Manager, IT End User Services

About Ascend Ascend empowers entrepreneurial CPAs to reach their goals with an innovative growth model that brings their firms into the new age. Backed by PeopleFirst private equity firm Alpine Investors (~$20B AUM), Ascend is the leading aggregator of regional accounting firms in the U.S., with ~3,200 employees globally and approaching $1B in revenue. Ascend has built a modern platform for regional accounting firms that enables them to stay independent in their brand, approach to client service, and cultural autonomy, while benefiting from the strategic support and resources of a large CPA firm. Ascend provides access to growth capital, a robust talent acquisition engine, a best-in-breed technology platform, an AI development team, a catalytic leadership system, shared back-office services, and modernized growth incentives, so firms can surmount the typical challenges of the standalone partnership model and reach their full potential. Founded in January 2023, Ascend has grown rapidly both organically and through M&A, placing it among the Top 25 largest accounting firms in the U.S. For more information, visit ascendtogether.com. About Alpine Investors Alpine Investors is a PeopleFirst private equity firm that is committed to building great companies by working with, learning from, and developing exceptional people. Alpine prides itself on fostering cultures where people value empowerment, diversity, fairness, integrity, and intellectual honesty. Founded in 2001, Alpine specializes in investments in companies in the software and services industries. Alpine has ~$20 billion in AUM and has offices in San Francisco, New York, Salt Lake City, and Austin, TX. For more information on the firm, visit www.alpineinvestors.com. Position Summary Ascend is seeking a Manager of IT End User Services to build and run an Ascend-owned, AI-first service desk that Partner Firms trust. This leader will oversee Ascend’s regional service desk organization, comprising four Regional IT Support Leads and their teams of L2 IT Support Technicians, and will deliver consistent, high-quality support in every region while continuously shifting work left to self-service and AI resolution. This is a driver role. The Manager of IT End User Services will set a high bar, form a point of view on which data matters and act on it, listen for what firms are saying beyond the numbers, and hold the team accountable to consistent processes, all while building a team with deep accounting industry knowledge. The Manager will own service desk performance, resolve all but the most serious escalations independently, and coordinate closely with Ascend’s Applications, Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, Integration, and AI and automation teams. The Manager of IT End User Services will report to Ascend’s IT Operations leadership. Key Responsibilities Team Leadership & Development • Lead, hire, and develop four Regional IT Support Leads and, through them, the regional L2 IT Support Technicians, including regular scorecard reviews and performance evaluations. • Build a team with deep accounting industry and application knowledge, ensuring every region is fully staffed and trained with backup coverage in place. • Plan staffing and coverage across an extended East and West shift model, an on-call rotation with P1 and VIP paging, and weekend coverage during busy season. • Manage the team within approved headcount and budget. Service Desk Performance & Insight • Own service desk performance against a live scorecard spanning AI resolution, first-touch resolution, SLA attainment, ticket aging, requester satisfaction and NPS, process adherence, and on-site presence; report weekly to IT leadership and support monthly readouts to the Executive Leadership Team (“ELT”) and Regional Presidents. • Deliver SLA attainment of 95%+ for response and resolution, sustained through busy season, and first-touch resolution of 80%+ across all regions. • Bring a point of view, not just a report: identify which metrics and trends matter most, recommend where the team should act, and challenge the scorecard itself when it is not telling the full story. • Partner with change and problem management owners on L3 and L4 teams to turn recurring issues into problem records and permanent fixes. Escalation Management & Partner Firm Relationships • Own escalations end to end, resolving complex, high-visibility, VIP, and multi-firm issues across L3 and L4 teams and firm leadership; bring only the most serious matters to IT Operations leadership, with context, options, and a recommendation attached. • Capture qualitative feedback from firm leadership, Regional Presidents, and monthly operations reviews, and bring it to the weekly review alongside the metrics so that firm sentiment is addressed before it becomes an escalation. • Ensure every Partner Firm receives a monthly operations review and a quarterly site visit, with consistent reporting across regions. Process Excellence • Maintain consistent processes across all regions, including queue management, ticket hygiene, escalation paths, the standard change catalog, and Freshservice as the single system of record. • Keep aging tickets and open queues under control at every Partner Firm through weekly review and documented resolution plans, and ensure requests flow through established channels rather than around them. Shift Left & AI-First Support • Own the team’s Shift Left program, partnering with Ascend’s AI and automation team to prioritize the request types best suited for self-service and AI resolution. • Hold the team to a high standard for Knowledge Base and how-to article quality, enabling the AI-first support layer to resolve a meaningfully larger share of incidents each year. Partner Firm Integration • Coordinate with the Integration team on Technology Stack Transition (“TST”) for newly joining Partner Firms, including regional alignment, hypercare, and evaluation of inherited firm IT staff against role criteria. Qualifications • 7+ years of experience in IT service delivery, including 3+ years leading support teams; experience leading leaders and managing performance through others strongly preferred. • Public accounting or professional services industry experience strongly preferred, including familiarity with accounting industry applications. • Bachelor’s degree preferred; ITIL Foundation certification preferred. • Strong command of ITIL service management practices across incident, request, problem, and change. • Data-driven approach to service management, with hands-on experience using ITSM reporting to manage SLA, satisfaction, and NPS; Freshservice experience a plus. • Driver mentality with a bias for action, high standards, and an ownership mindset; reliable, process-driven, and comfortable holding teams accountable. • Superior EQ and influencing skills paired with clear, confident executive communication with Partner Firm and Ascend leadership. • Proven ability to coordinate cross-functionally with Applications, Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, and Integration teams. • A continuous improvement and Shift Left mindset, with genuine enthusiasm for AI-first service delivery. What You Can Count on at Ascend We live by our values: • Own it. We seize growth opportunities with the passion, speed, and accountability of an entrepreneur. • Serve wholeheartedly. We love our people and serve them with positivity and kindness. • Be excellent. We set a high bar because our mission matters. • Win together. We stay in sync, achieve as a team, and celebrate each other. • Bring the sunshine. We have fun and bring enthusiasm to make the journey joyful. At Ascend, we provide a fair and equal employment opportunity for all candidates regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, age, marital status, disability, or any other legally protected characteristic. Ascend hires and promotes individuals solely based on qualifications for the position to be filled and business needs.