Help Desk Support Supervisor

At AQA, we're committed to advancing education and we're committed to our people. As the largest provider of academic qualifications in the UK, we mark over 10 million exam papers each year and it's our people who make this happen.

Help Desk Support Supervisor

12 Month FTC

Milton Keynes: £25,700 - £28,000

Hybrid with requirement for onsite working during peak periods

Are you ready to lead with purpose and make a real impact?

Join AQA as a Help Desk Supervisor and become a key part of our Service Delivery team, supporting examiners across the UK during live marking series. In this dynamic role, you'll lead a team of help desk agents, provide expert second-line support, and drive continuous improvement through training and development initiatives. If you thrive in a fast-paced, customer-focused environment and enjoy solving complex challenges while supporting others, we'd love to hear from you.

What you'll be doing:

• Supporting and guiding a team of help desk agents during major exam series, helping ensure smooth operations and timely resolution of queries.
• Acting as a key contact for escalated technical issues, providing second-line support and expert advice.
• Assisting with rota planning, training delivery, and continuous improvement projects—bringing fresh ideas and helping shape better ways of working.
• Creating and delivering training materials to help desk agents, empowering them to provide excellent support.
• Building strong relationships with internal teams and external awarding organisations to maintain high service standards.
• Stepping in for the Help Desk Manager when needed, contributing to incident management and reporting.

What's in it for you?

• Generous Annual Leave: 25 days of annual leave, increasing to 30 days with service, plus all Bank Holidays and additional Christmas office closure. 
• Flexible Working: A 35-hour week with the empowerment to deliver requirements of your role when it suits everyone.  
• Competitive Pension Scheme: Excellent contributory pension plan (6% - 11.5% based on your contribution). 
• Access to employee network groups (including LGBTQ+, neurodiversity, disability, ethnic diversity, empowering women, and more).
• Opportunities for volunteering, professional development, and wellbeing support.

What you'll bring:

• A strong customer focus and a commitment to delivering high-quality service.
• Experience in a technical support or help desk environment, ideally with some supervisory or mentoring responsibilities.
• Confidence in analysing technical issues and helping users find effective solutions.
• Clear and confident communication skills—both written and verbal—with the ability to support and guide others.
• Experience for preparing and delivering training, documentation, presentations, and reports.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office tools, especially Word, Excel (intermediate/advanced), Outlook, PowerPoint, Teams, and Edge.
• A proactive mindset, able to work independently while contributing to a collaborative team environment.

At AQA, we are committed to fostering a workplace that celebrates diversity and promotes equity and inclusion. We believe that a diverse team brings richer perspectives and drives better outcomes. Our ED&I strategy ensures that everyone—regardless of religion, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, age, disability, sexual orientation, or background—is valued, respected, and empowered to thrive. We actively promote inclusive language, avoid stereotypes, and strive for representation across all dimensions of diversity. We welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds and lived experiences.

How do I apply?

Read the full job description below, then upload your most recent CV with a cover letter explaining how your skills and experience match what we are looking for.

Applications will close at 23:59 on Sunday 9th November 2025

Interviews will be conducted in our Milton Keynes Office week commencing 17th November

#CRE23

Recruitment Agencies

We have a preferred supplier list (PSL) in place.

Unsolicited CVs will be treated as a gift. We will not be subject to or liable under your terms and conditions for agency fees.

Full Job Description

Summary

To take the lead role in e-Marker support and to facilitate the day-to-day functions of a small technical help desk. The support work relates directly to enabling clients to run e-Marker software from their home PC / laptops, utilising secure internet connectivity. The support work covers 2nd line telephone support.Landscape: The e-Marker Help Desk Supervisor reports to Help Desk Manager /Project Manager who is responsible for the delivery of the support side of examination series projects.
The role sits with Enterprise Tech, Service Delivery - Supporting the delivery to time, quality, and budget, always ensuring regulatory compliance. Input to the creation and maintenance of detailed life cycle plans to include setup, capacity, implementation, training, lessons learned and continuous improvement activities.

Activities:
Supporting the Helpdesk Manager in:
Leadership of the Helpdesk team, which comprises agents employed on a temporary basis, typically working to shift patterns during the summer series.
Being the point of escalation for marker issues that can't be resolved by the agents, or where the marker asks for supervisor intervention.
Supporting the Help Desk Manager in the creation, management (updating and implementation) of the shift rota for the Help Desk team during major series.
Supporting the Helpdesk Manager and contributing to the training (training material and training delivery) of Help Desk support agents.
Providing ongoing support and guidance to the agents.
Actively demonstrating the company values across all department practices, procedures, and communications.
Maintenance of a positive working relationship with the awarding organisations' first-line support teams.
Able to prepare help desk support training material: customer support, help desk supporting processes, software training, phone support, other ad hoc material.
Able to deliver training: 121, groups, on-line.
Fully understand the contracted SLAs with the awarding organisations and ensuring that the team are focused on supporting their delivery.
Delivery of all agreed internal and external reporting of help desk progress. Where recurring issues are exposed, ensuring that these are escalated promptly and succinctly to drive resolution.
Deputising for the Help Desk Manager as required.
Supporting the management of major incidents, including assisting first-line support teams as required.
Ensuring a good, ongoing working relationship with the technical and Operational Data team and other project management teams and liaising with them to support marker issues.
Liaising with client operational teams.
Supporting the delivery of operational excellence and continuous improvement through the identification, planning and implementation of change activity.
Information Security – take an active part in the preservation of confidentiality, availability and integrity of information assets used in conducting the role and follow additional security procedures associated with specific activities where applicable.
Asset management – ensure that AQA-provided tools, materials, systems, software are used in line with company policies and procedures.
Away from major series, to be flexible /and provide expert support to other teams when required.

To be successful in this role, you will need to:
Have a logical approach to analyse and suggest solutions to problem and the ability to understand the technical implications of a situation.
A good awareness of PC's functionality, internet communications, firewalls, anti-viruses, and conflict program solving.
A methodical and accurate in working approach.
Able to work without close supervision, be pro-active in the work undertaken.
Have good interpersonal skills, able to communicate professionally and clearly – both in writing and speaking to both internal colleagues and external clients.
Be able to supervise a help desk team, demonstrate leadership, updating and motivating support personnel.
Be able to manage and support difficult end users, comply to customer focused, customer care quality communication requirements.
Be able to prepare and deliver varied help desk support training: customer support, help desk supporting processes, software training, phone support, other ad hoc material.
Be able to produce clear reports and documentation; assist with the production of technical reports and conduct analysis of any required metrics.
Be computer literate with solid skills and proven experience of Microsoft Office applications, particularly Explorer, Word, Excel (intermediate /advanced), PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, Edge.

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