Halfords

About us

At Halfords, our mission is to inspire and support a lifetime of motoring and cycling. As a specialist retailer, we lead the market through customer-driven innovation and a distinct product range. We are dedicated to providing our customers with an integrated, unique, and convenient service experience—from e-bike and electric vehicle servicing to on-demand solutions. Our commitment is to foster customer loyalty by offering compelling reasons to keep coming back to our stores, ensuring a lifetime of motoring and cycling enjoyment.

Halfords is quickly becoming a digital services business. In addition to being a leading UK retailer, Halfords has now developed a market leading field service management platform that enables businesses to deliver their complex services to customers through an end-to-end digital solution. The platform is deployed throughout Halfords stores, garages and their mobile business.  The platform has now been taken to market to enable other businesses in our sector and other industries globally to deliver market leading service delivery and an unrivalled customer experience. This SaaS division is called Avayler (Avayler.com).  

If you’re willing to get stuck in, you’ll love it here too. So put yourself at the heart of a dynamic, fast-paced working environment where expertise and focus take people far.

About the role

We are seeking an experienced and dynamic Head of Service Desk to lead our Avalyer software support function and ensure the delivery of high-quality, responsive service across the organisation. This key leadership role involves managing day-to-day operations of the service desk, driving continuous improvement in processes, and ensuring prompt triage, investigation and resolution of issues reported from internal and external stakeholders, working to agreed SLAs and reporting on key KPIs. The ideal candidate will bring a strong focus on customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, and a passion for enabling productivity through excellent support services.

As the Head of Service Desk, you will lead a small, remote team of support professionals, fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, and excellence. You will play a pivotal role in shaping and executing the service strategy, aligning support functions with business objectives, and implementing best practices that enhance service performance.

Key responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop the service desk team to ensure high performance, engagement, and continuous improvement.
• Manage team schedules to maintain appropriate support coverage, including potential 24/7/365 operations.
• Oversee the recruitment, onboarding, and training of new service desk colleagues.
• Ensure the efficient day-to-day operation of the service desk, including effective handling of service requests and incidents.
• Monitor performance against SLAs and KPIs, taking action to address any service gaps or areas for improvement.
• Optimise the use of ticketing systems and support tools to manage workloads and improve service delivery.
• Act as the escalation point for complex or critical technical issues, ensuring timely and effective resolution.
• Maintain a strong focus on customer satisfaction through responsive, professional, and solution-focused support.
• Establish and enforce policies and standards that uphold a high level of customer service.
• Identify and implement process improvements to enhance service quality and efficiency.
• Drive initiatives such as automation, knowledge base development, and self-service solutions to improve user experience.
• Develop and execute strategies to increase first-contact resolution rates and reduce issue escalations.

About you

• You will be a seasoned professional in software service and support roles, ideally within a SaaS environment.
• You have a proven track record of leading service desk teams, managing SLAs/KPIs, and driving continuous improvement.
• You combine strong technical knowledge with hands-on experience in service desk tools like ServiceNow, Zendesk, or JIRA.
• You're commercially aware, analytical, and confident in using data to inform decisions and report on performance.
• You’re an excellent communicator with a passion for delivering exceptional customer service and inspiring your team.
• You follow ITIL best practices and may hold relevant certifications such as ITIL or HDI Service Desk Manager.
• You’re self-motivated, ambitious, and excited to contribute to a fast-growing, dynamic business.

Reward & benefits

• A fair and competitive salary evaluated against market data, car allowance, annual discretionary bonus scheme, pension, life assurance, 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays and enhanced family leave.
• Commitment and dedication to your ongoing personal and professional development. We help you to own and grow your potential so you can be at your best in your current role and to support your future career aspirations.
• We offer hybrid working in our Support Centre, you will be based at our Support Centre 3 days a week with an optional 2 days working from home.
• You will have access to a wealth of employee discounts across the Halfords suite of products and services.
• Wellbeing and inclusion are at the heart of our colleague experience. We offer resources and ongoing support to enhance your wellbeing at work and active Colleague Networks supporting inclusion initiatives across Halfords.

Not sure you meet all the criteria? We'd encourage you to take the wheel and apply anyway! At Halfords we are committed to creating an inclusive workplace for our colleagues. We're an equal opportunities employer and proud to welcome applications