At Polaris Inc., we have fun doing what we love by driving change and innovation. We empower employees to take on challenging assignments and roles with an elevated level of responsibility in our agile working environment. Our people make us who we are, and we create incredible products and experiences that empower us to THINK OUTSIDE.
Position Overview:
The Senior Manager for IT Service Management & ServiceNow provides organization-wide leadership for global Service Desk operations and serves as product owner for the ServiceNow platform. This role is accountable for IT service management performance, ServiceNow strategy and governance, CMDB and CSDM maturity, major incident management, and service-management quality commitments across a global organization of approximately 22 team members, including seven direct reports. You will set strategic direction for a multi-year transformation focused on intelligent self-service, automation, AI-enabled support, service quality, and measurable platform value while partnering across business and technology teams. The opportunity combines run-state accountability with the ability to shape how global employees access IT support and how the organization prioritizes future ServiceNow and AI investments.
Key Responsibilities:
- Lead global Service Desk and IT service management performance through supervisors and regional partners, with accountability for consistent service, escalation coverage, workforce effectiveness, and customer outcomes.
- Own the ServiceNow product vision, roadmap, prioritized backlog, lifecycle, requirements, acceptance criteria, adoption, and value realization across the enterprise.
- Direct ServiceNow platform governance by aligning product owners, process owners, administrators, developers, architects, security, infrastructure, application teams, and strategic partners on priorities, decisions, and accountability.
- Establish and advance enterprise CMDB and CSDM governance, data and relationship standards, service ownership, application ownership, configuration management, and support accountability models.
- Lead a multi-year AI-enabled Service Desk transformation, including intelligent self-service, Virtual Agent or chatbot capabilities, knowledge retrieval and creation, automated request intake, ticket routing, predictive insights, and workflow automation.
- Evaluate automation opportunities and platform investments based on business impact, service-volume reduction, employee experience, productivity, cost, risk, and future staffing needs.
- Own and continuously improve incident, major incident, problem, request, knowledge, service catalog, change, asset-management, and continual-improvement practices that support the IT Quality Operating System.
- Partner with shop-floor leaders, business product leaders, and technology owners to govern Tier 1 applications, strengthen uptime reporting, confirm ownership and 24x7 support, and establish effective L1, L2, and L3 escalation paths.
- Establish, monitor, and communicate performance measures, including SLA attainment, first-contact resolution, backlog health, customer satisfaction, service availability, knowledge utilization, automation adoption, CMDB health, and platform value realization.
- Protect platform health and enterprise controls through architecture standards, release planning, technical-debt management, security, auditability, and SOX compliance.
- Manage strategic vendors, contractual service levels, platform capacity and investments, delivery quality, operating procedures, governance artifacts, training, communications, and adoption activities.
Desired Competencies:
- Leadership: You inspire, guide, and empower others to achieve their best by setting clear direction, fostering trust, and creating an environment where people feel supported, motivated, and accountable for delivering results.
- Business Acumen: You understand how your work impacts financial performance, operational efficiency, and organizational goals, and you make decisions with the broader business context in mind.
- Technical / Functional Expertise: You apply the required technical or professional knowledge to perform your role effectively and stay current within your area of expertise.
Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in IT, Business, or a related field; equivalent experience considered.
- 10+ years of progressive experience in Service Desk leadership, IT service management, infrastructure operations, enterprise applications, or related technology services.
- 5+ years leading people, service providers, or global support operations, including staffing, coaching, performance, escalation, and workforce planning.
- Experience serving as a product, platform, or process owner for ServiceNow or another enterprise service-management platform, including defining strategy and prioritizing a roadmap and backlog.
- Experience with CMDB governance, configuration management, service ownership models, and CSDM principles in a complex enterprise environment.
- Strong knowledge of incident, request, knowledge, major incident, problem, change, service catalog, asset-management, and continual-improvement practices.
- Working knowledge of ServiceNow governance, ITSM, ITOM, CMDB/CSDM, Discovery, Service Mapping, analytics, integrations, release management, Virtual Agent, automation, and AI-enabled support.
- Experience using metrics to improve service levels, first-contact resolution, backlog health, customer satisfaction, self-service, automation, service quality, and platform value.
- Experience managing vendors, service levels, risks, budgets, executive communications, organizational change, training, adoption, and value realization.
- ServiceNow, ITIL, Agile, Scrum Product Owner, or another relevant IT service management or product-management certification is preferred; experience connecting ServiceNow with Microsoft Copilot Studio, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Now Assist, Genesys Cloud, Power BI, or comparable tools is also valued.
- This position will be remote until Spring 2027. After that, the expected schedule is three days per week in the Tempe, AZ office and two days remote. Occasional after-hours support and travel are required for critical events and business needs.
#LI-RAO #HYBRID
To qualify for this position, former employees must be eligible for rehire, and current employees must be in good standing.
We are an ambitious, resourceful, and driven workforce, which empowers us to THINK OUTSIDE. Apply today!
At Polaris we put our employees first, by offering a holistic approach to their health and financial wellbeing. Polaris is proud to offer competitive compensation, including a market-leading profit-sharing plan that is fundamental to our pay-for-performance culture. At Polaris, employees are owners of the company through company contributions to our Employee Stock Ownership Plan and discounted employee stock purchases plan. Employees receive a generous matching contribution to 401(k), financial wellness education and consultation to plan for their financial future. In addition to competitive pay, Polaris provides a comprehensive suite of benefits, including health, dental, and vision insurance, wellness programs, paid time off, gym & personal training reimbursement, life insurance and disability offerings. Through the Polaris Foundation and our Polaris Gives paid volunteer time off, we support employees who actively volunteer their time, efforts, and passions to improve the health and wellbeing of the communities in which they live, play and work. Employees at Polaris drive our success and are rewarded for their commitment.
About Polaris
As the global leader in powersports, Polaris Inc. (NYSE: PII) pioneers product breakthroughs and enriching experiences and services that have invited people to discover the joy of being outdoors since our founding in 1954. Polaris' high-quality product line-up includes the Polaris RANGER®, RZR® and Polaris GENERAL™ side-by-side off-road vehicles; Sportsman® all-terrain off-road vehicles; military and commercial off-road vehicles; snowmobiles; Slingshot® moto-roadsters; Aixam quadricycles; Goupil electric vehicles; and pontoon and deck boats, including industry-leading Bennington pontoons. Polaris enhances the riding experience with a robust portfolio of parts, garments, and accessories. Proudly headquartered in Minnesota, Polaris serves more than 100 countries across the globe. www.polaris.com
EEO Statement
Polaris Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer and will make all employment-related decisions without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, marital status, familial status, status with regard to public assistance, membership or activity in a local commission, protected veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable law. Applicants with a disability that are in need of an accommodation to complete the application process, or otherwise need assistance or an accommodation in the recruiting process, should contact Human Resources at 800-765-2747 or Talent.Acquisition@Polaris.com. To read more about employment discrimination protection under U.S. federal law, see: Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal (eeoc.gov).
