE, Infrastructure, Security, and product engineering to improve cross-team execution (change quality, incident hygiene, DR planning/testing).

Managed Service Desk (MSP) Oversight

• Manage the MSP relationship for Service Desk delivery: enforce SLAs/KPIs, run performance reviews/QBRs, drive quality assurance expectations, and ensure corrective actions close.

• Establish and govern the Knowledge Management (KM) strategy, ensuring accountability for the quality, maintenance, and utilization of knowledge articles by the Service Desk to maximize First Call Resolution (FCR) and CSAT, and by end-users to drive self-service adoption.

• Drive the "shift-left" strategy, focusing on self-service adoption and automation opportunities to optimize Service Desk efficiency and measurably reduce ticket volume.

What success looks like

Within the first 12-18 months, a successful candidate will have measurably achieved the following critical outcomes:

• Service Desk and ITSM performance is transparent, trusted, and improving month over month.

• Improved SLA attainment and reduced variability across Incident/Change execution.

• Higher Service Desk CSAT/FCR and lower abandonment/backlog (through MSP governance and QA).

• Clear, tested DR posture with improving readiness scores and fewer surprises.

• CMDB data quality, completeness, and governance are visibly maintained and support accurate decision-making for business processes.

What Skills You Have

Required qualifications

• 8+ years in IT operations/service management with deep hands-on ITSM domain knowledge.

• 3+ years leading teams and/or leading through influence in complex enterprise environments.

• Demonstrated experience governing an MSP-run Service Desk, including SLAs/KPIs, QA, performance management, and continuous improvement.

• Strong knowledge of Incident, Change, and Disaster Recovery operating models.

• Demonstrated ServiceNow experience, focused on ITSM process governance (workflows, reporting, and adoption).

• Strong executive communication, operational analytics, and stakeholder management skills.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience supporting a retail or high-volume environment (stores/field/distribution), specifically managing IT services during high-volume periods (peak/seasonal sensitivity).

• ITIL certification (Foundation+).

• Experience designing service scorecards, OLAs, and governance cadences that scale across many resolver teams.

• Track record of taking “in place” ITSM processes to the next level (consistency, predictability, measurable KPI lift).

Essential Functions

The requirements listed below are representative of functions you will be required to perform, however you may be required to perform additional functions. Kohl’s may revise this job description at any time. To perform this job successfully, you must be able to perform each essential function satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions, absent undue hardship.

• Ability to perform the accountabilities listed in the “What You’ll Do” Section

• Ability to comply with dress code requirements

• Basic math and reading skills, legible handwriting, and basic computer operation

• Ability to maintain prompt and regular attendance and meet scheduling requirements as set by the company

• Ability to learn and comply with all company policies, procedures, standards and guidelines

• Ability to give direction and to receive, understand and proactively respond to direction from leadership and other company personnel

• Ability to work as part of a team and interact effectively and appropriately with others

• Ability to maintain composure and work in a fast paced environment while accomplishing multiple tasks within established timeframes

• Ability to satisfactorily complete company training programs

• Ability to use a personal computer for tasks such as communicating, preparing reports, etc.

• Ability to plan, prioritize and monitor activities across business units

• Ability to complete or oversee the completion of assigned projects in a timely manner