Configurator

Service Desk Manager 

We are looking for a Service Desk Manager / Lead to run and continuously improve a client-facing Service Desk while owning the underlying Atlassian service management platform across Jira Service Management, Confluence, Jira Software, and Refined. 

This role is responsible for ensuring the Service Desk operates as a trusted, professional, and scalable entry point for operational work across multiple clients. It combines service management leadership, platform ownership, client onboarding, incident communication, operational reporting, and first-line team leadership. 

You will play a key role in shaping how support is delivered, how service management tooling is governed, how clients interact with the Service Desk, and how reporting and operational standards are maintained across the function. 

This is a strong fit for someone who combines hands-on Atlassian platform experience with solid service desk leadership, excellent communication skills, and a practical understanding of supporting cloud-based services in live production environments. 

Key Responsibilities 

Service Desk Management 

• Lead the day-to-day operation and continuous improvement of a client-facing Service Desk  

• Ensure consistent and professional handling of incidents, service requests, and operational coordination  

• Maintain clear standards for ticket handling, communication, escalation, and service quality  

• Help ensure the Service Desk remains a trusted and scalable support function across clients  

Atlassian platform ownership 

• Own and manage the service management platform across Jira Service Management, Confluence, Jira Software, and Refined  

• Maintain and improve request types, workflows, queues, SLAs, automations, knowledge base structure, and portal design  

• Ensure the platform remains governed, maintainable, secure, and user-friendly  

• Define and maintain standards for naming, structure, permissions, and service management configuration  

User access & governance 

• Manage onboarding, offboarding, and access changes for internal users and external client users  

• Maintain strong permission governance and safe external access patterns  

• Act as a control point for admin-level changes and platform-wide configuration updates  

• Ensure access and platform changes follow agreed governance and do not introduce avoidable risk  

Client onboarding 

• Lead onboarding of new clients to the Service Desk model  

• Deliver process walkthroughs, portal onboarding, and usage guidance for client stakeholders  

• Ensure clients understand severity models, escalation paths, response expectations, and communication practices  

• Drive adoption of self-service through well-structured portals and knowledge base content  

Incident management & communication 

• Ensure incident intake, routing, escalation, and communication practices are structured and consistently applied  

• Improve the quality of incident communication, especially for higher-priority incidents  

• Support strong evidence capture, clear handovers, and accurate ticket timelines  

• Help ensure incident records support post-incident reviews and follow-up actions  

Operational reporting 

• Own the reporting function across clients, including cadence, templates, minimum data standards, and coordination of inputs  

• Ensure operational reports are delivered consistently, on time, and to a high standard  

• Drive reporting maturity through standardisation and automation where possible  

• Write or quality-check executive summaries and operational narratives in strong, stakeholder-friendly English  

First-line team lead 

• Lead and develop the first-line support team, including quality follow-up, coaching, and process discipline  

• Define and enforce minimum standards for ticket quality, troubleshooting, escalation notes, and communication  

• Run quality reviews and identify opportunities for service improvement and team development  

• Help mature the team through structured feedback, enablement, and operational follow-through  

On-call rota coordination 

• Coordinate on-call rota schedules together with relevant participants and stakeholders  

• Handle rota changes, swaps, holiday planning, and coverage gaps  

• Ensure escalation paths and engagement rules are clearly documented and communicated  

Supportability of cloud-based services 

• Work closely with Cloud Operations, engineering teams, and service stakeholders to improve support readiness  

• Support stronger handovers, better knowledge capture, and more effective support around incidents and change activity  

Required Experience & Skills 

• Strong experience in service desk management, support operations, and incident management  

• Hands-on experience with Jira Service Management and related Atlassian tools  

• Experience running a client-facing support function  

• Experience onboarding stakeholders and driving adoption of service management processes and tooling  

• Strong understanding of ticket quality, escalation discipline, stakeholder communication, and operational process governance  

• Strong organisational and coordination skills across teams, standards, and operational cadences  

• Excellent English communication skills, written and verbal, including:  

• stakeholder-facing communication  

• onboarding and walkthroughs  

• incident updates  

• operational reporting and service summaries  

What this role is not 

• This is not a software development role  

• This is not a client platform architecture role  

• This is not a dedicated 24/7/365 incident role  

• This is not a role that personally produces every operational report, but it does own the reporting function and quality  

Why this role matters 

This role is central to building a Service Desk that clients trust, teams can scale with, and the wider organisation can rely on. It combines people leadership, service ownership, platform governance, and operational structure in a way that directly impacts service quality, client experience, and support maturity. 

What we offer 

• A workplace in central Copenhagen with a collaborative and informal culture 

• Competitive pension scheme and health insurance 

• Breakfast, lunch, unlimited coffee & tea, and Friday bars 

• Hybrid work model with flexible remote days 

• A wide range of social activities: wine tastings, game nights, summer and Christmas parties 

• Clear opportunities for professional growth, mentoring, and development programs 
   

Benefits: 

• A nice pension scheme + health insurance 

• Weekly Friday bars (yup, your weekend buzz is on us!) 

• Breakfast and lunch at our office

• Flexible work model with remote workday options

• An unlimited amount of coffee, tea and supportive colleagues 

• Wine tasting, coffee club, game nights, grand parties, fun events 

We have employees who've stayed with us for 5, 10, 15, and even 20 years! There's room for you to be yourself, including dressing however you like. 
 

Additional information

Company Description

Merkle, a dentsu company, powers the experience economy. For more than 35 years, we've put people at the heart of digital business transformation. As the world's only integrated experience consultancy with deep roots in data science and business performance, Merkle delivers holistic, end-to-end experiences that drive growth, engagement, and loyalty.          

Merkle’s expertise has earned recognition as a “Leader” by top industry analyst firms in digital transformation, commerce, experience design, engineering and technology integration, digital marketing, data science, CRM and loyalty, and customer data management.

With more than 16,000 employees globally, Merkle operates across 30+ countries in the Americas, EMEA, and APAC regions. In Denmark, we have over 300 talented colleagues working from offices in Copenhagen and Aarhus.

For more information, visit www.merkle.com. 
 

Inclusion and Diversity:

At Merkle we believe in the power of diversity. We welcome all applications regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.

Contact:
We look forward to receiving your application for any questions, please contact the TA in charge of this role: Thomas Holley, Talent Acquisition Partner, EMEA, NE. #LI-MERKLE #LI-Onsite #LI-TH2