Sr. Manager, Service Desk & IT Automation (Hybrid, Bangalore)

Smartsheet is looking for a highly technical Sr. Manager to lead our India-based Service Desk and IT Automation operations. This is a working-manager role: you'll personally execute technical work — scripting, automation builds, escalated ticket resolution — while also leading a team. If you're looking for a purely strategic or delegation-only leadership role, this isn't it.

You'll manage a team spanning Service Desk, Tier 1 SOC support, and IT Automation Engineering, driving the technical maturity of our global support infrastructure through automation, scripting, deep systems integration, and increasingly, AI-augmented workflows. This role reports to the Director of End User Systems, with close, day-to-day partnership across US-based Desktop Support managers.

For the right candidate, this role has a clear path to Director as we continue scaling our India GCC — with growth into that level anticipated within 12–18 months.

This is also a strong fit for a Director-level leader currently at a SaaS startup who's looking to move into a larger, enterprise SaaS organization — and who is open to a step down in title now in exchange for a step up in scale, platform, and long-term trajectory.

You Will

IT Automation & Architecture

Drive the IT automation function, identifying repetitive Tier 1 tasks and owning their automation end-to-end — from scoping through build, testing, and measurement

Evaluate and build AI-augmented automation where it meaningfully reduces toil (e.g. intelligent ticket triage, SOC alert summarisation, AI-assisted knowledge base drafting)

Review technical designs before deployment and mentor the team on automation best practices

Team Leadership & Execution

Manage the India-based Service Desk team, coordinating daily with US counterparts

Set clear direction, track progress, remove blockers, and escalate capacity constraints to the Director

Monitor team performance against SLAs, quality standards, and service desk metrics

Lead onboarding sessions for new team members

Hands-On Technical Contribution

Resolve tickets across hardware, software, network, and user access — including overflow and critical issues

Perform desktop administration: software deployment, system configuration, user provisioning, and hardware lifecycle management

Create and maintain knowledge base articles and process documentation

Security & People Development

Oversee Tier 1 SOC operations: triage, alert response, and adherence to incident response playbooks

Coach and mentor India-based engineers, supporting their career growth; hire and develop top technical talent

You Have

Experience

8+ years in IT engineering or Service Desk operations, including hands-on automation engineering (scripting, API integrations, or workflow orchestration)

4+ years managing or leading technical support teams in matrixed or distributed organizations

A track record of delivering cross-functional projects through technical ambiguity

Technical Skills

Deep proficiency in PowerShell or Python, with experience building scalable IT automation workflows

Strong hands-on experience with Freshservice (or a similar ITSM platform), including workflow orchestration and API integrations

Experience integrating AI/LLM capabilities into IT workflows via API, SDK, or prompt engineering

Experience with Active Directory, M365, and endpoint management via Intune and/or Jamf

Working knowledge of EDR platforms, firewalls, and incident response; familiarity with ITIL or equivalent frameworks

Work Style

Excellent English communication skills, with strong self-motivation and follow-through

Comfortable balancing hands-on technical work with people management in a US-directed, India-based structure

Flexible working hours to accommodate daily India ↔ US coordination

Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience