It service manager

About the Role:

JMARK is looking for an experienced Service Manager to lead a dedicated technical service team supporting one of our banking clients. This role combines people leadership, technical judgment, client relationship management, and operational accountability.

The right person will be comfortable leading technical professionals while also understanding the technology well enough to ask the right questions, challenge assumptions, guide troubleshooting, and ensure issues are resolved thoroughly and appropriately. You do not need to be the most technical person in the room, but you do need to know when a solution makes sense, when more questions need to be asked, and when additional expertise should be brought in.

Because this team supports a banking environment, service availability, security, documentation, communication, and follow-through are critical. Previous IT experience within banking, financial services, or supporting core banking systems is strongly preferred.

What You'll Do:

Lead and Develop the Team

• Lead, coach, mentor, and develop a dedicated team of technical professionals.
• Establish clear expectations and hold team members accountable for individual, team, client, and company objectives.
• Conduct regular coaching, performance discussions, and performance reviews.
• Identify skill gaps and create training, cross-training, and professional development plans.
• Build a culture of teamwork, accountability, continuous improvement, and exceptional client service.
• Participate in hiring and developing the team as business and client needs evolve.
• Ensure appropriate staffing, backup coverage, and after-hours support coverage.

Own Service Delivery

• Oversee the daily delivery of technical support and ensure requests are handled professionally, efficiently, and according to established service commitments.
• Manage team performance against client-specific response, escalation, engineer engagement, and service restoration expectations.
• Monitor ticket queues, workloads, documentation, service trends, and team capacity.
• Ensure tickets contain accurate and timely documentation, including business impact, actions taken, ownership, next steps, and resolution.
• Identify recurring issues, service trends, and opportunities to improve processes or automate repetitive work.
• Ensure root-cause analysis and corrective actions are completed for significant or recurring incidents.
• Understand the client's contractual requirements and ensure the team consistently delivers against those commitments.

Provide Technical Leadership

• Serve as an escalation point for complex technical and business-impacting issues.
• Guide troubleshooting by helping the team define problems, validate assumptions, interpret findings, evaluate risk, and determine appropriate next steps.
• Challenge proposed diagnoses and solutions constructively when the available evidence does not support the conclusion.
• Coordinate with senior engineers, security specialists, vendors, and other JMARK teams when additional expertise is required.
• Provide hands-on technical assistance when circumstances require it.
• Maintain enough technical knowledge of the client's environment to make informed service and escalation decisions.

Manage the Client Relationship

• Serve as a primary service management contact for the client's technology leadership.
• Build trusted relationships through proactive communication, responsiveness, transparency, and follow-through.
• Clearly communicate service performance, business impact, significant incidents, unresolved concerns, risks, and next steps.
• Develop an understanding of critical banking workflows, branch operations, and time-sensitive business activities so technical decisions reflect business priorities.
• Contribute to monthly reporting and client service reviews, including service performance, ticket trends, recurring issues, and corrective actions.
• Partner with JMARK Client Relationship Managers and other internal teams to provide effective solutions and an exceptional client experience.

What We're Looking For

• Progressive experience leading or managing a technical support, service desk, infrastructure, or managed services team.
• Prior hands-on experience in systems administration, network support, IT support, or a comparable technical role.
• Strong technical judgment and the ability to guide troubleshooting without needing to personally solve every technical issue.
• Experience managing escalations, major incidents, service restoration, recurring problems, and service-level commitments.
• Strong coaching, performance management, and team-development skills.
• Excellent client relationship and customer service skills.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities.
• Ability to prioritize competing demands and lead effectively during high-pressure situations.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain technical issues in business-friendly language.
• Experience working within a managed services organization is preferred.
• Experience with ConnectWise Manage or similar PSA/service management platforms is preferred.
• Familiarity with IT service management and project management best practices.

Banking Experience

Previous experience supporting technology within a bank, credit union, financial institution, or banking-focused MSP is strongly preferred. Experience with one or more of the following would be particularly valuable:

• Core banking platforms and related banking applications.
• Banking branch operations and critical transaction workflows.
• Supporting technology in a highly regulated environment.
• GLBA, FFIEC guidance, or other financial-services security and compliance requirements.
• Vendor management within a banking environment.
• Business continuity, disaster recovery, and high-availability requirements within financial services.
• Managing technology incidents where downtime can directly affect customer transactions or branch operations.

Direct banking experience is preferred but not required for a candidate who demonstrates strong technical service leadership, an ability to learn complex client environments quickly, and an appreciation for the security, documentation, compliance, and service expectations associated with financial institutions.

Additional Requirements

• Ability to work independently while contributing effectively within a collaborative team environment.
• Willingness to continually learn new technologies, processes, and client environments.
• Ability to travel as required.
• Valid driver's license, proof of vehicle insurance, and reliable transportation suitable for performing job responsibilities.