Role: Service Delivery Manager-Infra

Location: Montpelier, Vermont

Mandatory skills: Service Delivery Management (SLA/KPI/OLA ownership) , ITIL Process Management (Incident/Problem/Change), Stakeholder & Vendor Governance, Managing Azure Cloud/ AWS Cloud / Desktop Support Operations (Basic knowledge)

Responsible for the day-to-day leadership and performance of Desktop Support, Desktop Engineering, and Azure Support towers. This role leads a team of Tower Leads/Team Leads, driving operational excellence, people development, and continuous improvement, while partnering closely with the Director/Head of Service Delivery on strategic planning, governance, and stakeholder management. The role is expected to operate independently on operational and people matters while escalating strategic, financial, and contractual decisions appropriately.

Key Responsibilities

1. Service Delivery Management
• Own operational delivery for Desktop Support, Desktop Engineering, and Azure Support towers, ensuring SLA/KPI/OLA adherence.
• Monitor performance dashboards and consolidate daily/weekly/monthly reporting on ticket volumes, resolution times, backlog, and CSAT for leadership review.
• Drive Incident, Problem, and Change Management execution across towers; ensure RCA is completed and tracked to closure for major incidents.
• Act as a key escalation point for high-severity issues, coordinating cross-functional resolution and keeping the next level leadership informed.
• Maintain operational readiness and support business continuity planning for each tower.

2. People & Supervisory Management
• Directly supervise Tower Leads / Team Leads, setting clear performance goals, conducting regular 1:1s, and reviewing team KPIs with them.
• Own day-to-day people management responsibilities: attendance and shift adherence, workload distribution, and performance issues within the towers.
• Conduct performance appraisals for direct reports (Tower/Team Leads) and guide them in conducting appraisals for their own teams.
• Identify skill gaps and coordinate training/upskilling plans, especially on Azure and modern endpoint management tools.
• Manage resource capacity planning, shift scheduling, and staffing adequacy in partnership with Tower Leads.
• Handle first-level people escalations (conflicts, grievances, morale issues) and involve HR/Director as needed for complex cases.
• Support recruitment and onboarding for tower-level roles; provide input on hiring decisions for leads.
• Mentor and coach Tower Leads to strengthen their own people-management capabilities, effectively building a second layer of leadership.
• Drive engagement and retention initiatives within the towers (recognition programs, career conversations, feedback loops).
• 3. Governance & Stakeholder Support
• Support and co-lead governance calls (weekly/monthly/quarterly) with internal and external stakeholders; own agenda preparation and follow-ups.
• Build and maintain relationships with business stakeholders, vendors, and cross-functional IT teams (Security, Network, Applications).
• Support vendor/OEM coordination (Microsoft, hardware vendors) for day-to-day escalations and performance tracking.
• Prepare service scorecards and dashboards for executive reporting, in partnership with the next level leadership.

4. Continuous Improvement & Automation
• Identify and implement automation, self-healing, and shift-left opportunities to reduce ticket volume and improve resolution times.
• Drive ITIL-aligned process improvements across towers and track adoption/compliance.
• Lead problem management initiatives at the tower level to reduce recurring incidents.
• Champion ITSM tool adoption (ServiceNow, Remedy, etc.) and ensure process compliance among teams.
• 5. Financial & Contract Support
• Support budget tracking and cost optimization efforts for infrastructure services within assigned towers.
• Help ensure contractual obligations (SOW/MSA) are met at the operational level; flag risks.
• Track cost-to-serve metrics and surface efficiency opportunities.

6. Risk, Compliance & Security
• Ensure tower-level compliance with security policies, audit requirements, and regulatory standards.
• Support audit readiness and drive remediation of findings related to desktop and cloud infrastructure.
• Enforce patch compliance, endpoint security, and access management standards within teams.

Required Skills & Experience
• 7+ years in IT service delivery/infrastructure operations, including 5+ years in a supervisory/people-management role (managing leads or senior analysts).
• Experience managing or supporting multi-tower operations (Desktop Support, Desktop Engineering, Cloud/Azure).
• Demonstrated ability to coach and develop team leads, manage performance, and handle people escalations.
• Working knowledge of ITIL processes; ITIL Foundation certification required, Intermediate/Practitioner preferred.
• Familiarity with ITSM platforms (ServiceNow) and reporting/dashboarding tools.
• Strong communication skills - capable of representing the team in governance calls and stakeholder meetings.
• Financial/contract management (budget tracking, SOW awareness)

Compensation: We are offering between $140,000 - $165,000. Applications will be accepted until Oct 9, 2026.Cognizant will only consider applicants for this position who are legally authorized to work in US without requiring employer sponsorship, now or at any time in the future.

Disclaimer: The salary, other compensation, and benefits information is accurate as of the date of this posting. Cognizant reserves the right to modify this information at any time, subject to applicable law.