Service Desk Engineer - 1st Line (PD)

SERVICE DESK ENGINEER – 1ST LINE

Location: Umhlanga, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal
Employment type: Permanent, full-time
Working model: Office-based
Working hours: UK business hours
Salary: From R12,000 per month, depending on experience

ABOUT SHOREABILITY

Shoreability provides dedicated offshore professionals to leading organisations in the United Kingdom.

We are recruiting a customer-focused 1st Line Service Desk Engineer to join our office-based team in Umhlanga. The successful candidate will support approximately 400 dental practices across the UK and Ireland, as well as head-office and central-function users.

ABOUT THE ROLE

As the first point of contact for IT support requests, you will handle incoming calls, emails and portal requests.

This is a busy, telephone-led service desk position. You will be responsible for understanding the user’s issue, recording it accurately, completing straightforward first-time fixes and escalating more complex incidents to 2nd Line with clear and complete notes.

The role requires a combination of technical ability, patience and strong customer service. When a dental practice experiences an IT problem, it may affect patient care, the patient experience and the practice’s ability to operate.

This position is ideal for someone with genuine first-line service desk experience who wants to develop towards a 2nd Line role.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Answer incoming IT support calls and respond to email and portal requests.
• Act as the first point of contact for IT incidents and service requests.
• Accurately log, categorise and prioritise all issues in the ticketing system.
• Resolve password resets, account unlocks and other standard first-time-fix issues.
• Provide first-line support for desktops, laptops, software and user-access problems.
• Provide first-line support for dental practice-management systems.
• Provide first-line support for dental imaging software and connected equipment.
• Assist with new-starter and leaver account and system-access requirements.
• Install and configure authorised software on desktops and laptops.
• Provide basic support for printers, scanners and other connected equipment.
• Ask appropriate diagnostic questions and follow standard troubleshooting procedures.
• Remain calm and methodical when a practice reports being offline.
• Follow the major-incident process and escalate promptly when the relevant criteria are met.
• Escalate issues requiring sustained investigation to 2nd Line.
• Provide clear and complete ticket notes so that escalated issues can be continued without unnecessary rework.
• Work within agreed response and resolution SLAs.
• Meet call-answer, abandonment and ticket-quality standards.
• Use and contribute to the service desk knowledge base.

ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS

Applicants must have:

• At least one year’s experience in a busy, customer-facing IT support or service desk role.
• Experience handling a high volume of support calls and tickets.
• Experience using a ticketing or helpdesk system, such as Freshservice or a similar platform.
• Working knowledge of Active Directory administration.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft 365 administration.
• Experience supporting Windows 10 and Windows 11.
• Knowledge of standard Microsoft applications, including Outlook, Teams, Word and Excel.
• Desktop, software and peripheral troubleshooting experience.
• Excellent spoken and written English.
• A professional and friendly telephone manner.
• A strong customer-service attitude.
• The ability to explain technical information clearly to non-technical users.
• Excellent ticket-documentation skills.
• Good time-management and planning skills.
• The ability to work independently without constant supervision.
• Reliable transport to the Umhlanga office.
• Availability to work UK business hours.

DESIRABLE

The following would be advantageous but are not essential:

• ITIL Foundation.
• CompTIA A+ or an equivalent entry-level IT certification.
• Exposure to macOS.
• Exposure to iOS or Android support.
• Previous experience supporting healthcare or dental environments.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

We are looking for someone who:

• Enjoys helping people and providing a positive support experience.
• Communicates confidently with non-technical users.
• Asks clear and relevant diagnostic questions.
• Remains calm when dealing with urgent operational problems.
• Resolves straightforward issues promptly.
• Recognises when an issue should be escalated.
• Produces clear, accurate and complete ticket notes.
• Takes responsibility for the quality of every customer interaction.
• Wants to build a long-term career in IT support.

WHY JOIN SHOREABILITY?

• Support a leading UK organisation.
• Gain experience within a large, multi-site technology environment.
• Receive training on dental practice-management and imaging systems.
• Develop your first-line support skills towards a 2nd Line career path.
• Join a friendly and collaborative service desk team.
• Work in a stable, full-time position from our modern Umhlanga offices.

Pay: From R12 000,00 per month

Application Question(s):

• Do you have at least one year of workplace experience in a busy, customer-facing IT support or service desk role where you handled support calls and tickets?
• Have you used a ticketing or helpdesk system in a working environment?
• Which ticketing or helpdesk systems have you used, and approximately how many calls or tickets did you handle during a typical working day?
• Which Active Directory and Microsoft 365 administration tasks have you personally performed? Please provide brief examples.
• Are you comfortable working in a telephone-led IT service desk role, taking consecutive support calls from non-technical UK users?
• This is a full-time, office-based position in Umhlanga and is not a remote or hybrid role. Can you commute reliably to the office every working day?
• Are you available to work UK business hours, understanding that the corresponding South African working times change when the UK changes its clocks, alternative Saturdays?
• Please state your current suburb, notice period and earliest available starting date.

Work Location: In person