Associate Principal - Service Excellence

Team Leadership & Service Excellence

• Lead and manage the service desk team, ensuring effective workload distribution, resource utilization, and service capacity planning.
• Monitor incoming ticket volumes, identify recurring issues and trends, and implement proactive measures to reduce repeat incidents.
• Review service performance metrics, ticket resolution timelines, and SLAs to improve operational efficiency and service quality.
• Identify and implement opportunities for automation, workflow optimization, and software enhancements.
• Drive improvement initiatives from planning through implementation, ensuring measurable results and successful deployment.
• Act as the escalation point for critical issues, guiding the team toward timely and effective resolution.

Technical Support & IT Operations

• Oversee L1 technical support for internal and external users, including incident management and request fulfillment.
• Supervise the installation, configuration, and maintenance of desktops, laptops, operating systems, and business applications.
• Ensure effective support for security patches, antivirus updates, remote access, VPN connectivity, virtual machines, and peripheral devices.
• Guide the team in troubleshooting hardware, software, and system-related issues.
• Manage ticket resolution and coordinate with internal teams to escalate unresolved issues to the appropriate L2 service owners.
• Coordinate software subscription purchases and renewals with vendors while ensuring alignment with budgetary requirements.

IT Asset Management

• Manage company IT assets and ensure accurate records and alignment with asset registers.
• Oversee software inventories, asset tracking, and configuration management repositories.
• Ensure appropriate monitoring and maintenance of IT equipment and software resources.

User Access Management & Identity Governance

• Oversee user access management across business applications and software platforms, ensuring consistent governance and adherence to internal policies.
• Define and govern access control matrices and standard access models in line with least-privilege principles, segregation of duties, and regulatory requirements.
• Supervise user access provisioning, modification, and revocation throughout the user lifecycle.
• Ensure periodic access reviews are completed, documented, and followed up with corrective actions where required.
• Oversee external partner access enablement, including certificate issuance and renewals for banks, financial institutions, and government entities.

Integration Partner Onboarding & Governance

• Own the end-to-end onboarding framework for new integration partners, establishing standards, controls, and readiness criteria.
• Coordinate with technology, security, and operations teams to ensure connectivity, system integration, and access requirements are completed.
• Track onboarding progress, risks, dependencies, and blockers, providing regular updates to management.
• Resolve cross-functional and partner-related issues affecting integration timelines and service readiness.
• Ensure new partners are onboarded securely and are operationally ready before going live.

ITIL, Compliance & Service Reporting

• Ensure adherence to ITIL practices, including incident management, request fulfillment, change management, and problem management.
• Coordinate communications regarding planned downtime, application upgrades, critical deployments, and maintenance activities.
• Oversee operational checks for enterprise applications and customer-facing digital platforms.
• Drive the resolution of audit findings and regulatory requirements in coordination with relevant stakeholders.
• Prepare and review weekly and monthly reports covering ticket volumes, SLA compliance, resolution times, and service performance.
• Maintain training materials, knowledge bases, and solution repositories for internal and external stakeholders.

Enterprise Applications & Data Quality

• Oversee the resolution of user queries and support tickets relating to enterprise applications, including ERP and CRM systems.
• Guide the investigation and resolution of data quality issues reported by customers accessing credit reports.
• Coordinate with banks and internal data teams to investigate and resolve data-related discrepancies.
• Identify opportunities to enhance existing applications, define improvement requirements, and coordinate implementation.
• Measure the impact of implemented improvements and recommend further actions to enhance service quality.

Requirements

• Mandatory Requirements: Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience.
• Proficiency in English.
• Proven experience in team leadership and management.
• Experience in IT service delivery, SLA management, and ticketing systems.
• Experience installing and configuring computer systems and applications in large organizations.
• Extensive experience with Windows and open-source operating systems.
• Experience configuring and setting up Cisco IP telephones.
• Knowledge of product review and development, commercial agreements, and business frameworks.
• Strong technical troubleshooting, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent communication, presentation, influencing, and negotiation skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities, work under pressure, and meet deadlines.
• Ability to lead teams, manage change, and collaborate with internal stakeholders and B2B partners.
• Preferred Requirements: Master's degree or specialization in Business.
• Proficiency in Arabic.
• MCSA, MCITP, or Azure certification.
• Experience supporting enterprise applications, ERP, CRM, and help desk tools.
• Knowledge of user access management, identity governance, and partner integration.
• Experience in automation, process improvement, and service optimization.
• Knowledge of databases, backup systems, network and local printers, biometric systems, and CCTV.
• Strong time management and structured analytical thinking.