Director, Information Technology Service Experience and Support

At the University of Waterloo, we create and promote a culture where everyone can reach their full potential. As an employee, you get support & opportunities that empower you to advance your career. Explore how we can bring big ideas to life, together. The University is a welcoming workplace for those of all abilities, interests, and expertise. As part of our workforce, you can do what you do best, every day.Learn more about our recruitment process.Job Requisition ID:2026-00440Time Type:Full timeEmployee Group:StaffJob Category:IT SupportEmployment Type:PermanentDepartment:Information Systems and TechnologyHiring Range:$131,704.19 - $164,630.24Posting Information:This posting is for an existing vacancy.The internal posting deadline for this position is Friday, April 10, 2026 at 11:59PM.Job Description:Primary PurposeThe Director, IT Service Experience & Support is a member of the IST executive leadership team accountable to the Chief Information Officer for the strategy, governance, and operational performance of the University’s frontline IT support services.The Director provides institutional leadership for the design, delivery, and continuous improvement of a unified, user-centred support model, ensuring consistent service standards, effective IT service management practices, and seamless end-to-end support experiences across central and distributed IT teams. The role establishes performance expectations, service governance mechanisms, and accountability frameworks that promote transparency, operational excellence, and a cohesive support experience for the campus community.The role ensures transparent visibility into service quality through comprehensive dashboards that make it easy to assess service health and effectiveness, and promotes a culture of accountability, collaboration, and service excellence across a diverse, multi-level team of IT professionals.Key AccountabilitiesUser experience leadership for IT supportDefine, implement, and continuously improve the support experience across all user touchpoints (ticket, chat, phone, email, walk-up, on-site).Establish a “one front door” service approach that is easy to navigate, consistently executed, and measurably improved through user feedback and service performance data.Drive service innovation that improves accessibility, reduces effort for users, and modernizes how the community engages with IT.Monitor end-to-end support journeys to identify gaps, handoff failures, or unresolved ownership across teams, and work with delivery leaders to address systemic issues impacting user experience.IT Service Management (ITSM) vision, governance, and institutional standard-settingDrive operational service governance and coordination forums (e.g. service review cadences, cross-domain coordination mechanisms), ensuring issues are surfaced, decisions are documented, and agreed actions are followed through, in alignment with the institutional accountabilities of the CIO.Ensure the operational stewardship, accuracy, and effective use of the institutional service catalogue for the Service Experience & Support group, including service attributes, request pathways, and user-facing information, aligned with institutionally defined service structures.Create a common training pathway for all IT staff, ensuring up-to-date knowledge and evolving operational guidance are aligned to best practice service practices, supporting a common baseline of capability and service quality across delivery teams that meet the needs of the university community.Knowledge managementImplement and operationalize common support practices to reduce rework, improve first-contact resolution, and increase the ability to securely complete self-service tasks.Establish knowledge quality controls, coaching expectations, and measurement practices (e.g., knowledge reuse, ticket-to-knowledge linkage).Ensure knowledge and service catalogue content stays current, consistent, and aligned to institutional service definitions and overall technology best practices.Performance accountability, benchmarking and executive reportingDefine and manage KPIs within the institutional mandate of the CIO, setting approved KPI frameworks, performance standards, and service benchmarks for client-facing services, and ensure they drive operational decision-making and institutional performance transparency.Build and sustain executive dashboards and review cadences that provide consistent visibility into service performance, user satisfaction, and improvement progress.Support managers within the Service Experience & Support group to be accountable for service outcomes through structured performance reviews, capacity planning, and continuous improvement cycles.Cross-campus partnership, federation alignment, and service integrationBuild strong working relationships throughout all campus units, in order to best meet the endpoint technology needs of the campus community. The Director acts as the institutional integrator of frontline IT services, ensuring that operational service strategy, governance, and operational delivery align across IT functions to produce consistent user outcomes.Establish practical mechanisms to ensure consistent IT support experiences across central and distributed teams (e.g., shared routing patterns, clear escalation paths, alignment to institutionally defined service information, and shared visibility into service performance)Ensure Service Experience & Support operations are planned and coordinated with termly peaks in academic and research activity to support time-sensitive teaching, learning, and research needs.Monitor trends in service demand, user feedback, and support performance to identify emerging needs, service gaps, or changing expectations, and present insights to the governance processes for consideration.Financial and people leadershipProvide leadership for operational planning, budget management, workforce capacity planning, and service investment prioritization across the Service Experience & Support portfolio.Build a culture of service excellence and accountability, including clear performance expectations, coaching, role clarity, and professional development pathways.Lead organizational change initiatives required to modernize frontline service delivery in a complex, multi-stakeholder environment.Required QualificationsEducationUniversity degree (or equivalent experience) in Information Technology, Business Administration, or a related field.Graduate degree is an asset.Formal training or demonstrated IT service management and continuous improvement practices is preferred.Experience10+ years of progressive leadership experience in Information Technology, including responsibility for user-facing support and service delivery functions in complex environments.Experience leading service modernization initiatives, such as operating model redesign, ITSM implementation, tool or process consolidation, or governance standardization.Experience overseeing institutional IT support operations, including multi-channel intake, escalation, and resolution models.Experience implementing and governing IT service management practices at an organizational level (e.g., service catalogue, incident/request management, knowledge management, service performance reviews).Experience managing operational budgets, workforce capacity, and performance outcomes within a service delivery environment.Knowledge/Skills/AbilitiesStrong knowledge of enterprise IT service delivery models and applied IT service management frameworks.Ability to design and implement a unified, multi-channel support experience that is user-centred, measurable, and continuously improved.Understanding of service governance, performance management, and institutional accountability structures within a complex academic environment.Strong capability in defining and monitoring service performance metrics, dashboards, and continuous improvement cycles.Applied knowledge of knowledge management practices and service catalogue discipline to improve resolution rates and reduce service fragmentation.Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to align distributed teams to shared service standards.Demonstrated change leadership capability in environments with distributed authority and varied local practices.Sound financial and operational judgment related to service capacity planning and resource stewardship.Ability to lead managers and frontline service teams, fostering accountability, collaboration, and service excellence.Equity StatementThe University of Waterloo acknowledges that much of our work takes place on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg, and Haudenosaunee peoples. Our main campus is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land granted to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Our active work toward reconciliation takes place across our campuses through research, learning, teaching, and community building, and is coordinated within the Office of Indigenous Relations.The University values the diverse and intersectional identities of its students, faculty, and staff. The University regards equity and diversity as an integral part of academic excellence and is committed to accessibility for all employees. The University of Waterloo seeks applicants who embrace our values of equity, anti-racism and inclusion. As such, we encourage applications from candidates who have been historically disadvantaged and marginalized, including applicants who identify as First Nations, Métis and/or Inuk (Inuit), Black, racialized, a person with a disability, women and/or 2SLGBTQ+.Positions are open to qualified candidates who are legally entitled to work in Canada.The University of Waterloo is committed to accessibility for persons with disabilities. If you have any application, interview, or workplace accommodation requests, please contact Human Resources at View email address on click.appcast.io or View phone number on click.appcast.io. #J-18808-Ljbffr